Chapter XIV: Part 14

We will give the names of six noted Freethinkers, and could give more, but give these six to begin with: Stephen Girard, Robert Owen, James Lick, William Maclure, John Rodman, and Peter Brigham. These gentleman who were all Infidels, gave at least fifteen millions of dollars for education, science, and charity. The vast sum given by Stephen Girard for a secular education of orphan children has been stolen by Christians and put to another use.

Orthodoxy and Liberalism Compared.

1. Orthodoxy has a creed, but Liberalism has none. A creed is something you do not understand, but it is nevertheless necessary for you to profess that you believe it--and the more unreasonable and impossible this something is the greater merit you have in saying you believe it.

2. Orthodoxy has a Bible. Liberalism accepts all bibles and books for what they are worth.

3. Orthodoxy has a savior--Liberalism seeks to make all men saviors.

It should not be forgotten that the orthodox savior has failed after trying for eighteen centuries. He even fails to save his own professed people and to make them any better than other folks.

4. Orthodoxy has a prospective heaven. Liberalism takes no stock in harps and crowns in the sky country--and is not terrorized by smoke from the sulphur lake.

5. Orthodoxy insists that the most imperative duty is to believe, while Liberalism teaches that man should think, question, and investigate, and always be governed by reason.

The one preaches "he that hath ears to hear, let him hear (us the preachers);" the other teaches that "he who has brains to think, let him think."

6. Orthodoxy commands you to obey. Liberalism inspires you to defy despotism and to love liberty.

7. Orthodoxy tells you that there is merit in believing. Liberalism shows you that there is no merit in belief.

8. Orthodoxy maintains that belief is subject to one's will. Liberalism proves that intelligent belief depends upon evidence, and that religious beliefs are inherited.

9. Orthodoxy hinges most of its teachings upon the traditions of the past, the mysteries of the present and the hopes of an imaginary future.

Liberalism admits of no postponement. "One world at a time," and now is the time.

10. Orthodoxy is opposed to the teachings of science. See the lives of Galileo, Bruno, Copernicus.

11. Orthodoxy persecutes her own followers; for example: Dr. Thomas, Professor Swing, Professor William Robertson Smith of Aberdeen College, Scotland, Professor Winchell of Vanderbilt University, Professor Blauvelt, Professor John Miller of Princeton, New Jersey, and hosts of others.

12. Orthodoxy seeks to guide men by authority, mottoes, and texts. Liberalism inspires man to govern and guide himself through the exercise of his own reason.

13. Orthodoxy teaches that the innocent must suffer that the guilty may escape. Liberalism teaches that justice should be meted out to all. The great scheme of salvation failed because it was a "scheme." It is now pretty well known as a "bankrupt scheme."

14. "The Bible has stood the attack of Infidelity during eighteen centuries." Ignorance has stood the attack of knowledge for a much longer time, and yet ignorance has not so very materially suffered--it is still ignorance.

Vice has stood the attacks of virtue ever since the world began. Superstition has been besieged by science for many centuries, and yet superstition seems hale and hearty and bids fair to have a long life. Is it true that those who believe in the Bible are willing to have it tested by reason, justice, or humanity? It is not true that it has stood the test of science. Christians are not willing to have the Bible tested.

"The Infidel rejects the religion of his mother." Not always; but even suppose it were true, did not Jesus reject the religion of his mother? Did not Paul, Peter, Luther, Wesley--did they not all reject the religion of their mothers?

Does not preaching consist in asking people to reject the religion of their mothers and to come over to the preacher's religion?

"Freethinkers are ruthless, and do not care how much they hurt our feelings. They speak coarsely upon sacred subjects." Yes; but do not Christians hurt our feelings? They send us to hell, and then put on a look of injured innocence if we do not sweetly return them "thanks."

It is often charged that Freethinkers do not believe anything. While it is true that we are not strong in any form of religious beliefs, yet it is true that we have most positive and decided convictions in regard to this world. We advocate freedom, truth, justice, equity, and every known human virtue. These all have an existence, we believe in all these present existing virtues. We believe in the realities, but the saint believes in the unrealities. He relishes as the meat and drink of his soul, such airy nothings as: dreams, visions, trances, inspirations, revelations, mysteries, miracles, witches, evil spirits, demons, devils, angels, immaculate conception, raising of the dead, drinking poison with impunity, omens, signs, sorcery, magic, resurrection, and ascension.

"We are fools for Christ's sake," says the apostle, and in the language of the Quaker, we must say, we have not the heart to contradict him.

