through agnostic spectacles

8/13/2019 Through Agnostic Spectacles

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THROUGH AGNOSTICSPECTACLES


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THROUGH AGNOSTICSPECTACLES

BY

ALEXANDER KADISON, M.A.

NEW YORK

THE TRUTH SEEKER CO.1919


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COPYBIGHT, 1919,By ALEXANDER KADISON

MAR -3 i91SDCLASH 780


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TO

I. D.

FRIEND AND COMRADE TRUE

I LOVINGLY INSCRIBE

THIS LITTLE BOOK


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PREFACE

My Creed, The Enigma of Life,Lines to I. D., and From Metaphysics

to Agnosticism were originally publishedin the London Literary Guide for July,1914, October, 1915, July, 1916, and Jan-ary,

1918, respectively. The Enigmaof Life was based upon a discussion led

by the author, in the fall of 1913, in thecolumns of the New York Times. The

Golden Age of Faith and Filth was firstpublished

without notes, and with a few

minor deviations from the reading of theauthor's manuscript in the New YorkTruth Seeker for October 31, 1914. The

manuscript reading (barring some half-dozen trivial alterations) is here restored;it has, moreover, been materially amplified

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MEFACE

by the addition of rather copious notes,which are given in the appendix and in-icate

in the text by superior figures.The Summons to Prayer originally ap-eared

in the Truth Seeker for November

14, 1914. Piety and Plagiarism, ac-ompaniedby a brief biographical note,

was the first and leading article in theTruth Seeker for December 25, 1915.For the catchy sub-title, even more highlyalliterative than the main title,the authorwas not responsible and can thereforeclaim no credit.

The Editors of the two Rationalistjournals named are hereby thanked forpermission to repubhsh.

It may be well to state that nothingappearing in the follov/ing pages is to beconstrued as having been prompted byhostilityon the part of the writer to thepersonality of Jesus of Nazareth. Though

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PREFACE

the author holds no brief for Jesus the

Son of God, or for his reputed Father,or for any gods that be or were or will be,he beheves that Jesus the Son of Man

the human Jesus, with whose name is asso-iatedthe pure and lofty ethic of the

Sermon on the Mount will justly remain

a source of inspiration to mankind when

dogmatic Christianity has completely dis-ppeared

^as disappear it must.

A. K.

May, 1918,


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CONTENTS


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THROUGH AGNOSTIC

SPECTACLES


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fSS^ Cree

Reason my final arbiter shall be;Blind faith is barred from my philosophy.Nor God nor Christ know I : my deity

Is Man; my creedBows to no fetish. Neither do I craveSalvation in a life beyond the grave:Far better strive mankind on earth to save

Through word and deed.

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FROM METAPHYSICS TO

AGNOSTICISM

r I iHE great uncertainty I found in^ metaphysical reasonings, writes

Benjamin Franklin, referring to his

youthful speculations, disgusted me, andI quitted that kind of reading and studyfor others more satisfactory. Are we toconclude from this that the future states-an,

once having ceased applying himselfto metaphysics, was thenceforth emanci-ated

from the intellectual attitude which

had previously accounted for the prac-ice?Apparently yes, but in reality no;

for to the end of his long life albeit hewas not primarily a metaphysicist Franklin remained, in spite of himself, in-

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METAPHYSICS TO AGNOSTICISM

delibly stamped with a metaphysical castof mind.

The mental experience of the celebratedAmerican philosopher, far from beingunique or even markedly out of the or-inary,

might be paralleled in the lives ofcountless other thinkers, both professionaland amateur. Whether or not the phe-omenon

be traceable to temperamentalfactors of a basic and ineradicable nature,it cannot be denied that certain persons,once blessed or cursed let the reader takehis choice

^with the desire to probe the

cosmos to its very bottom, persist thereineven after they have become convinced ofthe utter futility of such investigation.Like Tantalus of the myth, they mustneeds make the effort to drink time andtime again, though time and time againthey fail to quench their thirst.

