22 chapters
16 hour read
Selected Chapters
22 chapters
Chapter I. Introductory
Chapter I. Introductory
W HAT is heresy that it should be so heavily punished? Why is it that society will condone many offences, pardon many vicious practices, and yet have such scant mercy for the open heretic, who is treated as though he were some horrid monster to be feared, hated, and, if possible, exterminated? Most religionists, instead of endeavoring with kindly thought to provide some solution for the difficulties propounded by their heretical brethren, indiscriminately confound all inquirers in one common cat
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Chapter II. The Sixteenth Century
Chapter II. The Sixteenth Century
Lord Macaulay, in the Edinburgh Review , after contrasting at some length the philosophy of Plato with that of Bacon, said:—“To sum up the whole: we should say that the aim of the Platonic philosophy was to exalt man into a god. The aim of the Baconian philosophy was to provide man with what he requires while he continues to be man. The aim of the Platonic philosophy was to raise us far above vulgar wants. The aim of the Baconian philosophy was to supply our vulgar wants. The former aim was nobl
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Chapter III. The Seventeenth Century
Chapter III. The Seventeenth Century
René Descartes Duperron, a few years later than Bacon (he was born in 1596, at La Haye, in Touraine, died 1650, at Stockholm) established the foundations of the deductive method of reasoning, and applied it in a manner which Bacon had apparently carefully avoided. Both Descartes and Bacon addressed themselves to the task of substituting for the old systems, a more comprehensive and useful spirit of philosophy; but while Bacon sought to accomplish this by persuading men to experiment and observat
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Chapter IV. The Eighteenth Century
Chapter IV. The Eighteenth Century
We commenced the list by a brief reference to Bernard Man-deville, a Dutch physician, born at Dordrecht in 1670, and who died in 1733; a writer with great power as a satirist, whose fable of the “Bees, or Private Vices made Public Benefits,” not only served as source for much of Helvetius, but had the double honor of an indictment at the Middlesex session, and an answer from the pen of Bishop Berkeley. One of the early, and perhaps one of the most important promoters of heresy in the United King
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HUMANITY’S GAIN FROM UNBELIEF
HUMANITY’S GAIN FROM UNBELIEF
What then is Christianity? As a system or scheme of doctrine, Christianity may, I submit, not unfairly be gathered from the Old and New Testaments. It is true that some Christians to-day desire to escape from submission to portions, at any rate, of the Old Testament; but this very tendency seems to me to be part of the result of the beneficial heresy for which I am pleading. Man’s humanity has revolted against Old Testament barbarism; and therefore he has attempted to disassociate the Old Testam
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SUPERNATURAL AND RATIONAL MORALITY
SUPERNATURAL AND RATIONAL MORALITY
THE RATIONALIST VIEW To the rationalist that act is moral which tends to the greatest happiness of the greatest number of the human family with the least injury to any. That is, the test of the morality of any act is its utility. The experience of all ages, collated and classified by the most careful and accurate amongst investigators and profound thinkers, and checked and verified by each day’s new discoveries and newer speculations, furnishes each individual with a sufficient but not infallibl
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HAS MAN A SOUL?
HAS MAN A SOUL?
The word “force” includes every phase of activity. Force does not express an entity, but is the word by which we account for, or rather the word by the use of which we avoid explaining, the activity of matter, or, as G.H. Lewes would write it, the activity of the felt. He says: “All we know is feeling and changes of feeling. We class the felt apart from the changes, the one as matter, the other as force. The qualities of matter are our feelings; the properties of matter are its qualities, viewed
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IS THERE A GOD
IS THERE A GOD
Of all words in Professor Flint’s definition, which would be appropriate if used of human beings, I mean the same as I should mean if I used the same words in the highest possible degree of any human being. Here I maintain the position taken by John Stuart Mill in his examination of Sir W. Hamilton (p. 122). Righteousness and benevolence are two of the words of description included in the definition of this creator and governor of nations. But is it righteous and benevolent to create men and gov
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A PLEA FOR ATHEISM
A PLEA FOR ATHEISM
Let Atheism be fairly examined, and neither condemned—its defence unheard—on the ex parte slanders of some of the professional preachers of fashionable orthodoxy, whose courage is bold enough while the pulpit protects the sermon, but whose valor becomes tempered with discretion when a free platform is afforded and discussion claimed; nor misjudged because it has been the custom to regard Atheism as so unpopular as to render its advocacy impolitic. The best policy against all prejudice is to firm
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A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE DEVIL
A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE DEVIL
But Satan answered the Lord and said: “Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life; put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.” Does the Lord now drive the Devil from his presence? Is there any expression of wrath or indignation against this tempter? “The Lord said unto Satan: Behold, he is in thine hand, but save his life.” And Job, being better than everybody else, finds himself smitten in consequence with sore boils fro
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WERE ADAM AND EVE OUR FIRST PARENTS?
WERE ADAM AND EVE OUR FIRST PARENTS?