It is objected that "Freethought has no moral standard."--Yes it has--it has Reason the only true lamp to man's path. "But Reason is fallible, you can not always trust it." You cannot always trust the reason of him who is not well developed mentally and well informed. But the Bible is fallible, and always fallible, and you can trust it in but very few places except where it presents truth; and this moral truth is older than it. So we could get along without the Bible, but we could hardly get along without Reason, although some people try to.

"There is no agreement among Freethinkers." That is their glory. Freethought has no procrustean bed upon which it may bring all of its constituency to one and the same size. The glory of Freethought is that it inspires man to become free and possess his liberty against all invaders. To be free is to be a man, and not to be free is to be a slave.

Is there, let me ask, anything like agreement among the creeds? Have the Bible expounders always seen eye to eye? Do the biblical critics all harmonize? Where, I would like to know, can you find more disagreement than in the Christian church?

Infidelity.

"Infidelity is honest. When it reaches the confines of reason, it says: I know no further.

"Infidelity does not palm its guess upon the ignorant as a demonstration. Infidelity proves nothing by slander--establishes nothing by abuse.

"Infidelity has nothing to hide. It has no 'holy of holies,' except the abode of truth. It has no curtain that the hand of investigation has not the right to draw aside. It lives in the cloudless light, in the very noon of human eyes.

"Infidelity has no bible to be blasphemed. It does not cringe before an angry god.

"Infidelity says to every man: Investigate for yourself. There is no punishment for unbelief.

"Infidelity asks for no protection from legislatures. It wants no man fined because he contradicts its doctrines.

"Infidelity relies simply upon evidence--not evidence of the dead, but of the living.

"Infidelity has no infallible pope. It relies only on infallible fact. It has no priest except the interpreter of nature. The universe is its church. Its bible is everything that is true. It implores every man to verify every word for himself, and it implores him to say if he does not believe it, that he does not.

"Infidelity does not fear contradiction. It is not afraid of being laughed at. It invites the scrutiny of all doubters, of all unbelievers. It does not rely upon awe, but upon reason. It says to the whole world: It is dangerous not to think. It is dangerous not to be honest. It is dangerous not to investigate. It is dangerous not to follow where reason leads.

"Infidelity requires every man to judge for himself. Infidelity preserves the manhood of man." (Ingersoll's "Interviews," p. 165.)

Por.--Why, man, what's the matter? Don't tear your hair.

Sir Hugh.--I have been beaten in a discussion, overwhelmed and humiliated.

Por.--Why didn't you call your adversary a fool?

Sir Hugh.--My God! I forgot it!

The Objects of Orthodoxy and Liberalism.

Liberalism, like all reform movements, is poorly understood by all the masses. The more ignorant of the clergy know nothing of its real objects, and the few who do understand it dare not tell the truth, therefore we can not refer to its real objects too often. In this article we propose to place side by side the principle objects of Orthodoxy and Liberalism without comment so that our readers will be able to study them in contrast and see which is the more reasonable.

Orthodoxy seeks first and above all to glorify God; Liberalism seeks first and above all to glorify man.

Orthodoxy seeks to save men from hell; Liberalism seeks to save them from vice, ignorance, and superstition.

Orthodoxy teaches men how to die; Liberalism teaches them how to live.

Orthodoxy says believe and be saved; Liberalism says behave and be saved.

Orthodoxy promises happiness to the elect in another world; Liberalism seeks to make all happy in this one.

Orthodoxy encourages men to seek for mansions in the skies; Liberalism encourages them to secure homes on earth.

Orthodoxy teaches men to rely on God and pray; Liberalism teaches them to rely on themselves and work.

Orthodoxy teaches self-abnegation; Liberalism teaches self-respect.

Orthodoxy tells you what the Bible means; Liberalism takes it for granted the Bible means what it says.

Orthodoxy says salvation is by faith only; Liberalism says it is by honesty, education, and industry.

Orthodoxy offers a substitute for the sins of such as believe; Liberalism expects every man to answer for his own acts. (Independent Pulpit.)

CHRISTIANITY AND MATERIALISM COMPARED.