Can it be that they are, after all, never17


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THROUGH AGNOSTIC SPECTACLES

quite convinced that the quest of ultimatetruth is a barren one? Can it be that inan ever-recurring doubt must be soughtthe reason for the constant renewal of asearch which the mind repeatedly re-ounces

as hopeless? It is not the searchfor deity with which I am here concerned:I assume that the majority of us areagreed in rejecting such doctrines as positor profess to demonstrate the existence ofa personal God, and in maintaining adefinitelyAgnostic attitude with regard toother more or less attenuated phases ofTheism. What I have reference to is thefact that many thinking men and women,including not a few whose Negativism andAgnosticism in the realm of theology areunequivocal, seem to find it possible totake a positive mental stand as respectsthe field of general metaphysics to giveassent, that is,to what sometimes is aptly

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designated as a ''philosophical creed.''Yet there can be no more justification,intellectually speaking, for assuming apositive position in the one case than inthe other, since in both spheres the naturallimitations of the human mind are equallypronounced.

Shall I declare myself a Logical Monistor a Logical Pluralist? Shall I subscribeto Nominalism or to Platonic Realism?Which shall I regard as the ultimatecriterion of truth perception or logicalcoherence? Can I accept, or must I re-ect,

the substance hypothesis? Is thedoctrine of eternahsm valid, or must itgive way to the doctrine of creative evo-ution?

These and a host of other idleproblems continually arise to trouble himwhose mind is not released from bondageto metaphysical speculation. And whatSir Leslie Stephen, in An Agnostic'^

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Apology y asserts of natural theology isapplicable to the entire field of meta-hysics

namely, that there is not asingleproof ... of which the negativehas not been maintained as vigorously asthe affirmative. State any one proposi-ion,

says Sir Leslie a little farther inthe course of his essay, speaking now moreparticularlyof metaphysical inquiry, inwhich all philosophers agree, and I willadmit it to be true; or any one which hasa manifest balance of authority,and I willagree that it is probable. But so long asevery philosopher flatly contradicts thefirst principles of his predecessors, whyaffect certainty?

. . .There is no cer-ainty.

It is,indeed, too true that everyposition in ontology and epistemology,without exception, resolves itself in the lastanalysisinto nothing more than a mass ofyerbiage,inasmuch as all positionsare of

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necessity grounded upon axioms or apriori convictions that is, upon unde-monstrable propositions.

And herein consists the clue to the per-nnialdifficultynvolved in the endeavour

to fathom absolute reality. Notwithstand-ngthe fact that logic inevitably lies at

the basis of all human reasoning, evenlogic,in the nature of the case, can neverdemonstrate its own fundamental prem-ses;

''and as it is logicallyprior to allother deduction, no other science can doso either (W. T. Marvin). Let therebe light says man, and there is light;but only a glimmer. Darkness still ruleson the face of the deep, and, for aughtthat can be conceived to the contrary, Avillever continue her sway.

As an example of the well-nigh incred-blelengths to which even the most bril-iantof men may be led by continued

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wandering in the deceptive labyrinth ofmetaphysics, the recently issued work byMark Twain, entitled The MysteriousStranger,^ deserves to be cited. Thebook represents the renowned humourist'smaturest thought on human life and onthe universe, and, having been posthu-ously

published, may, in a double sense,be termed his intellectual last will andtestament. It is, in general, a masterlyperformance. Its trenchant and un-nswerable

criticisms of the prevailingcreeds, together with the revelation itaffords that the author in his lateryears abandoned his earlier Deism forAtheism pure and undefiled, possess,of course, unusual interest for Ration-lists.

However

and this is a point to* The Mysterious Stranger: A Romance. By Mark

Twain. (Harper.) 151 pp., with illustrations; 7^. 6d.pet. [In the United States, $2.00 net.]