These dates follow the Bible statement, and there is no portion of the orthodox text, except the period of the Judges, which will admit any considerable extension of the ordinary Oxford chronology. The Book of Judges is not a book of history. Everything in it is recounted without chronological order. It will suffice to say that the cyphers which we find in the Book of Judges and in the First Book of Samuel yield us, from the death of Joshua to the commencement of the reign of Saul, the sum-total
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NEW LIFE OF ABRAHAM
NEW LIFE OF ABRAHAM
Leaving incomprehensible problems in philology for the ordinary authorised version of our Bibles, we find that Abraham was the son of Terah. The Talmud 29 says that Abraham’s mother was Amathlai, the daughter of Karnebo (Bava Bathra, fol. 1, col. 1.) The text does not expressly state where Abraham was born, and I cannot therefore describe his birth-place with that accuracy of detail which a true believer might desire, but he “dwelt in old time on the other side of the flood” (Joshua xxiv, 2 and
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NEW LIFE OF JACOB
NEW LIFE OF JACOB
Bereshith Rabba, cap. 95, says that “wherever Jacob resided, he studied the law as his fathers did,” and it adds, “How is this, seeing that the law had not yet been given?” There is no record that Esau also studied the law, and there is no mention of any legal proceedings to set aside this very questionable birthright transfer. Isaac growing old, and fearing from his physical infirmities the near approach of death, was anxious to bless Esau before he died, and directed him to take quiver and bow
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NEW LIFE OF MOSES
NEW LIFE OF MOSES
The next plague in connection with the ministration of Moses and Aaron was that “all the cattle of Egypt died.” After “all the cattle” were dead, a boil was sent, breaking forth with blains upon man and beast. This failing in effect, Moses afterwards stretched forth his hand and smote “both man and beast” with hail, then covered the land with locusts, and followed this with a thick darkness throughout the land—a darkness which might have been felt. Whether it was felt is a matter on which I am u
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NEW LIFE OF DAVID
NEW LIFE OF DAVID
The father of David was Jesse, an Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, who had either eight sons, (1 Samuel xvi, 10-11, and xvii, 12), or only seven (1 Chronicles, ii, 13-15), and David was either the eighth son or the seventh. Some may think this a difficulty, but such persons will only be those who rely on their own intellectual faculties, or who have been misled by arithmetic. If you are in any doubt, consult some qualified divine, and he will explain to you that there is really no difference betwe
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A NEW LIFE OF JONAH
A NEW LIFE OF JONAH
Nineveh was frightened, and Nineveh moaned, and Nineveh determined to do wrong no more. “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.” God, the unchangeable, changed his purpose, and spared the city, which in his infinite wisdom he had doomed. “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.” It was enough to [vex] a saint to be sent to prophesy the destruction of the city i
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WHO WAS JESUS CHRIST?
WHO WAS JESUS CHRIST?
After the temptation Jesus worked many miracles, casting out devils and otherwise doing marvels amongst the inhabitants of Judea, who seem as a body to have been very unbelieving. If a second Jesus of Nazareth were in this heretical age to boast that he possessed the power of casting out devils, he would stand a fair chance of expiating his offence by a three months’ imprisonment with hard labor. It is true that the 72nd Canon of the Church of England recognises that ministers can cast out devil
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WHAT DID JESUS TEACH?
WHAT DID JESUS TEACH?
In the teaching of Jesus, poverty of spirit is enforced to the fullest conceivable extent: “Him that taketh away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee, and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again.” (Luke vi, 29, 30) Poverty of person, is the only possible sequence to this extraordinary manifestation of poverty of spirit. Poverty of person is attended with many unpleasantnesses; and Jesus, who knew that poverty would result from his teach
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THE TWELVE APOSTLES
THE TWELVE APOSTLES
On one occasion the whole of the disciples were sent away by Jesus in a ship, the Savior remaining behind to pray. About the fourth watch of the night, when the ship was in the midst of the sea, Jesus went unto his disciples, walking on the sea. Though Jesus went unto his disciples, and, as an expeditious way, I suppose, of arriving with them, he would have passed by them, but they saw him, and supposing him to be a spirit, cried out. Jesus bid them be of good cheer, to which Peter answered, (Ma
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THE ATONEMENT
THE ATONEMENT
6,000 years ago the first of the human race, his existence is not only unvouched for by science, but is actually questioned by the timid, and repudiated by the bolder, exponents of modern ethnology. The human race is traced back far beyond the period fixed for Adam’s sin. Egypt and India speak for humanity busy with wars, rival dynasties, and religions, long prior to the date given for the garden scene in Eden. The fall of Adam could not have brought sin upon mankind, and death by sin, if hosts
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WHEN WERE OUR GOSPELS WRITTEN?
WHEN WERE OUR GOSPELS WRITTEN?
The Religious Tract Society state that Dr. Teschendorf’s brochure is a repetition of “arguments for the genuineness and authenticity of the four Gospels,” which the erudite Doctor had previously published for the learned classes, “with explanations” now given in addition, to render the arguments “intelligible” to meaner capacities; and as the “Infidel” and “Deist” are especially referred to as likely to be overthrown by this pamphlet, we may presume that the society considers that in the 119 pag
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MR. GLADSTONE IN REPLY TO COLONEL INGERSOLL ON CHRISTIANITY
MR. GLADSTONE IN REPLY TO COLONEL INGERSOLL ON CHRISTIANITY
Early in the article, stating his own position, Mr. Gladstone says: “Belief in divine guidance is not of necessity belief that such guidance can never be frustrated by the laxity, the infirmity, the perversity of man alike in the domain of action and the domain of thought.” The whole effect of this sentence is governed by the meaning attached by the writer to the words “divine guidance.” If the meaning intended to be conveyed by the word “divine” includes the assumption of omnipotent omniscience
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