Christianity Teaches: Materialism Teaches:

1. The existence of a God 1. The self-existence, the infinite in presence, yet a eternity, and the sufficiency of personal being; infinite in nature, and the universality and knowledge, yet a being who invariableness of natural law. cogitates, contrives, plans, and designs, like man; infinite in 2. That in the history of this power, yet the author of a world world there has been an evolution full of imperfections; infinite from the simple to the complex, in goodness (as well as power), from the special to the general, yet permits martyrs to expire from the homogeneous to the amid flames, and patriots and heterogeneous. philanthropists to languish in dungeons; unchangeable, yet at a 3. That good and evil are relative certain time after a terms. All morality is founded on beginningless state of inaction, utility and evolved by the wants aroused from his idleness and and necessities of human existence. made a universe out of nothing; Honesty is right, not because a God is not the cause of evil, yet the has so declared, but because man's creator of everything and security, safety, and happiness are everybody save himself; is free promoted by it. from infirmities, yet is pleased with some things and displeased 4. That man's condition, although with others; is without body, imperfect, is improvable by his own parts, or passions, and yet is of unaided efforts. the masculine gender. 5. That man should look to himself 2. The original perfection of and not to a spectacle of suffering everything. and death of eighteen hundred years ago, for improvement and elevation. 3. The existence of a devil--a creature made by God, and the 6. That belief and unbelief are author of evil that will exist involuntary and without moral merit forever. or demerit.

4. That man is a "fallen 7. That instead of worshiping God, creature," and unable to improve we should direct all our efforts to by his own unassisted efforts. improve ourselves, letting "gods attend on things for gods to know." 5. That man can be "saved" only through the blood and merits of 8. That man, wherever he may exist, Christ. it is rational to believe, will be fitted to his condition. An 6. That belief in the Christian unbroken everlasting sleep, which system involves moral merit; probably awaits us all, affords no disbelief, sin. ground for fear. And how infinitely preferable to a future state of 7. That it is man's duty to punishment in which the majority of worship God by prayer and praise. our race will be forever miserable!

8. That a comparatively small 9. That the teachings of reason and portion of mankind in the future the lessons of experience are the will be happy; the greater only revelations man has received. portion will be in torment eternally. 10. That the Bible should be tested by the same rules of historical and 9. That man has received a book modern criticism that are applied revelation, of which, however, to other ancient documents. but a comparatively small part of the race has ever obtained 11. That the barbarous acts of the information. Israelites, like those of other ancient nations, were the result of 10. That reason should be their undeveloped, and uncivilized subordinated to the teachings of condition. the Bible. 12. That the universe is full of 11. That the acts of the Jews, mysteries, above our comprehension, such as are practiced now by but none contrary to our reason. barbarians only, were commanded by God, and were, therefore, 13. That the difference of opinion right. among Liberals is consistent with their common position that man has 12. That there are mysteries no infallible standard. That the contrary to experience and enlightened reason of man is the reason, which must nevertheless highest and best standard he be believed. possesses.

13. Although God has given man a 14. That woman is man's equal and revelation, there is great natural companion--exists for him uncertainty as to what he meant only in the sense in which he to say on several subjects of exists for her. great importance. 15. That slavery, polygamy, and 14. That woman is man's inferior despotism are evils whenever and and subordinate, was made for his wherever they exist. gratification and convenience, while man was made for himself 16. That man should attend to the and the glory of God. affairs of this world, and, contrary to the notion of Jesus, 15. That God has approved and should take "thought for the sanctioned polygamy, slavery, and morrow." despotism. 17. That evil is due to natural 16. That man should take no causes. Man can gradually remove thought for the morrow. He should the evils that afflict him by pattern after the lilies of the becoming acquainted with his field. nature, relations, and surroundings. 17. That man's ills and sufferings are ascribable largely 18. Jesus was probably a reformer, to the immediate agency of a a "come-outer," an "Infidel" of his personal, malicious Devil--a time. We can esteem him as a being of extended presence, of benefactor without worshiping him almost infinite knowledge, of as a God. great strategy, and immense power. 19. The present is better than the past, and the golden age of the 18. That Jesus was God Almighty world is in the future. incased in human flesh.

19. That the golden age of the earth was in the past. B. F. Underwood.

"Safest to Believe."

It has often been argued that credulity is safer than skepticism--that "it is safest to believe;" inasmuch as if a man believes in heaven and hell, and there be no such places, he is, if no gainer, at least no loser; whereas the Infidel may lose, and cannot gain. Upon the same principle, it were safest to believe all the religions of the world at once--Christian, Mohammedan, Jewish, Hindoo, Confucian, and all the rest; because it is but insuring the matter by halves to trust to one only. If Allah be not the only God and Mahomet be an imposter, there is no harm done and nothing lost; and if there be not a paradise in another world, there has been a pleasant dream of anticipated joys in this.