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which I would here direct particularattention this Atheism, strange to say,rested metaphj^sically, not upon amaterialistic foundation, as Atheismalmost invariably does, but upon whatis perhaps the grossest paradox of sub-ective

idealismOn the last page of the book the char-cter

called Satan who is really thephilosopher-humourist in disguise con-luding

the disclosure of the mighty secretwhich he has just revealed, declares:

**It is true, that which I have revealed to you:there is no God, no universe, no human race, noearthly life,no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream.. . . Nothing exists but you. And you are buta thought . . . wandering forlorn among theempty eternities V

Now, this pronouncement, taken in con-unctionwith the pages which immediately

precede it,is simply a categoricalavowal1?3


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of the grotesque eighteenth-century doc-rinegenerally referred to under the name

of Solipsism the doctrine that the humanmind can have valid knowledge of theexistence of nothing but itself. Thus itappears that no less gifted and illustriousa person than the late Mark Twain wasable to find a specious solution of theproblems that beset him in the most fan-astic

of all speculative positions a posi-ionfrom which the Solipsist himself

retreats the moment he begins to expoundhis views to others.

If we turn to the special problems ofmetaphysics which the various sciences physics, chemistry, biology, and all therest have raised, the same inherent limi-ations

of formal logic confront us thatconstitute the stumbling-block of generalmetaphysics. The sciences, moreover, arebuilt very largelyupon a body of concepts

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which, however well they satisfythe testof scientific utility(and that is all that isrequired of them), are notwithstandingbut hypothetical entities that may or maynot be truly existential. Prominentamong these conceptual objects whosegreat justifications their value in explain-ng

the facts of experience, but which nonethe less cannot claim phenomenal reality,are the atom, the molecule, and the un-ulating

ether supposed to permeate allspace. So eminently useful, so universallyaccepted, are these and other construc-ions

of the scientific imagination that oneis only too apt to lose sight of their truecharacter, and to ascribe to them a meta-hysical

validityas far-reachingin its im-licatias its assumption is naive and

unwarranted.Unlike religion,however, science in the

main is modest, and does not profess abil-25


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ity to penetrate the all-enshrouding veil.Those who most devote themselves to thepursuit of knowledge are best aware, to-ay

as in the past, how exceeding littlehumankind can ever hope to know. Be-ause

I have stirred a few grains ofsand on the shore/' queried the vener-ble

French entomologist, Henri Fabre,shortly before his death at the age ofninety-one, am I in a position to knowthe depths of the ocean? Life has un-athomable

secrets. Human knowledgewill be erased from the archives of theworld before we possess the last word thatthe gnat has to say to us. Scientifically,nature is a riddle without a definite so-ution

to satisfyman's curiosity. Hypo-hesisfollows hypothesis; the theoretical

rubbish heap accumulates and truth evereludes us. To know how not to knowmight well be the last word of wisdom.

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Aye, even so, by day But in the silent,solemn, sombre night, beneath the myriadmillion stars of heaven, one seems to hearthe very voice of those who in their know-edge-igno

declared, of old time, thatthey knew not that they knew not ^

* [For a well-stated though, as I of course feel, ill-founded adverse criticism of Fabre's position as indi-ated

above (and, by implication, of the position takenin the last three paragraphs of this essay), see LiteraryGuide, Feb., 1918, p. 30.]

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THE ENIGMA OF LIFE

*' ALL roads lead to Rome so runs-^^^ the ancient dictum. How true

the analogy that all mental paths, if butlogically pursued, lead inevitably to Ag-ostici

Approach and attack theriddle of the universe from whatsoever

angle you please, and the result will al-aysbe the same. As far as the attain-ent

of a definite goal is concerned, it isquite immaterial whether one treat thecosmos itself as the point of departure ofone's speculations and work inward, so tospeak, towards the finite, or whether someconcrete entity or entities be adopted asthe starting-point, and one work outwardin the direction of the infinite. To himwho meditates in Reason's company it be-

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l^HE ENIGMA OP LIJPEcomes increasingly evident that, just asthe mystery of the cosmos in its totalitydefies unravelment by man, so in its turneach and every constituent part of it re-uses,

sphinxlike, to yield up its eternalsecret.

