{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_38095/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_38095","id":"gutenberg_38095","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38095","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - Religious","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Free thought","Heresy"],"text":"HERETICS AND HERESIES\n\nBy Robert G. Ingersoll\n\n\n\n\nHERETICS AND HERESIES\n\nLIBERTY, A WORD WITHOUT WHICH ALL OTHER WORDS ARE VAIN.\n\nWHOEVER has an opinion of his own, and honestly expresses it, will be\nguilty of heresy. Heresy is what the minority believe; it is the name\ngiven by the powerful to the doctrine of the weak. This word was born of\nthe hatred, arrogance and cruelty of those who love their enemies, and\nwho, when smitten on one cheek, turn the other. This word was born of\nintellectual slavery in the feudal ages of thought. It was an epithet\nused in the place of argument. From the commencement of the Christian\nera, every art has been exhausted and every conceivable punishment\ninflicted to force all people to hold the same religious opinions. This\neffort was born of the idea that a certain belief was necessary to the\nsalvation of the soul. Christ taught, and the Church still teaches,\nthat unbelief is the blackest of crimes. God is supposed to hate with\nan infinite and implacable hatred, every heretic upon the earth, and the\nheretics who have died are supposed at this moment to be suffering the\nagonies of the damned. The Church persecutes the living and her God\nburns the dead.\n\nIt is claimed that God wrote a book called the Bible, and it is\ngenerally admitted that this book is somewhat difficult to understand.\nAs long as the Church had all the copies of this book, and the people\nwere not allowed to read it, there was comparatively little heresy in\nthe world; but when it was printed and read, people began honestly to\ndiffer as to its meaning. A few were independent and brave enough to\ngive the world their real thoughts, and for the extermination of these\nmen the Church used all her power. Protestants and Catholics vied with\neach other in the work of enslaving the human mind. For ages they were\nrivals in the infamous effort to rid the earth of honest people. They\ninfested every country, every city, town, hamlet and family. They\nappealed to the worst passions of the human heart. They sowed the seeds\nof discord and hatred in every land. Brother denounced brother, wives\ninformed against their husbands, mothers accused their children,\ndungeons were crowded with the innocent; the flesh of the good and true\nrotted in the clasp of chains; the flames devoured the heroic, and in\nthe name of the most merciful God, his children were exterminated with\nfamine, sword, and fire. Over the wild waves of battle rose and fell\nthe banner of Jesus Christ. For sixteen hundred years the robes of the\nChurch were red with innocent blood. The ingenuity of Christians was\nexhausted in devising punishment severe enough to be inflicted upon\nother Christians who honestly and sincerely differed with them upon any\npoint whatever.\n\nGive any orthodox church the power, and to-day they would punish heresy\nwith whip, and chain, and fire. As long as a church deems a certain\nbelief essential to salvation, just so long it will kill and burn if it\nhas the power. Why should the Church pity a man whom her God hates? Why\nshould she show mercy to a kind and noble heretic whom her God will burn\nin eternal fire? Why should a Christian be better than his God? It is\nimpossible for the imagination to conceive of a greater atrocity than\nhas been perpetrated by the Church. Every nerve in the human body\ncapable of pain has been sought out and touched by the Church.\n\nLet it be remembered that all churches have persecuted heretics to the\nextent of their power. Toleration has increased only when and where the\npower of the church has diminished. From Augustine until now the\nspirit of the Christians has remained the same. There has been the same\nintolerance, the same undying hatred of all who think for themselves,\nand the same determination to crush out of the human brain all knowledge\ninconsistent with an ignorant creed.\n\nEvery church pretends that it has a revelation from God, and that this\nrevelation must be given to the people through the Church; that the\nChurch acts through its priests, and that ordinary mortals must be\ncontent with a revelation--not from God--but from the Church. Had\nthe people submitted to this preposterous claim, of course there could\nhave been but one church, and that church never could have advanced.\nIt might have retrograded, because it is not necessary to think or\ninvestigate in order to forget. Without heresy there could have been no\nprogress.\n\nThe highest type of the orthodox Christian does not forget; neither\ndoes he learn. He neither advances nor recedes. He is a living fossil\nembedded in that rock called faith. He makes no effort to better his\ncondition, because all his strength is exhausted in keeping other people\nfrom improving theirs. The supreme desire of his heart is to force all\nothers to adopt his creed, and in order to accomplish this object he\ndenounces free-thinking as a crime, and this crime he calls heresy. When\nhe had power, heresy was the most terrible and formidable of words. It\nmeant confiscation, exile, imprisonment, torture, and death.\n\nIn those days the cross and rack were inseparable companions. Across\nthe open bible lay the sword and fagot. Not content with burning such\nheretics as were alive, they even tried the dead, in order that the\nChurch might rob their wives and children. The property of all heretics\nwas confiscated, and on this account they charged the dead with being\nheretical--indicted, as it were, their dust--to the end that the\nChurch might clutch the bread of orphans. Learned divines discussed\nthe propriety of tearing out the tongues of heretics before they were\nburned, and the general opinion was, that this ought to be done so that\nthe heretics should not be able, by uttering blasphemies, to shock\nthe Christians who were burning them. With a mixture of ferocity and\nChristianity, the priests insisted that heretics ought to be burned at\na slow fire, giving as a reason that more time was given them for\nrepentance.\n\nNo wonder that Jesus Christ said, \"I came not to bring peace, but a\nsword.