Let us ask, is the balance of profit and loss fairly struck? Are the chances all in favor of the believer and all against the skeptic? Is there nothing to be thrown into the opposite scale? Surely much. If religion be a fallacy, it is a fallacy pregnant with mischief. It excites the fears without foundation; it fosters feelings of separation between the believer and the unbeliever; it consumes valuable time that can never be recalled, and valuable talents that ought to be better employed; it draws money from our pockets to support a delusion; it teaches the elect to look upon their fellow men as heathen and castaways, living in sin here, and doomed to perdition hereafter; it awakens harassing doubts, gloomy despondency, and fitful melancholy; it turns our thoughts from the things of the world, where alone true knowledge is found; it speaks of temporal miseries and temporal pleasures as less than nothing and vanity, and thus fosters indifference to the causes of the weal and woe of mankind; worse than all, it chains us down to an antiquated orthodoxy, and forbids the free discussion of those very subjects which it most concerns us to investigate. If religion be a fallacy, its votaries are slaves. Whereupon, then, rests the assertion, that if the believer does not gain, he cannot lose? Is it nothing to lose time and talents, to waste our labor on that which is not bread, and our money upon that which profiteth not? Is it nothing to feel that the human beings that surround us are children of the devil and heirs of hell? Is it nothing to think that we may perhaps look across the great gulf and see some one we have loved on earth tormented in a fiery lake; and hear him ask us to dip a finger in water that it may cool his parched tongue? Is it no loss to live in disquiet by day, and in fear by night; to pass through dark seasons of doubt and temptation, and to be conscious that we are but as strangers and pilgrims here, toiling through a weary valley of cares and sorrows? Is it no loss to hold back when truth oversteps the line of orthodoxy, and when there ought to be free discussion, to shrink before we know not what? Is all this no loss? Or, is it not rather the loss of all that a free and rational being most values?

Those engaged in the trade of religion, imagine themselves to have a mighty advantage against Infidels upon the strength of the old, worn out argument that whether the Christian religion be true or false there can be no harm in believing; and that belief is, at any rate, the safer side. Now to say nothing of this old popish argument, which a sensible man must see is the very essence of popery, and would oblige us to believe all the absurdities and nonsense in the world: inasmuch as if there be no harm in believing, and there be some harm and danger in not believing, the more we believe, the better; and all the argument for any religion whatever would be, that it should frighten us out of our wits; the more terrible, the more true; and it would be our duty to become the converts of that religion, whatever it might be, whose priests could swear the loudest, and damn and curse the fiercest. This is a wolfish argument in sheep's clothing. (Truth Seeker tract.)

The "Safe Side."

"Ours is the safe side," says the Christian; "for if Infidelity be true then both Infidel and Christian have the same destiny, namely to die and end all, but if Christianity be true what will become of the Infidel?" In reply to this we say, that although at death both believer and unbeliever fall asleep side by side upon the bosom of mother earth, yet it does not make yours the safe side; because if Christianity be true then the most of the human race go into eternal torment. Orthodoxy has always taught that "many are called but few are chosen." Now if nine tenths of the race are going to suffer endless pain I do not see how those who are going to constitute a large part of that number and are to be eternally lost, can call it the "safe side." For it should not be forgotten that the vast majority of those who are going to suffer the wrath of God, are professed Christians. "Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them--I never knew you, depart from me ye that work iniquity." (Mat. 7 : 22, 23.)

No, no, it will not do to trust that side as the "safe side" where "many are called but few are chosen."

We need something safer than that.

Again, we do not see how it can be the "safe side," to despise this life, in hopes of another that we know nothing of. If Infidelity be true, all Christians are superstitious idolaters. If Infidelity be true, Christians are deceived and are corrupting the minds of millions of children with superstition which will render them bigoted, cruel, and unhappy. And this is about the size of it. How, then, can it be the safe side. The safe side is always to be fair and honorable. It is safe always to examine both sides. It is safe to be on the alert for more truth. It is safe to accept the truth even when it cuts away old prejudices and old beliefs. It is safe not to be a sectarian. It is not safe to be a partizan, but it is safe to be free, courageous, and honest in all things. It is not safe for you to cling to myths, fables, and superstitions, and to leave them as a blighting inheritance to your children.

Popular Objections to Infidelity Answered, Showing Some Mistakes of Christians.

1. That we are negative, only.--We deny what we deem to be false, we affirm what we believe to be true, Christians do the same; only much that they affirm, we deny, and much that they deny, we affirm. Negation is necessary and healthful. No affirmation is possible that does not presuppose a negation. Negation is but the assailing side of affirmation. We deny the fables of mythology; we affirm the demonstrable truths of science.