From time immemorial, believers in anall-benevolent Providence have sought invain to formulate a reasonable theory ofthe purpose and utilityof some of thelower types of plant and animal life.Many living organisms are hideous andrepulsive beyond description,and appearto have no value whatever; a great num-er,

indeed, are positivelynoxious. Why,then, are they here? asks the Theist.Why were they created? How, in brief,can their existence be reconciled with thesupposed goodness of God?

Modern teleologistsare not the first,and, one may safely venture to assert, will

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THROUGH AGNOSTIC SPECTACLESnot be the last, to propound this question,which is a far deeper one than it wouldon the face of it appear to be. Fifteencenturies ago St. Augustine, to accountfor the existence of repulsive and harmfulorganisms, confidentlydeclared that boththe animal and the vegetable kingdomshad incurred a divine curse in consequenceof Adam's disobedience. About threecenturies later Bede, in his Hecccemeron,confirmed and emphasised the view that''fierce and poisonous animals were createdfor terrifyingman (because God foresawthat he would sin), in order that he mightbe made aware of the final punishment ofhell. In the twelfth century Peter Lom-ard,

in the Sententioe, and later MartinLuther and John Wesley, expressed simi-ar

views.But since geology, anthropology, and

ethnology have irrefutably exploded the30


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THE ENIGMA OF LIFE

legend of the creation of plants, animals,and man, and of the latter's sin and fallas narrated in Genesis, all the theologicalreasoning regarding animals and plantswhich was based on that story, and ad-ered

to for centuries, is no longer tenable.And yet it must be borne in mind thatScience herself has answered the questiononly negatively, not positively.

A little reflection should make it mani-estthat the true answer (ifthere be any)

is,and by the constitution of our facultiesever must remain, an impenetrable mys-ery

to us, inasmuch as every attemptedexplanation is, after all, but a shallowguess which does not admit of verification.This conclusion, be it noted, conformsperfectly to the Spencerian* system of

* [Though the main argument here advanced is notin the least affected, it may not be entirely irrelevantto state that the author no longer adheres to themetaphysical variety of Agnosticism expounded in

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philosophy, which teaches, among otherthings, that there is a certain boundarywhich the human intellect, by its verynature, cannot pierce, and that beyondthis limit is the unknown possibly theunknowable.

So far, so good. But do we stop here?Assuredly not; this has been only a step-ing-st

for a plant or an animalharmful to or disliked by man is certainlynot a whit more in need of an explanationthan man himself, who is harmful to anddisliked by practically every other in-abita

of the earth. If we were seriouslyto endeavour to say in what way noxiousand repulsive organisms might or mightSpencer's First Principles, but rather with certainmodifications to the purer and more nearly genuineAgnosticism taught and defended by Huxley. Cf. Benn,History of Modern Philosophy, pp. 170-171; Clodd,Thomas Henry Huxley, pp. 126, 188-190, 220-221,Literary Guide, Jan., 1902, p. 11; April, 1917, p. 64;Oct., 1917, p. 160.]

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THE ENIGMA OF LIFE

not be useful in their relation to mankind,we should do so at the risk of appearingnaively anthropocentric. What we desireto be understood as stating is simply thatwe are unable to explain the existence ofthese organisms in any non-relative, ab-olute,

and ultimate way; and not only isthis statement applicable to the lowerforms of life,but it applies with equal andundiminished force to the higher forms,not excluding man, as well.

As for anthropocentricism and all itconnotes. Agnostics should be the last tolose sight of the fact that it has alreadylong been overthrown. Its doom wassounded by Copernicus and Galileo somecenturies ago, for when the geocentrictheory fell the anthropocentric,its sistertheory, could not long survive; and it re-eived

its death-blow at the hands ofDarwin at the time the doctrine of evolu-

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tion in its biologicalaspect was first enun-iated.All the meaning, then, that these

lines seek to convey is that, life itself beingultimately a mystery, we cannot hope toaccount ultimately for the presence of anylivingorganism.

''But, exclaims the teleologistin de-pair,if the scientists,philosophers,and

theologians are unable to provide anyadequate reason for the existence of lowforms of life that are repulsive and hideousand have no obvious purpose, and if thereis no discoverable reason why even manshould be here, then why propagate?