\"\n\nEvery priest regarded himself as the agent of God. He answered all\nquestions by authority, and to treat him with disrespect was an insult\noffered to God. No one was asked to think, but all were commanded to\nobey.\n\nIn 1208 the Inquisition was established. Seven years afterward, the\nfourth council of the Lateran enjoined all kings and rulers to swear\nan oath that they would exterminate heretics from their dominions. The\nsword of the Church was unsheathed, and the world was at the mercy of\nignorant and infuriated priests, whose eyes feasted upon the agonies\nthey inflicted. Acting, as they believed, or pretended to believe, under\nthe command of God; stimulated by the hope of infinite reward in another\nworld--hating heretics with every drop of their bestial blood; savage\nbeyond description; merciless beyond conception,--these infamous\npriests, in a kind of frenzied joy, leaped upon the helpless victims of\ntheir rage. They crushed their bones in iron boots; tore their quivering\nflesh with iron hooks and pincers; cut off their lips and eyelids;\npulled out their nails, and into the bleeding quick thrust needles; tore\nout their tongues; extinguished their eyes; stretched them upon racks;\nflayed them alive; crucified them with their heads downward; exposed\nthem to wild beasts; burned them at the stake; mocked their cries and\ngroans; ravished their wives; robbed their children, and then prayed God\nto finish the holy work in hell.\n\nMillions upon millions were sacrificed upon the altars of bigotry. The\nCatholic burned the Lutheran, the Lutheran burned the Catholic, the\nEpiscopalian tortured the Presbyterian, the Presbyterian tortured the\nEpiscopalian. Every denomination killed all it could of every other; and\neach Christian felt in duty bound to exterminate every other Christian\nwho denied the smallest fraction of his creed.\n\nIn the reign of Henry VIII--that pious and moral founder of the\napostolic Episcopal Church,--there was passed by the parliament of\nEngland an act entitled \"An act for abolishing of diversity of opinion.\"\nAnd in this act was set forth what a good Christian was obliged to\nbelieve:\n\nFirst, That in the sacrament was the real body and blood of Jesus\nChrist.\n\nSecond, That the body and blood of Jesus Christ was in the bread, and\nthe blood and body of Jesus Christ was in the wine.\n\nThird, That priests should not marry.\n\nFourth, That vows of chastity were of perpetual obligation.\n\nFifth, That private masses ought to be continued; and,\n\nSixth, That auricular confession to a priest must be maintained.\n\nThis creed was made by law, in order that all men might know just what\nto believe by simply reading the statute. The Church hated to see the\npeople wearing out their brains in thinking upon these subjects. It was\nthought far better that a creed should be made by parliament, so that\nwhatever might be lacking in evidence might be made up in force. The\npunishment for denying the first article was death by fire. For\nthe denial of any other article, imprisonment, and for the second\noffense--death.\n\nYour attention is called to these six articles, established during the\nreign of Henry VIII, and by the Church of England, simply because not\none of these articles is believed by that church to-day. If the law then\nmade by the church could be enforced now, every Episcopalian would be\nburned at the stake.\n\nSimilar laws were passed in most Christian countries, as all orthodox\nchurches firmly believed that mankind could be legislated into heaven.\nAccording to the creed of every church, slavery leads to heaven, liberty\nleads to hell. It was claimed that God had founded the Church, and that\nto deny the authority of the Church was to be a traitor to God, and\nconsequently an ally of the devil. To torture and destroy one of the\nsoldiers of Satan was a duty no good Christian cared to neglect. Nothing\ncan be sweeter than to earn the gratitude of God by killing your own\nenemies. Such a mingling of profit and revenge, of heaven for yourself\nand damnation for those you dislike, is a temptation that your ordinary\nChristian never resists.\n\nAccording to the theologians, God, the Father of us all, wrote a letter\nto his children. The children have always differed somewhat as to the\nmeaning of this letter. In consequence of these honest differences,\nthese brothers began to cut out each other's hearts. In every land,\nwhere this letter from God has been read, the children to whom and for\nwhom it was written have been filled with hatred and malice. They have\nimprisoned and murdered each other, and the wives and children of each\nother. In the name of God every possible crime has been committed, every\nconceivable outrage has been perpetrated. Brave men, tender and loving\nwomen, beautiful girls, and prattling babes have been exterminated in\nthe name of Jesus Christ. For more than fifty generations the Church\nhas carried the black flag. Her vengeance has been measured only by\nher power. During all these years of infamy no heretic has ever been\nforgiven. With the heart of a fiend she has hated; with the clutch of\navarice she has grasped; with the jaws of a dragon she has devoured;\npitiless as famine, merciless as fire, with the conscience of a serpent:\nsuch is the history of the Church of God.\n\nI do not say, and I do not believe, that Christians are as bad as their\ncreeds. In spite of Church and dogma, there have been millions and\nmillions of men and women true to the loftiest and most generous\npromptings of the human heart. They have been true to their convictions,\nand, with a self-denial and fortitude excelled by none, have labored\nand suffered for the salvation of men. Imbued with the spirit of\nself-sacrifice, believing that by personal effort they could rescue at\nleast a few souls from the infinite shadow of hell, they have\ncheerfully endured every hardship and scorned every danger. And yet,\nnotwithstanding all this, they believed that honest error was a crime.\nThey knew that the bible so declared, and they believed that all\nunbelievers would be eternally lost. They believed that religion was\nof God, and all heresy of the devil. They killed heretics in defense\nof their own souls and the souls of their children. They killed them\nbecause, according to their idea, they were the enemies of God, and\nbecause the bible teaches that the blood of the unbeliever is a most\nacceptable sacrifice to heaven.