2. That we have no incentive to good deeds.--If the Christian acts as he believes, he does good to escape hell and gain heaven--he respects the rights of others through fear of punishment and hope of reward. Hence it is that he cannot understand how the man who rejects his creed can be a good man. We do right because all the experience of the race has shown that what we call "right" is conducive to happiness; because the line of right action is the line of least resistance; because we believe in the principle of reciprocity, and because every act of every individual becomes a part of the inheritance of the race, and thus as we are, so shall be our children. If we are intemperate, diseased, and criminal, our children shall suffer in consequence thereof. What higher or stronger incentive to right action can be offered?

3. That we are unhappy.--Why should we be more unhappy than the Christian? Why should we not be more happy? We live in the same world; we believe in making the most of its opportunities for obtaining happiness, while he (theoretically, at least,) believes that earthly joy depreciates heavenly bliss; we are cursed by no fear of an angry God, by no dreams of an endless hell and of a revengeful devil; the Christian no more than the Infidel, is exempt from accident, sickness and death, and the agony of parting with loved ones is his no less than ours. He accepts Revelation and Creation, and hence believes that we belong to a falling race; we accept Science and Evolution, and hence believe that we belong to a rising race. Which is the most rational and hope inspiring belief?

4. That it is "safest to believe."--If this proves anything it proves too much. If our future (if we have one) can be rendered more secure by pretending to believe when we do not, then the Protestant should accept Catholicism, and the Catholic, Protestantism, while the members of every sect should believe all that is taught by all other sectarists and Christians of every school should believe all that is contained in the sacred books of other religions.

5. That we hurt the feelings of those who cherish the old faith.--Why should the Christian complain that we disturb settled convictions and cut loose the anchored bark of faith? Has not Christianity ever been a missionary religion? It seeks to disturb the religion of the whole world. Christians attack all religions other than their own--our offence is that we include Christianity in the category of false faiths. (Lucifer.)

"All Owing to the Bible."

"It is a very common argument with Christians, that only those nations which have had the Bible are refined, civilized and learned. The following is the boastful manner in which Christians set forth the claims of their religion: "Take a map of the world, draw a line around those countries that have enjoyed the highest degree of refinement, and you will encircle just those nations that have received the Bible as their authority in religion." In refutation of this assumption Horace Seaver writes: "From this language the plain inference is, that those nations have been indebted to the influence of the Bible for the positions to which they have attained. Let us follow out a little this line of argument and see where it will lead.

"The ancient Egyptians stood as far in advance of their contemporaries as do the nations of Christendom at the present day, as the remains of their cities and temples fully attest. And if the argument is good, they were indebted for that superiority to their worship of cats, crocodiles, and onions!

"The ancient Greek might have exclaimed, as he beheld the proud position to which Greece attained--'See what we owe to a belief in our glorious mythology; we have reached the highest point of enlightenment the world has ever witnessed; we stand unequaled in power, wealth, the cultivation of the arts, and all that makes a nation refined, polished, and great!'

"How immeasurably would his faith in the elevating tendency of his religion have been increased could he have looked with prophetic eye into the distant ages of the future, and beheld the enlightened and Christianized nations of the nineteenth century adopting the remains of Grecian architecture, sculpture, painting, oratory, music and literature as their models! Pagan Rome, too, once mistress of the world and arbitress of nations--the home of philosophers and sages--the land in which the title 'I am a Roman citizen,' was the proudest that mortal could wear--Rome, by the above Christian argument, should have ascribed all her honor, praise, and glory to her mythology.

"The Turk and the Saracen, likewise, have had their day of power and renown. Bagdad was the seat of science and learning at a time when the nations of Europe were sunk in darkness and superstition. The Turk and Saracen should have pointed to the Koran as the source of their refinement.

"Thus we see that the Christian argument we are noticing, if it proves anything, it proves too much. If the nations of Christendom are indebted to the Bible for their enlightenment, likewise were the Egyptians indebted to their cat and crocodile and onion worship, the Greeks and Romans to their mythology and the Turks and Saracens to their Koran."--Seaver.

The following is from William Denton's "Common Sense Thoughts on the Bible:"

"'But it is well known, that in those countries where the Bible is read, studied, and believed in, there is more knowledge and greater freedom, more virtue and happiness, than in any other countries.'"