If there is no reason whatever for theexistence of living organisms upon thislump of dirt as it hurls through space; ifthese livingorganisms are merely the by-rodu

of motion, commotion, and mat-er;if they exist only for a moment, just

as a spark of light does when two pieces34


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THE ENIGMA OF LIFE

of flint come together, why, in the nameof common sense, should we do anythingto assist such unjust and purposeless ac-ion

on the part of Nature?The little fish is eaten by the big fish;

man eats the big fish, and Nature eatsman. But since there is no discoverablereason for the enactment of this gruesometragedy, why keep it going? To be sure,it may be said that man is dominated byinstinct,just as the lower forms of animallife are ; but to make that assertion is reallyto commit an evasion.

I am not suggesting a reform,'' theteleologisthastens to add. I am simplyasking whether anyone can give a logicalreason why the human race should be con-inued

at the frightful expense of the in-ividua

A logicalreason for the continuanceof human existence The inane question,

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which is inseparably connected with theproblem of existence in general, belongsproperly to the realm of metaphysics, orontology. Yet the metaphysicians, beingonly human, have never found it possibleto answer it in a rational manner. All thescientists, all the philosophers, all theteleologistsand theologians of the past,have failed to furnish us with a satisfac-ory

explanation. And no wonder : beingonly finite, they have naturally failed tocomprehend the infinite.

The problem is manifestly beyond ourscope. Socrates was right when he main-ained

that human knowledge at its bestamounts to very little indeed nay, to

practicallynothing. And yet we humansare so conceited as to imagine that we insignificantspecks in the universe mayexpect to solve any problem, howeverweighty or profound

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THE ENIGMA OF LIFE

What is the upshot of it all? Simplythis : That life,in any and all its phases,is ultimately just as much a mystery to-ay

as it ever was, and, by virtue of ourmental make-up, must necessarily remaina mystery. To attempt a solution of theinscrutable enigma is futilityitself. Inthe words of Huxley : Why trouble our-elves

about matters of which, however im-ortantthey may be, we do know nothing,

and can know nothing?

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THE GOLDEN AGE OFFAITH AND FILTH

DURING the past fifty years theorigins of Christianity have been

the object of much critical investigation onthe part of numerous scholars represent-ng

various schools of thought. It is amatter of common knowledge that the re-ults

of their researches have proved pain-ullydisconcerting, to say the least, to the

upholders of tradition and superstition.Strangely enough, however, precious

little work has been done in that particu-arrealm which perhaps best reveals the

amazing putridity of the faith of Christen-om.There is, if I mistake not, writes

Lecky in his monumental History of38


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THE GOLDEN AGE OF FAITH

European Morals, no department ofliterature the importance of which is moreinadequately realised than the lives of thesaints. ^ The early saints were in a veryreal sense makers of Christianity,and itis therefore earnestly to be hoped that atno distant date a greater number of ad-anced

Freethinkers may devote them-elvesto the study and exposition of the

hagiographa than have done so until now.The acknowledged patriarch of mon-

achism, St. Anthony (c.251-c. 356),^ wasborn in Egypt.^ When he was aboutnineteen years of age* he took up hishabitation in a grotto, and thereafter, tillthe day of his death, subjected himself toa mode of disciplineof an uncompromis-ngly

ascetic character. There are certainphases of his career which, though as-uredly

not calculated to refine one'saesthetic sensibilities,may at any rate pos-

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sess some interest for the Rationalistreader.

We learn from St. Athanasius (c.296-373) , in his Life of St. Anthony, that thelatter was daily a martyr to his con-cience,

and contending in the conflicts offaith.

. . .He had a garment of hair on

the inside, while the outside was skin,which he kept until his end. And heneither bathed his body with water to freehimself from filth,nor did he ever washhis feet, nor even endure so much as toput them in^ water, unless compelled bynecessity. ^ Furthermore, he never oncesuccumbed to the intensely human weak-ess

of removing or changing his clothing^during a period of not less than eighty-six years P Such was St. Anthony, theillustrious father and founder of Christianmonasticism.