\n\nNature never prompted a loving mother to throw her child into the\nGanges. Nature never prompted men to exterminate each other for a\ndifference of opinion concerning the baptism of infants. These crimes\nhave been produced by religions filled with all that is illogical,\ncruel and hideous. These religions were produced for the most part by\nignorance, tyranny and hypocrisy. Under the impression that the infinite\nruler and creator of the universe had commanded the destruction of\nheretics and infidels, the Church perpetrated all these crimes.\n\nMen and women have been burned for thinking there is but one God; that\nthere was none; that the Holy Ghost is younger than God; that God was\nsomewhat older than his son; for insisting that good works will save a\nman without faith; that faith will do without good works; for declaring\nthat a sweet babe will not be burned eternally, because its parents\nfailed to have its head wet by a priest; for speaking of God as\nthough he had a nose; for denying that Christ was his own father; for\ncontending that three persons, rightly added together, make more than\none; for believing in purgatory; for denying the reality of hell; for\npretending that priests can forgive sins; for preaching that God is an\nessence; for denying that witches rode through the air on sticks;\nfor doubting the total depravity of the human heart; for laughing\nat irresistible grace, predestination and particular redemption; for\ndenying that good bread could be made of the body of a dead man; for\npretending that the pope was not managing this world for God, and in the\nplace of God; for disputing the efficacy of a vicarious atonement; for\nthinking the Virgin Mary was born like other people; for thinking that a\nman's rib was hardly sufficient to make a good-sized woman; for denying\nthat God used his finger for a pen; for asserting that prayers are not\nanswered, that diseases are not sent to punish unbelief; for denying\nthe authority of the bible; for having a bible in their possession; for\nattending mass, and for refusing to attend; for wearing a surplice; for\ncarrying a cross, and for refusing; for being a Catholic, and for being\na Protestant; for being an Episcopalian, a Presbyterian, a Baptist, and\nfor being a Quaker. In short, every virtue has been a crime, and every\ncrime a virtue. The Church has burned honesty and rewarded hypocrisy.\nAnd all this, because it was commanded by a book--a book that men had\nbeen taught implicitly to believe, long before they knew one word that\nwas in it. They had been taught that to doubt the truth of this\nbook--to examine it, even--was a crime of such enormity that it could\nnot be forgiven, either in this world or in the next.\n\nThe bible was the real persecutor. The bible burned heretics, built\ndungeons, founded the Inquisition, and trampled upon all the liberties\nof men.\n\nHow long, O how long will mankind worship a book? How long will they\ngrovel in the dust before the ignorant legends of the barbaric past?\nHow long, O how long will they pursue phantoms in a darkness deeper than\ndeath?\n\nUnfortunately for the world, about the beginning of the sixteenth\ncentury, a man by the name of Gerard Chauvin was married to Jeanne\nLefranc, and still more unfortunately for the world, the fruit of this\nmarriage was a son, called John Chauvin, who afterwards became famous as\nJohn Calvin, the founder of the Presbyterian Church.\n\n#This man forged five fetters for the brain. These fetters he called\npoints. That is to say, predestination, particular redemption, total\ndepravity, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints. About\nthe neck of each follower he put a collar bristling with these five iron\npoints. The presence of all these points on the collar is still the test\nof orthodoxy in the church he founded. This man, when in the flush of\nyouth, was elected to the office of preacher in Geneva. He at once,\nin union with Farel, drew up a condensed statement of the Presbyterian\ndoctrine, and all the citizens of Geneva, on pain of banishment, were\ncompelled to take an oath that they believed this statement. Of this\nproceeding Calvin very innocently remarked that it produced great\nsatisfaction. A man named Caroli had the audacity to dispute with\nCalvin. For this outrage he was banished.\n\nTo show you what great subjects occupied the attention of Calvin, it is\nonly necessary to state that he furiously discussed the question as to\nwhether the sacramental bread should be leavened or unleavened. He drew\nup laws regulating the cut of the citizens' clothes, and prescribing\ntheir diet, and all those whose garments were not in the Calvin fashion\nwere refused the sacrament At last, the people becoming tired of this\npetty theological tyranny, banished Calvin. In a few years, however,\nhe was recalled and received with great enthusiasm. After this he was\nsupreme, and the will of Calvin became the law of Geneva. Under his\nbenign administration, James Gruet was beheaded because he had written\nsome profane verses. The slightest word against Calvin or his absurd\ndoctrines was punished as a crime. In 1553 a man was tried at Vienne by\nthe Catholic Church for heresy. He was convicted and sentenced to death\nby burning. It was apparently his good fortune to escape. Pursued by the\nsleuth hounds of intolerance he fled to Geneva for protection. A dove\nflying from hawks, sought safety in the nest of a vulture. This fugitive\nfrom the cruelty of Rome asked shelter from John Calvin, who had written\na book in favor of religious toleration. Servetus had forgotten that\nthis book was written by Calvin when in the minority; that it was\nwritten in weakness to be forgotten in power; that it was produced by\nfear instead of principle. He did not know that Calvin had caused his\narrest at Vienne, in France, and had sent a copy of his work, which was\nclaimed to be blasphemous, to the archbishop, He did not then know\nthat the Protestant Calvin was acting as one of the detectives of the\nCatholic Church, and had been instrumental in procuring his conviction\nfor heresy. Ignorant of all this unspeakable infamy, he put himself\nin the power of this very Calvin. The maker of the Presbyterian creed\ncaused the fugitive Serve-tus to be arrested for blasphemy. He was\ntried. Calvin was his accuser. He was convicted and condemned to death\nby fire. On the morning of the fatal day, Calvin saw him, and Servetus,\nthe victim, asked forgiveness of Calvin, the murderer. Servetus was\nbound to the stake, and the fagots were lighted. The wind carried the\nflames somewhat away from his body, so that he slowly roasted for hours.