"If true, and if all this was the result of reading and believing the Bible, it would not prove the Bible to be divine. A book may be useful, though merely human. But where is the proof that we owe our virtue, liberty, and enlightenment to the Bible? The Abyssinians have had the Bible in their possession twice as long as the Anglo-Saxons, and yet they are a race of barbarians still. What did the Bible accomplish for the people of Syria, and Asia Minor, who were first blessed with it? So little, that the Koran superseded it; the Mohammedans being superior in almost every respect, to the Christians whom they conquered and converted. The Greeks and Romans were as far in advance of surrounding nations as we are or profess to be. Was it the Bible that elevated and made them and made their unsurpassed poets, painters, sculptors, and orators? Their priests, doubtless, attributed their superiority to the superior religion they possessed. So Bible believers oppose science and reform to the last; but when they triumph in spite of their opposition, they are the first to shout glory to the Bible for what it has accomplished."--Denton.

"I had a conversation with a gentleman once--and these gentlemen are always mistaking something that goes along with a thing for the cause of the thing--and he stated to me that his particular religion was the cause of all advancement. I said to him, 'No, sir; the causes of all advancement in my judgment, are plug hats and suspenders.' And I said to him, 'You go to Turkey, where they are semi-barbarians, and you won't find a pair of suspenders or a plug hat in all that country; you go to Russia, and you will find now and then a pair of suspenders at Moscow or St. Petersburg; but you go on down until you strike Austria, and black hats begin; then you go to Paris, Berlin, and New York, and you will find everybody wears suspenders and everybody wears black hats. Wherever you find education and music, there you will find black hats and suspenders.' He said that any man who said to him that plug hats and suspenders had done more for mankind than the Bible and religion he would not talk to." (Ingersoll's "Ghosts.")

THE BIBLE ON TEMPERANCE.

Passages Commending or Enjoining the Use of Wine or Strong
Drink, or Both, or including a Plentiful supply of Wine among
the Blessings to be Bestowed upon Favored individuals or tribes,
etc.; or including the Deprivation of it among the Punishments
inflicted upon the Disobedient.

"Jacob, blessing Judah, said: (Gen. 49 : 11, 12): 'Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.'

"Doesn't look as though Yahweh, the 'God of Jacob,' thought wine a very bad article.

"Num. 6 : 20: 'After that the Nazarite may drink wine.'

"In Deut. 7 : 13, God, through Moses, said to his chosen people: 'And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee; and he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil,' etc., etc.

"Just think of it, Woman's Christian Temperance Union people, God has solemnly promised to bless his faithful children with an especially large vintage, a better vintage than that of their unbelieving neighbors! Rather rough on the heretic French and the Infidel Germans!

"Deut. 11 : 14: 'That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil.'

"Yahweh is determined that the supply of wine shall not fall short.

"Deut. 14 : 26: 'And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth; and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou and thine household.'

"Rev. Mr. Stevenson to the box! Repeat your testimony, please. 'I said that, The education of the children of the republic in temperance principles logically involves the maintenance in those schools of the Bible as the great text book in morals.'

"Deut. 15 : 14: 'Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy wine-press of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.'

"This is said regarding the manumitted Hebrew slave. And so it is a blessing for God to give the fruit of the wine-press to his children? And we are to emulate him?

"It seems that God punishes his people by blasting their vineyards, and thus cutting short their supply of wine, as below:

"Deut. 28 : 39: 'Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but thou shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes, for the worms shall eat them.'

"Verse 51 of the same chapter tells the people that their cattle and wine and oil shall be taken from them if they disobey God's commands. This is the famous 'cursing chapter' of the Bible, and is just the reading calculated to make a man believe that God was the first pope of Rome.

"Deuteronomy is a very good book for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and I suggest that it hold a special meeting to pray for the evidently 'rum'-loving god who wrote it. There is much other matter in it that helps to make it an admirable work for use in the schools.

"Judges 9 : 13: 'And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?'

"Ah! so it appears that God, the 'original prohibitionist,' according to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union drinks wine, else how could it cheer him?

"Second Sam. 6 : 19: 'And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine.'

"Query: What would the Christian temperance ladies have done with that wine had they been present when David, the man after God's own heart, dealt it out to all, men as well as women?

"Second Sam. 16 : 2: 'And Ziba said, The asses be for the king's household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine that such as faint in the wilderness may drink.'

"In Kansas and Iowa many get 'faint in the wilderness,' judging by the business of the drugstores. No doubt they have all seen this prescription given by God.

"Second Chron. 2 : 10: 'And behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.'

"The article which Solomon, 'the wisest of all men,' gave to the servants of the king of Tyre in one-fourth payment for their labor in preparing the temple which he built to the Lord, was probably especially blessed by the Lord for that use, and so rendered non-intoxicating, else we must conclude that he pays those who build houses for him in what friend St. John would call 'liquid damnation.'