There is no valid ground for question-40


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THE GOLDEN AGE OF FAlTtt

ing the substantial accuracy of the passageadduced, for, in the words of the reverendeditors of McClintock and Strong's stand-rd

theologicalencyclopaedia, St. Atha-nasius enjoyed a personal association withAnthony. ^^ That we are justifiedn con-truing

this last statement in no purelyfigurative sense will become evident fromthe manner in which the Archbishop ofAlexandria^^ extols St. Anthony for hisextreme squalidity.

The eminent theologian goes on to saythat his friend, on realisinghe was aboutto die, suummoned two of his followers whofor a number of years had been serving inthe capacity of attendants upon him, andgave them directions with regard to thefinal disposition of his body and of hiseffects. He bade them bury him anddivide his garments. ''To Athanasius thebishop, said he, give one sheepskin and

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the garment whereon I am laid, which hehimself gave me new, but which with mehas grown old. To Serapion the bishopgive the other sheepskin, and keep the hairgarment yourselves.^^ St. Athanasius,one of the fortunate heirs, hereupon in-orms

us that each of those who receivedthe sheepskin of the blessed Anthony andthe garment worn by him guards it as aprecious treasure. For even to look onthem is as it were to behold Anthony; andhe who is clothed in them seems with joyto bear his admonitions. ^ Though thesaint does not state whether he actuallysaw fit to perform the delightful experi-ent

suggested in the preceding sentence,the implication is, of course, that he did,for how could he otherwise have beenqualifiedto make the assertion?^*

Even if this account is small comparedwith his merit, continues the writer, still

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from this reflect how great Anthony, theman of God, was. ^^ One of the reasonsassigned for his greatness (or,it may be,for his being the man of God ) is thefact that St. Anthony neither throughold age was subdued by the desire ofcostly food, nor through the infirmity ofhis body changed the fashion of his cloth-ng,

nor washed even his feet with water,and yet remained entirelyfree from harm. . .

He remained strong both in handsand feet; and while all men were usingvarious foods, and washings and diversgarments, he appeared more cheerful andof greater strength. ^

Then St. Athanasius, that Father ofthe Church who has exerted an immeasur-bly

profound influence upon Christianityand Christendom, he after whom is namedthat despicable creed which consigns toeverlasting perdition those that do not

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THROUGH AGNOSTIC SPECTACLESkeep the faith whole and undefiled, ^^concludes his encomium on him who solamentably failed to keep his miserablebody undefiled. To cap the climax, heenjoins his disciplesto read these words,therefore, to the rest of the brethren thatthey may learn what the life of monksought to be. ^^ It should be noted thatthe monastic spirit did indeed receive apowerful impulse from his various writ-ngs.

This was especially true of hisbiography of St. Anthony, since that workwas translated into Latin, and hence madereadily accessible to the great mass of theRoman people, at a very early date.^^

For a considerable length of time, how-ver,Christian asceticism was almost en-irelyrestricted to the Eastern wing of

the Church. It cannot be said to havemade any appreciable headway in theWest until the last quarter of the fourth


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century. Its rapid progress in the RomanChurch from that period onward isattributable to St. Jerome (c.340-420)more than to any other single individualthat we might name. The stimulus im-arted

by him to monasticism in particularrendered that institution one of the funda-ental

features of the religionof Europefor about twelve centuries to come. Onlyat the Protestant Reformation, so-called,did the system meet with its first serioussetback.

It is not at all difficult to understandwhy it was that St. Jerome's potency inthis direction should have proved so greatand so lasting as it did. In the first place,we must remember that St. Jerome wasone of the early teachers and expoundersof Christian theology, and a Father ofthe Church. In the second place, his con-ribution

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significant,o much so that since the early-Middle Ages he has been recognised by-Roman Catholics the world over as one ofthe original four Doctors of the LatinChurch, the other three being St. Gregorythe Great, St. Augustine, and St. Am-rose.