\nVainly he implored a speedy death. At last the flames climbed round his\nform; through smoke and fire his murderers saw a white heroic face.\nAnd there they watched until a man became a charred and shriveled mass.\nLiberty was banished from Geneva, and nothing but Presbyterianism was\nleft. Honor, justice, mercy, reason and charity were all exiled; but\nthe five points of predestination, particular redemption, irresistible\ngrace, total depravity, and the certain perseverance of the saints\nremained instead.\n\nCalvin founded a little theocracy, modeled after the Old Testament, and\nsucceeded in erect-ing the most detestable government that ever existed,\nexcept the one from which it was copied.\n\nAgainst all this intolerance, one man, a minister, raised his voice. The\nname of this man should never be forgotten. It was Castellio. This brave\nman had the goodness and the courage to declare the innocence of honest\nerror. He was the first of the so-called reformers to take this noble\nground. I wish I had the genius to pay a fitting tribute to his memory.\nPerhaps it would be impossible to pay him a grander compliment than to\nsay, Castellio was in all things the opposite of Calvin. To plead for\nthe right of individual judgment was considered a crime, and Castellio\nwas driven from Geneva by John Calvin. By him he was denounced as a\nchild of the devil, as a dog of Satan, as a beast from hell, and as\none who, by this horrid blasphemy of the innocence of honest error,\ncrucified Christ afresh, and by him he was pursued until rescued by the\nhand of death.\n\nUpon the name of Castellio, Calvin heaped every epithet, until his\nmalice was nearly satisfied and his imagination entirely exhausted. It\nis impossible to conceive how human nature can become so frightfully\nperverted as to pursue a fellow man with the malignity of a fiend,\nsimply because he is good, just, and generous Calvin was of a pallid,\nbloodless complexion, thin, sickly, irritable, gloomy, impatient,\negotistic, tyrannical, heartless, and infamous. He was a strange\ncompound of revengeful morality, malicious forgiveness, ferocious\ncharity, egotistic humility, and a kind of hellish justice. In other\nwords, he was as near like the God of the Old Testament as his health\npermitted.\n\nThe best thing, however, about the Presbyterians of Geneva was, that\nthey denied the power of the Pope, and the best thing about the Pope\nwas, that he was not a Presbyterian.\n\nThe doctrines of Calvin spread rapidly, and were eagerly accepted by\nmultitudes on the continent; but Scotland, in a few years, became the\nreal fortress of Presbyterianism. The Scotch succeeded in establishing\nthe same kind of theocracy that flourished in Geneva. The clergy took\npossession and control of everybody and everything. It is impossible to\nexaggerate the mental degradation, the abject superstition of the people\nof Scotland during the reign of Presbyterianism. Heretics were hunted\nand devoured as though they had been wild beasts. The gloomy insanity of\nPresbyterianism took possession of a great majority of the people. They\nregarded their ministers as the Jews did Moses and Aaron. They believed\nthat they were the especial agents of God, and that whatsoever they\nbound in Scotland would be bound in heaven. There was not one particle\nof intellectual freedom. No man was allowed to differ with the Church,\nor to even contradict a priest. Had Presbyterianism maintained its\nascendency, Scotland would have been peopled by savages to-day.\n\nThe revengeful spirit of Calvin took possession of the Puritans, and\ncaused them to redden the soil of the New World with the brave blood of\nhonest men. Clinging to the five points of Calvin, they too established\ngovernments in accordance with the teachings of the Old Testament. They\ntoo attached the penalty of death to the expression of honest thought.\nThey too believed their church supreme, and exerted all their power to\ncurse this continent with a spiritual despotism as infamous as it was\nabsurd. They believed with Luther that universal toleration is universal\nerror, and universal error is universal hell. Toleration was denounced\nas a crime.\n\nFortunately for us, civilization has had a softening effect even upon\nthe Presbyterian Church. To the ennobling influence of the arts and\nsciences the savage spirit of Calvinism has, in some slight degree,\nsuccumbed. True, the old creed remains substantially as it was written,\nbut by a kind of tacit understanding it has come to be regarded as a\nrelic of the past. The cry of \"heresy\" has been growing fainter and\nfainter, and, as a consequence, the ministers of that denomination\nhave ventured, now and then, to express doubts as to the damnation of\ninfants, and the doctrine of total depravity. The fact is, the old ideas\nbecame a little monotonous to the people. The fall of man, the scheme of\nredemption and irresistible grace, began to have a familiar sound. The\npreachers told the old stories while the congregations slept. Some of\nthe ministers became tired of these stories themselves. The five points\ngrew dull, and they felt that nothing short of irresistible grace could\nbear this endless repetition. The outside world was full of progress,\nand in every direction men advanced, while this church, anchored to a\ncreed, idly rotted at the shore. Other denominations, imbued some little\nwith the spirit of investigation, were springing up on every side, while\nthe old Presbyterian ark rested on the Ararat of the past, filled with\nthe theological monsters of another age.\n\nLured by the splendors of the outer world, tempted by the achievements\nof science, longing to feel the throb and beat of the mighty march of\nthe human race, a few of the ministers of this conservative denomination\nwere compelled, by irresistible sense, to say a few words in harmony\nwith the splendid ideas of to-day.