"And inasmuch as Solomon was the wisest of all men (or God made a mistake when he so said), and the temple was for the said God, I am justified in concluding that this God regards wine as a legal tender, and so I put the above passage in this category as one in which God has sanctified the use of wine.

"Neh. 5 : 11: (To the usurers): 'Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive yards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them.'

"Neh. 10 : 39: 'For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn, of the new wine, and the oil ... and we will not forsake the house of our God.'

"Wine, old or 'new,' seems to have been always acceptable to 'our God,' whether tendered as a holy offering or otherwise.

"'The Lord' makes wine, according to the Psalmist:

"Psalm 104 : 15: 'And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.'

"If 'the Lord' lived in Iowa, Lozier and Foster would have him arrested for violation of the new iron-clad prohibitory law.

"Prov. 3 : 10: 'So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.'

"Prov. 31 : 6, 7: 'Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy heart. Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more.'

"In these two verses, the author of Proverbs has more than nullified all the good things he said in his earlier chapters, and which I have quoted in List A. I am quite sure that where they have prevented the drinking of one glass of wine or strong drink, these passages have led to the drinking of one thousand. And this is a mild statement of the case.

"Eccl. 9 : 7: 'Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.'

"Song of Sol. 1 : 2: 'Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for thy love is better than wine.'

"From this we gather that, next to love wine is the best thing in the world. This is the opinion of most bacchanalian experts, I believe. Solomon seems to have had much experience.

"Song of Sol. 5 : 1: 'I have drunk my wine with my milk; eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O believers.'

"Is this the earliest mention of milk punch?

"Song of Sol. 8 : 2: 'I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.' Metaphorical, undoubtedly.

"Isa. 1 : 22: 'Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water.'

"Have your wine full strength, as much as you would have your silver unalloyed, is the admonition of God's prophet.

"Isa. 24 : 7: 'The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth; all the merry-hearted do sigh.'

"One more in the long list of passages wherein it is said that God punished his chosen people by cutting off their vintage. What God regards as a real deprivation to lose must be good to have and to keep, in his opinion, whatever the Woman's Christian Temperance Union people may think about it. Verse 9 says: 'They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.' Verse 11: 'There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened; the mirth of the land is gone.'

"God thus punished them by taking away their wine, on the same principle that he punishes us by killing our children, as Christians say that he does. Will they contend that children are inherently an evil? They must if they follow the same line of reasoning that they do in interpreting these texts.

"Isa. 27 : 2, 3: 'In that day sing ye unto her, a vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.'

"Figurative, doubtless! So is the next, but all the influence of these passages is on the side of intemperance, necessarily, for the simple reason that the great mass of the people will take them literally, and for the further reason that the constant association of wine with 'good news' and symbols of religion familiarize the mind with it and serve to give it something of a sacred character. This last mentioned fact helps to explain why the church so long opposed the modern temperance movement. But here is the passage above indicated, Isa. 55 : 1: 'Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat: yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.'

"Isa. 62 : 8: 'The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast labored.'

"Rev. Stevenson should suggest to the Lord that, whereas wine is an evil thing, and the Bible a 'great text book of morals,' and the palladium of temperance, essential in the proper training of our children, therefore, he, the Lord, should have clearly shown that he meant that the enemies of his chosen people should take from them their wine that through such deprivation they should be better and happier. But, no! he ranks wine with corn, and registers a mighty oath that the people shall have them both.

"Isa. 65 : 8: 'Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it, so I will do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all.'

"Jer. 31 : 12: 'Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil,' etc.

"Jer. 40 : 10: 'But ye, gather ye wine, and summer fruits, and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in the cities that ye have taken.'

"Probably 'wine' here means grapes, though it is used in the same construction as 'oil.'

"Jer. 48 : 33: 'And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab, and I have caused wine to fail from the wine presses.'

"Dan. 1 : 5: 'And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank, so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.'

"Here God intends, plainly, to convey the impression that wine is nourishing! The only way in which the Christian temperance people can relieve him from the imputation of teaching lessons so opposite to theirs is to enter the plea that he did not inspire the writer!

"Hos. 2 : 8, 9: 'For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold which they prepared for Baal. Therefore I will return and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.'

"Of course, if these passages and very many of like import, are any argument against wine, they are of equal weight in the scale against corn, wool, and many other useful and necessary articles. The authors of such verses, wherever found, unquestionably looked upon wine as one of God's good gifts to his children, but which he was compelled to sometimes deprive them of because of their disobedience.

"Hos. 9 : 2: 'The floor and the wine-press shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.'