Add to this the fact that not theleast important of his services to theChurch was his production of the Vulgate,and one need scarcely wonder that sub-equent

history has had to bear the stampof his authority.^^

To St. Jerome matrimony was some-hinginherentlyvicious, and he constantly

decried it. His enthusiasm for the ceno-bitic life knew no bounds; his quenchlesszeal in promoting it brands him as a beingutterly devoid of those finer and nobleraffections which ordinarily emanate fromthe human heart. My breast is not ofiron nor my heart of stone, ^^ he wrote to

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one who had determined to forgo theausterities of monastic seclusion,^^but theimmediate context behes his words: Re-ember

the day on which you enlisted,when, buried with Christ in baptism, youswore fealty to him, declaring that for hissake you would spare neither father normother.

. . .Should your littlenephew

hang on your neck, pay no regard to him;should your mother with ashes on her hairand garments rent show you the breastsat which she nursed you, heed her not;should your father prostrate himself on thethreshold, trample him under foot and goyour way. With dry eyes fly to thestandard of the cross. In such cases

cruelty is the only true affection. . . .Now it is a widowed sister who throws

her caressing arms around you. Now itis the slaves, your foster-brothers, whocry: 'To what master are you leaving

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us?' Now it is a nurse bowed with age,and a body-servant loved only less than afather, who exclaim: 'Only wait till wedie and follow us to our graves ' Per-aps,

too, an aged mother, with sunkenbosom and furrowed brow, recallingthelullaby with which she once soothed you,adds her entreaties to theirs. The learnedmay call you, if they please, 'the sole sup-ort

and pillarof your house.'^^ The loveof God and the fear of hell will easilybreak such bonds. Scripture, you willargue, bids us obey our parents. Yes, butwhoso loves them more than Christ loseshis own soul. ^^

What a striking similarityone detectsbetween this infamous passage and an-ther

not less ominous one occurring inthe Gospel of St. Matthew P' And this isan outgrowth of that religionwhose key-ote,

they say, is Love 48


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In a desert in the vicinityof AntiochSt. Jerome lived as an anchoret from 374to 379,'^ rollingin sackcloth and ashes/'^^to employ his own expression. He wasfirmlyconvinced that chains, squalor,andlong hair are by right tokens of sorrow. ^In what is probably his most celebratedepistle^ e affords us an insightinto whatwe might euphemistically term the nega-ive

character of his cleanliness. Sack-lothdisfigured my unshapely limbs, he

proudly declares, and my skin fromlong neglect had become as black as anEthiopian's. ^^ In 386 the saint becamethe head of a monastery at Bethlehem,where he passed apart from a periodof about two years ^the remainder of hislife.^^

While dwelling in the desert St. Jeromecomposed a brief treatise on St. Paul theHermit (?c. 228-c. 341) .'' In the course

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of this tract the author admiringly re-ountsthe case of certain monks of whom

one was shut up for thirty years and livedon barley bread and muddy water, whileanother in an old cistern

. . . kept him-elfalive on five dried figsa day. ^^

As for St. Paul, the subject of the dis-ourse,it may be said, for one thing, that

he had the pleasant habit of keeping hisgrey hairs unkempt. ^^ Not without sig-ific

as respects the odour of sanctitywhich may be presumed to have pervadedhis presence, is his last request, addressedto St. Anthony of Egypt, whose acquaint-nce

we have already made. Be sogood, he asked, as to go and fetch thecloak Bishop Athanasius gave you, towrap my poor body in. ^^ As St. Jeromeexplains the matter, he solicited this favourthat he might soften his friend's regretsat his decease. ^