\n\nThese utterances have upon several occasions so nearly wakened some of\nthe members that, rubbing their eyes, they have feebly inquired whether\nthese grand ideas were not somewhat heretical. These ministers found\nthat just in the proportion that their orthodoxy decreased, their\ncongregations increased. Those who dealt in the pure unadulterated\narticle found themselves demonstrating the five points to a less number\nof hearers than they had points. Stung to madness by this bitter truth,\nthis galling contrast, this harassing fact, the really orthodox have\nraised the cry of heresy, and expect with this cry to seal the lips\nof honest men. One of the Presbyterian ministers, and one who has been\nenjoying the luxury of a little honest thought, and the real rapture of\nexpressing it, has already been indicted, and is about to be tried by\nthe Presbytery of Illinois. He is charged--\n\nFirst. With having neglected to preach that most comforting and\nconsoling truth, the eternal damnation of the soul.\n\nSurely, that man must be a monster who could wish to blot this blessed\ndoctrine out and rob earth's wretched children of this blissful hope!\n\nWho can estimate the misery that has been caused by this most infamous\ndoctrine of eternal punishment? Think of the lives it has blighted--of\nthe tears it has caused--of the agony it has produced. Think of the\nmillions who have been driven to insanity by this most terrible of\ndogmas. This doctrine renders God the basest and most cruel being in\nthe universe. Compared with him, the most frightful deities of the most\nbarbarous and degraded tribes are miracles of goodness and mercy. There\nis nothing more degrading than to worship such a god. Lower than this\nthe soul can never sink. If the doctrine of eternal damnation is true,\nlet me share the fate of the unconverted; let me have my portion in\nhell, rather than in heaven with a god infamous enough to inflict\neternal misery upon any of the sons of men.\n\nSecond. With having spoken a few kind words of Robert Collyer and John\nStuart Mill.\n\nI have the honor of a slight acquaintance with Robert Collyer. I have\nread with pleasure some of his exquisite productions. He has a brain\nfull of the dawn, the head of a philosopher, the imagination of a poet\nand the sincere heart of a child.\n\nIs a minister to be silenced because he speaks fairly of a noble and\ncandid adversary? Is it a crime to compliment a lover of justice, an\nadvocate of liberty; one who devotes his life to the elevation of man,\nthe discovery of truth, and the promulgation of what he believes to be\nright?\n\nCan that tongue be palsied by a presbytery that praises a self-denying\nand heroic life? Is it a sin to speak a charitable word over the grave\nof John Stuart Mill? Is it heretical to pay a just and graceful tribute\nto departed worth? Must the true Presbyterian violate the sanctity of\nthe tomb, dig open the grave and ask his God to curse the silent dust?\nIs Presbyterianism so narrow that it conceives of no excellence, of no\npurity of intention, of no spiritual and moral grandeur outside of its\nbarbaric creed? Does it still retain within its stony heart all the\nmalice of its founder? Is it still warming its fleshless hands at the\nflames that consumed Servetus? Does it still glory in the damnation of\ninfants, and does it still persist in emptying the cradle in order that\nperdition may be filled? Is it still starving the soul and famishing\nthe heart? Is it still trembling and shivering, crouching and crawling\nbefore its ignorant Confession of Faith?\n\nHad such men as Robert Collyer and John Stuart Mill been present at the\nburning of Servetus, they would have extinguished the flames with their\ntears. Had the presbytery of Chicago been there, they would have quietly\nturned their backs, solemnly divided their coat tails, and warmed\nthemselves.\n\nThird, With having spoken disparagingly of the doctrine of\npredestination.\n\nIf there is any dogma that ought to be protected by law, predestination\nis that doctrine. Surely it is a cheerful, joyous thing, to one who is\nlaboring, struggling, and suffering in this weary world, to think that\nbefore he existed; before the earth was; before a star had glittered in\nthe heavens; before a ray of light had left the quiver of the sun, his\ndestiny had been irrevocably fixed, and that for an eternity before his\nbirth he had been doomed to bear eternal pain.\n\nFourth. With failing to preach the efficacy of a \"vicarious sacrifice.\"\n\nSuppose a man had been convicted of murder, and was about to be\nhanged--the governor acting as the executioner; and suppose that just as\nthe doomed man was about to suffer death some one in the crowd should\nstep forward and say, \"I am willing to die in the place of that\nmurderer. He has a family, and I have none.\" And suppose further, that\nthe governor should reply, \"Come forward, young man, your offer is\naccepted. A murder has been committed and somebody must be hung, and\nyour death will satisfy the law just as well as the death of the\nmurderer.\" What would you then think of the doctrine of \"vicarious\nsacrifice?\"\n\nThis doctrine is the consummation of two outrages--forgiving one crime\nand committing another.\n\nFifth, With having inculcated a phase of the doctrine commonly known as\n\"evolution,\" or \"development\".\n\nThe Church believes and teaches the exact opposite of this doctrine.\nAccording to the philosophy of theology, man has continued to degenerate\nfor six thousand years. To teach that there is that in nature which\nimpels to higher forms and grander ends, is heresy, of course. The\nDeity will damn Spencer and his \"Evolution,\" Darwin and his \"Origin\nof Species,\" Bastian and his \"Spontaneous Generation,\" Huxley and his\n\"Protoplasm\" Tyndall and his \"Prayer Gauge\" and will save those, and\nthose only, who declare that the universe has been cursed, from the\nsmallest atom to the grandest star; that everything tends to evil and to\nthat only, and that the only perfect thing in nature is the Presbyterian\nConfession of Faith.\n\nSixth, With having intimated that the reception of Socrates and Penelope\nat heaven's gate was, to say the least, a trifle more cordial than that\nof Catharine II.\n\nPenelope, waiting patiently and trustfully for her lord's return,\ndelaying her suitors, while sadly weaving and unweaving the shroud of\nLaertes, is the most perfect type of wife and woman produced by the\ncivilization of Greece.\n\nSocrates, whose life was above reproach and whose death was beyond all\npraise, stands to-day, in the estimation of every thoughtful man, at\nleast the peer of Christ.\n\nCatharine II assassinated her husband. Stepping upon his corpse, she\nmounted the throne. She was the murderess of Prince Iwan, grand nephew\nof Peter the Great, who was imprisoned for eighteen years, and who\nduring all that time saw the sky but once. Taken all in all, Catharine\nwas probably one of the most intellectual beasts that ever wore a crown.