"That is, Israel shall be punished for her transgressions by the destruction of the fertility of the soil.

"Evidently the perfume of wine was pleasing unto the Lord, for he says, in promising his blessing to the repentant people (Hos. 14 : 7): 'They shall revive as the corn, and grow as the wine; the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.'

"Joel 1 : 5: 'Awake, ye drunkards, and howl, all ye drinkers of wine.'

"This, taken by itself, would be an unqualified condemnation of intoxicants, but such was not the prophet's meaning. The verse concludes: 'Because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouths.'

"In the vision of the prophet he sees the great evils that have come upon his country; the palmer-worm, and the locust, and the canker-worm have destroyed the crops. 'The meat-offering and the drink-offering is cut off from the house of the Lord, ... the corn is wasted, the oil languisheth,' etc. While in the verse quoted the drinkers are mildly requested to howl, in verse thirteen we have, 'Gird yourselves and lament, ye priests; howl ye ministers of the altar.' No temperance admonition or lesson here, that is plain.

"Joel 3 : 18: 'And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with water,' etc.

"Thus, again, among the great blessings to be bestowed upon the faithful is wine in abundance. One of the facts that strikes me most forcibly, in making such an examination as this, is the almost universal favor with which the Hebrew prophets looked upon wine and wine-drinking; and in prophesying the evils to come upon their people because of their disobedience to God or their oppression of their fellows, they rarely fail to include the cutting off of the wine supply. This they evidently regarded as one of the greatest of calamities. Our Christian temperance friends would gladly, so they say, visit wholesale destruction upon the vineyards and barley fields, and they seem almost to seek to convey the impression that God made a mistake when he created grapes and barley. This proves how honest they are when they say that the Bible is a temperance book. In Amos 5 : 11, we have another example of the above-mentioned fact in the utterances of the prophet. Denouncing the people for their injustice, he says: 'Ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.' In the preceding sentence he had said: 'Ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them.' Houses were good, wine was good; but because of their sins they should be deprived of both. There is here no argument either direct or implied in behalf of abstinence.

"Amos 9 : 14: 'And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens and eat the fruit of them.'

"It does not seem that even Mr. Stevenson would venture to claim this verse as a Bible argument for temperance. They shall drink the wine!

"Micah. 6 : 15: 'Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.'

"How can apparently honorable men claim that God, as revealed in the Bible, disapproves of the use of intoxicants when he is continually telling his chosen people that he will punish them by destroying their corn, and their wine, and their oil; evidently taking particular pains to impress upon them the fact that they (wine, corn, and oil) are equally good and useful?

"Zeph. 1 : 13: 'They shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.'

"The same old story:

"In chapter 1, verse 11, Haggai calls for a drouth upon the land to punish the people, and he includes, as usual, the corn, and the oil, and the new wine among the things to be destroyed.

"Zech. 9 : 17: 'For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty; corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.'

"Rather a singular apportionment of his bounty, unless 'corn' means something stronger than wine.

"Matt. 11 : 19: 'The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a man is gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.' But are these her children who claim Jesus as very God and yet fly directly in the face of his precepts and practice? Or is it moral uprightness instead of wisdom that they lack?

"In Mat. 21 : 33 to 41, and Mark 12 : 1 to 9, Jesus gives us the parable of the vineyard and the husbandman, and in it all there is no hint that there was anything wrong in the business of winemaking.

"The thought that we find expressed in Mat. 11 : 19, is given again in Luke 7 : 33-4-5, where we read: 'For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking, and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! But wisdom is justified of all her children.'

"Whoever uttered these words, man or god; whoever wrote them, John or some one else one hundred or more years later, there can be no disputing regarding the lesson which is taught. It is that each individual is to determine for himself or herself in all things pertaining to personal conduct and habits. 'Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind' is the central idea of the various renderings. There is no rebuke, expressed or implied, of intemperance; there is nothing that can be tortured into a condemnation of wine-drinking or into an approval of the principle of total abstinence, or that of prohibition. Here was his opportunity to condemn the drinking of wine, to speak for that which is now called temperance; but from his lips fell no words of warning; to those gathered about him he said nothing in favor of the great reform which Christians of to-day, falsely assuming to speak in his name, declare finds its sanction and inspiration, its bulwark and tower of defense, in the Bible.

"It seems that the good Samaritan (Luke 10 : 34) had with him a supply of wine with which he dressed the wounds of the stranger.

"John 2 : 3-11: 'And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water-pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was (but the servants which drew the water knew), the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse; but thou hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.'

"John 4 : 46: 'So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine.'