\n\nCatharine, however, was the head of the Greek Church, Socrates was\na heretic and Penelope lived and died without having once heard of\n\"particular redemption\" or of \"irresistible grace.\"\n\nSeventh, With repudiating the idea of a \"call\" to the ministry, and\npretending that men were \"called\" to preach as they were to the other\navocations of life.\n\nIf this doctrine is true, God, to say the least of it, is an exceedingly\npoor judge of human nature. It is more than a century since a man of\ntrue genius has been found in an orthodox pulpit Every minister is\nheretical just to the extent that his intellect is above, the average.\nThe Lord seems to be satisfied with mediocrity; but the people are not.\n\nAn old deacon, wishing to get rid of an unpopular preacher, advised him\nto give up the ministry and turn his attention to something else. The\npreacher replied that he could not conscientiously desert the pulpit, as\nhe had had a \"call\" to the ministry. To which the deacon replied, \"That\nmay be so, but it's very unfortunate for you, that when God called you\nto preach, he forgot to call anybody to hear you.\"\n\nThere is nothing more stupidly egotistic than the claim of the clergy\nthat they are, in some divine sense, set apart to the service of the\nLord; that they have been chosen, and sanctified; that there is an\ninfinite difference between them and persons employed in secular\naffairs. They teach us that all other professions must take care of\nthemselves; that God allows anybody to be a doctor, a lawyer, statesman,\nsoldier, or artist; that the Motts and Coopers--the Mansfields and\nMarshalls--the Wilberforces and Sumners--the Angelos and Raphaels,\nwere never honored by a \"call.\" They chose their professions and won\ntheir laurels without the assistance of the Lord. All these men were\nleft free to follow their own inclinations, while God was busily\nengaged selecting and \"calling\" priests, rectors, elders, ministers and\nexhorters.\n\nEighth. With having doubted that God was the author of the 109th Psalm.\n\nThe portion of that psalm which carries with it the clearest and most\nsatisfactory evidences of inspiration, and which has afforded almost\nunspeakable consolation to the Presbyterian church, is as follows:\n\nSet thou a wicked man over him; and let Satan stand at his right hand.\n\nWhen he shall be judged, let him be condemned; and let his prayer become\nsin.\n\nLet his days be few; and let another take his office.\n\nLet his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.\n\nLet his children be continually vagabonds, and beg; let them seek their\nbread also out of their desolate places.\n\nLet the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil\nhis labor.\n\nLet there be none to extend mercy unto him; neither let there be any to\nfavor his fatherless children.\n\nLet his posterity be cut off: and in the generation following let their\nname be blotted out.\n\n*****\n\nBut do thou for me, O God the Lord, for Thy name's sake; because Thy\nmercy is good, deliver Thou me. * * I will greatly praise the Lord with\nmy _mouth_.\n\nThink of a God wicked and malicious enough to inspire this prayer. Think\nof one infamous enough to answer it.\n\nHad this inspired psalm been found in some temple erected for the\nworship of snakes, or in the possession of some cannibal king, written\nwith blood upon the dried skins of babes, there would have been a\nperfect harmony between its surroundings and its sentiments.\n\nNo wonder that the author of this inspired psalm coldly received\nSocrates and Penelope, and reserved his sweetest smiles for Catharine\nthe Second.\n\nNinth. With having said that the battles in which the Israelites\nengaged, with the approval and command of Jehovah, surpassed in cruelty\nthose of Julius C\u00e6sar.\n\nWas it Julius C\u00e6sar who said, \"And the Lord our God delivered him before\nus; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. And we took all\nhis cities, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little\nones, of every city, we left none to remain\"?\n\nDid Julius Caesar send the following report to the Roman senate? \"And we\ntook all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not\nfrom them, three-score cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of\nOg in Bashan. All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and\nbars; beside unwalled towns a great many. And we utterly destroyed them,\nas we did unto. Sihon, king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men,\nwomen, and children of every city.\"\n\nDid Caesar take the city of Jericho \"and utterly destroy all that was\nin the city, both men and women, young and old\"? Did he smite \"all the\ncountry of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the\nsprings, and all their kings, and leave none remaining that breathed, as\nthe Lord God had commanded\"?\n\nSearch the records of the whole world, find out the history of every\nbarbarous tribe, and you cart find no crime that touched a lower depth\nof infamy than those the bible's God commanded and approved. For such\na God I have no words to express my loathing and contempt, and all the\nwords in all the languages of man would scarcely be sufficient. Away\nwith such a God! Give me Jupiter rather, with Io and Europa, or even\nSiva with his skulls and snakes.\n\nTenth. With having repudiated the doctrine of \"total depravity.\"\n\nWhat a precious doctrine is that of the total depravity of the human\nheart! How sweet it is to believe that the lives of all the good and\ngreat were continual sins and perpetual crimes; that the love a mother\nbears her child is, in the sight of God, a sin; that the gratitude of\nthe natural heart is simple meanness; that the tears of pity are impure;\nthat for the unconverted to live and labor for others is an offense to\nheaven; that the noblest aspirations of the soul are low and groveling\nin the sight of God; that man should fall upon his knees and ask\nforgiveness, simply for loving his wife and child, and that even the act\nof asking forgiveness is in fact a crime!\n\nSurely it is a kind of bliss to feel that every woman and child in the\nwide world, with the exception of those who believe the five points, or\nsome other equally cruel creed, and such children as have been baptized,\nought at this very moment to be dashed down to the lowest glowing gulf\nof hell.\n\nTake from the Christian the history of his own church--leave that\nentirely out of the question--and he has no argument left with which to\nsubstantiate the total depravity of man.\n\nEleventh. With having doubted the \"perseverance of the saints.\"\n\nI suppose the real meaning of this doctrine is, that Presbyterians are\njust as sure of going to heaven as all other folks are of going to hell.\nThe real idea being, that it all depends upon the will of God, and not\nupon the character of the person to be damned or saved; that God has the\nweakness to send Presbyterians to Paradise, and the justice to doom the\nrest of mankind to eternal fire.\n\nIt is admitted that no unconverted brain can see the least particle of\nsense in this doctrine; that it is abhorrent to all who have not been\nthe recipients of a \"new heart;\" that only the perfectly good can\njustify the perfectly infamous.\n\nIt is contended that the saints do not persevere of their own free\nwill--that they are entitled to no credit for persevering; but that God\nforces them to persevere, while on the other hand, every crime is\ncommitted in accordance with the secret will of God, who does all things\nfor his own glory.\n\nCompared with this doctrine, there is no other idea, that has ever been\nbelieved by man, that can properly be called absurd.\n\nTwelfth, With having spoken and written somewhat lightly of the idea of\nconverting the heathen with doctrinal sermons.\n\nOf all the failures of which we have any history or knowledge, the\nmissionary effort is the most conspicuous. The whole question has been\ndecided here, in our own country, and conclusively settled. We have\nnearly exterminated the Indians, but we have converted none. From the\ndays of John Eliot to the execution of the last Modoc, not one Indian\nhas been the subject of irresistible grace or particular redemption.\nThe few red men who roam the western wilderness have no thought or care\nconcerning the five points of Calvin. They are utterly oblivious to\nthe great and vital truths contained in the Thirty-nine Articles, the\nSaybrook platform, and the resolutions of the Evangelical Alliance. No\nIndian has ever scalped another on account of his religious belief. This\nof itself shows conclusively that the missionaries have had no effect.\n\nWhy should we convert the heathen of China and kill our own? Why should\nwe send missionaries across the seas, and soldiers over the plains?\nWhy should we send bibles to the east and muskets to the west? If it\nis impossible to convert Indians who have no religion of their own; no\nprejudice for or against the \"eternal procession of the Holy Ghost,\" how\ncan we expect to convert a heathen who has a religion; who has plenty\nof gods and bibles and prophets and Christs, and who has a religious\nliterature far grander than our own? Can we hope with the story of\nDaniel in the lions' den to rival the stupendous miracles of India? Is\nthere anything in our bible as lofty and loving as the prayer of the\nBuddhist? Compare your \"Confession of Faith\" with the following: \"Never\nwill I seek nor receive private individual salvation--never enter into\nfinal peace alone; but forever and everywhere will I live and strive for\nthe universal redemption of every creature throughout all worlds. Until\nall are delivered, never will I leave the world of sin, sorrow, and\nstruggle, but will remain where I am.\"\n\nThink of sending an average Presbyterian to convert a man who daily\noffers this tender, this infinitely generous, this incomparable prayer.\nThink of reading the 109th Psalm to a heathen who has a bible of his own\nin which is found this passage: \"Blessed is that man and beloved of all\nthe gods, who is afraid of no man, and of whom no man is afraid.\"\n\nWhy should you read even the New Testament to a Hindu, when his own\nChrishna has said, \"If a man strike thee, and in striking drop his\nstaff, pick it up and hand it to him again\"? Why send a Presbyterian to\na Sufi, who says, \"Better one moment of silent contemplation and inward\nlove, than seventy thousand years of outward worship\"? \"Whoso would\ncarelessly tread one worm that crawls on earth, that heartless one is\ndarkly alienate from God; but he that, living, embraceth all things in\nhis love, to live with him God bursts all bounds above, below.\"\n\nWhy should we endeavor to thrust our cruel and heartless theology upon\none who prays this prayer: \"O God, show pity toward the wicked; for on\nthe good thou hast already bestowed thy mercy by having created them\nvirtuous\"?\n\nCompare this prayer with the curses and cruelties of the Old\nTestament--with the infamies commanded and approved by the being whom we\nare taught to worship as a God--and with the following tender product\nof Presbyterianism: \"It may seem absurd to human wisdom that God should\nharden, blind, and deliver up some men to a reprobate sense; that he\nshould first deliver them over to evil, and then condemn them for that\nevil; but the believing spiritual man sees no absurdity in all this,\nknowing that God would be never a whit less good even though he should\ndestroy all men.\"\n\nOf all the religions that have been produced by the egotism, the malice,\nthe ignorance and ambition of man, Presbyterianism is the most hideous.\n\nBut what shall I say more, for the time would fail me to tell of\nSabellianism, of a \"Modal Trinity,\" and the \"Eternal Procession of the\nHoly Ghost\"?\n\nUpon these charges, a minister is to be tried, here in Chicago; in this\ncity of pluck and progress--this marvel of energy--this miracle of\nnerve. The cry of \"heresy,\" here, sounds like a wail from the dark\nages--a shriek from the inquisition, or a groan from the grave of Calvin.\n\nAnother effort is being made to enslave a man.\n\nIt is claimed that every member of the church has solemnly agreed\nnever to outgrow the creed; that he has pledged himself to remain an\nintellectual dwarf. Upon this condition the church agrees to save his\nsoul, and he hands over his brains to bind the bargain. Should a fact be\nfound inconsistent with the creed, he binds himself to deny the fact\nand curse the finder. With scraps of dogmas and crumbs of doctrine, he\nagrees that his soul shall be satisfied forever. What an intellectual\nfeast the Confession of Faith must be! It reminds one of the dinner\ndescribed by Sydney Smith, where everything was cold except the water,\nand everything sour except the vinegar.\n\nEvery member of a church promises to remain orthodox, that is to\nsay--stationary. Growth is heresy. Orthodox ideas are the feathers that\nhave been moulted by the eagle of progress. They are the dead leaves\nunder the majestic palm, while heresy is the bud and blossom at the top.\n\nImagine a vine that grows at one end and decays at the other. The\nend that grows is heresy, the end that rots is orthodox. The dead are\northodox, and your cemetery is the most perfect type of a well regulated\nchurch. No thought, no progress, no heresy there. Slowly and silently,\nside by side, the satisfied members peacefully decay. There is only this\ndifference--the dead do not persecute.\n\nAnd what does a trial for heresy mean? It means that the Church says to\na heretic, \"Believe as I do, or I will withdraw my support. I will not\nemploy you. I will pursue you until your garments are rags; until your\nchildren cry for bread; until your cheeks are furrowed with tears. I\nwill hunt you to the very portals of the tomb, and then my God will do\nthe rest. I will not imprison you. I will not burn you. The law prevents\nmy doing that. I helped make the law, not however to protect you, nor to\ndeprive me of the right to exterminate you; but in order to keep other\nchurches from exterminating me.\"\n\nA trial for heresy means that the spirit of persecution still lingers in\nthe Church; that it still denies the right of private judgment; that it\nstill thinks more of creed than truth, and that it is still determined\nto prevent the intellectual growth of man. It means that churches are\nshambles in which are bought and sold the souls of men. It means that\nthe Church is still guilty of the barbarity of opposing thought with\nforce. It means that if it had the power, the mental horizon would be\nbounded by a creed; that it would bring again the whips and chains and\ndungeon keys, the rack and fagot of the past But let me tell the Church\nit lacks the power. There have been, and still are, too many men who own\nthemselves--too much thought, too much knowledge for the Church to grasp\nagain the sword of power. The Church must abdicate. For the Eglon of\nsuperstition Science has a message from Truth.\n\nThe heretics have not thought and suffered and died in vain. Every\nheretic has been, and is, a ray of light Not in vain did Voltaire, that\ngreat man, point from the foot of the Alps the finger of scorn at every\nhypocrite in Europe. Not in vain were the splendid utterances of the\ninfidels, while beyond all price are the discoveries of science.\n\nThe Church has impeded, but it has not and it cannot stop the onward\nmarch of the human race. Heresy cannot be burned, nor imprisoned, nor\nstarved. It laughs at presbyteries and synods, at ecumenical councils\nand the impotent thunders of Sinai. Heresy is the eternal dawn, the\nmorning star, the glittering herald of the day. Heresy is the last and\nbest thought. It is the perpetual New World, the unknown sea, toward\nwhich the brave all sail. It is the eternal horizon of progress.\n\nHeresy extends the hospitalities of the brain to a new thought.\n\nHeresy is a cradle; orthodoxy, a coffin.\n\nWhy should man be afraid to think, and why should he fear to express his\nthoughts?\n\nIs it possible that an infinite Deity is unwilling that a man should\ninvestigate the phenomena by which he is surrounded? Is it possible that\na god delights in threatening and terrifying men? What glory, what honor\nand renown a god must win on such a field! The ocean raving at a drop; a\nstar envious of a candle; the sun jealous of a fire-fly.\n\nGo on, presbyteries and synods, go on! Thrust the heretics out of the\nChurch--that is to say, throw away your brains,--put out your eyes.\nThe infidels will thank you. They are willing to adopt your exiles.\nEvery deserter from your camp is a recruit for the army of progress.\nCling to the ignorant dogmas of the past; read the 109th Psalm; gloat\nover the slaughter of mothers and babes; thank God for total depravity;\nshower your honors upon hypocrites, and silence every minister who is\ntouched with that heresy called genius.\n\nBe true to your history. Turn out the astronomers, the geologists, the\nnaturalists, the chemists, and all the honest scientists. With a whip of\nscorpions, drive them all out. We want them all. Keep the ignorant,\nthe superstitious, the bigoted, and the writers of charges and\nspecifications.\n\nKeep them, and keep them all. Repeat your pious platitudes in the drowsy\nears of the faithful, and read your bible to heretics, as kings read\nsome forgotten riot-act to stop and stay the waves of revolution.\nYou are too weak to excite anger. We forgive your efforts as the sun\nforgives a cloud--as the air forgives the breath you waste.\n\nHow long, O how long, will man listen to the threats of God, and shut\nhis eyes to the splendid possibilities of Nature? How long, O how long\nwill man remain the cringing slave of a false and cruel creed?\n\nBy this time the whole world should know that the real bible has not yet\nbeen written, but is being written, and that it will never be finished\nuntil the race begins its downward march, or ceases to exist.\n\nThe real bible is not the work of inspired men, nor prophets, nor\napostles, nor evangelists, nor of Christs. Every man who finds a fact,\nadds, as it were, a word to this great book. It is not attested\nby prophecy, by miracles or signs. It makes no appeal to faith, to\nignorance, to credulity or fear. It has no punishment for unbelief, and\nno reward for hypocrisy. It appeals to man in the name of demonstration.\nIt has nothing to conceal. It has no fear of being read, of being\ncontradicted, of being investigated and understood. It does not pretend\nto be holy, or sacred; it simply claims to be true. It challenges the\nscrutiny of all, and implores every reader to verify every line for\nhimself. It is incapable of being blasphemed. This book appeals to\nall the surroundings of man. Each thing that exists testifies of its\nperfection. The earth, with its heart of fire and crowns of snow; with\nits forests and plains, its rocks and seas; with its every wave and\ncloud; with its every leaf and bud and flower, confirms its every word,\nand the solemn stars, shining in the infinite abysses, are the eternal\nwitnesses of it's truth.","title":"Heretics And Heresies: From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":8810}