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Equally naive is the Roman Breviary^sreference to the filthiness of St. Hilarion(c.291-371), who likewise was a con-emporary

of St. Anthony^^ and whoinitiated Christian monastic life in Pales-ine.^^

Under pain of incurring mortalsin and the consequent forfeiture ofdivine grace, the Catholic clergy areobliged,on the feast-dayof this disgustingindividual/^ to recite either publicly orprivately^ the edifying fact that humicubabat. Nee vero saccum, quo semelamictus est, unquam aut lavit,aut mutavit,cum supervacaneum esse diceret, mun-ditias in cilicio quserere. *^ Rendered intoour vernacular, this imposing array ofunciceronian phrases means merely thatSt. Hilarion ''was used to sleep on theground. The pieceof sackcloth wherewithalone he clad himself he never washed andnever changed, saying that haircloth was

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a thing not worth the trouble of cleanli-ess. ^^

And yet, mechanically echoing theavowed sentiments of such dignitariesofthe Church as the late Cardinal New-an/^

the devout and unenlightened laity,to the overwhelming majority of whomLatin, so to speak, is Greek, exult in thelives of their saints as recorded in theBreviary, and in their ignorance arehappy. Reader, forgive them; for theyknow not what they do

As we have already had occasion to ob-erve,the underlying aim at the basis of

St. Jerome's activities,literaryand other-ise,was the widespread propagation of

communistic asceticism. To this end hepubHshed, in the year 390, his Life of St.Hilarion/'^ to which we owe most of ourdetailed information respecting that per-onage,

and from which a few quotations62


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may not be thought inopportune in thisconnection.

After having spent two months in thecompany of St. Anthony/^ who providedhim with the customary eremitic apparel/^St. Hilarion withdrew from societyat theage of fifteen.^^ He idohsed his host tosuch a degree that, when as an old manhe visited the spot where St. Anthony hadpassed away, he 'Svould He upon thesaint's bed and, as though it were stillwarm, would affectionatelykiss it. ^ Heseems to have been accustomed to praywith his head literallyowed in the dust, ^*a practice still in vogue among manyOriental peoples at the present day.

St. Hilarion particularly abhorredsuch monks as

. . .were careful about

expense, or raiment, or some other ofthose things which pass away with theworld. ^ He shaved his hair once a year

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on Easter Day, and until his death wasaccustomed to lie on the bare ground oron a bed of rushes. The sackcloth whichhe had once put on he never washed, andhe used to saj^ that it was going too far tolook for cleanliness in goats' haircloth.Nor did he change his shirt unless the onehe wore was almost in rags. ^^

In his thirty-fifthyear St. Hilarionfound his eyes growing dim and his wholebody shrivelled with a scabby eruption anddry mange. ^^ To remedy these disorders,he had recourse to what would to-day beregarded as an unusually odd expedient:he added oil to his former food and upto the sixty-thirdyear of his life followedthis temperate course.

^^

About a year after his burial St. Hila-rion's corpse was surreptitiouslyremovedby his friend Hesychius from the islandof Cyprus, whence it was transferred to

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mind that Christ himself was a staunchbeliever in the existence of devils; and,as for odours, surely no one will doubtthat St. Hilarion's personal experiencewould naturally have tended to endow himwith skill in matters olfactory, assumingeven that he had not had the inestimableadvantage of divine grace.

If anyone is heard to give utterance tothe complacent and hackneyed remarkthat ''cleanliness is next to godliness, ^ theobvious and unanswerable reply is that thetruth of the dictum does not shine forthconspicuously in the lives and writings ofChristendom's most venerated saints. An-ther

case in point, in addition to thosealready enumerated, is that of St. Abra-am(sixth century). What little isknown of this perfect and admirableman ^^ is derived chieflyfrom the Life ofSt. Abraham the Hermit and the Life of

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St. Mary the Harlot, both from the penof St. Ephraem (sixth century) .^^

St. Abraham was twenty years old^^when he deserted his bride to enjoy theblessingsof an ascetic existence.^^ It was,as St. Ephraem intimates, by leading thelife of an angel on earth ^^ for half acentury^* that at its consummation heearned perpetual glory. ^^ Who thatlooked at his face, which displayed theimage of sanctity,did not feel the desireof seeing him more often ? ^

St. Abraham's virtues simply eludedcomprehension;^^ so manifold were theythat (to quote from the last verse of thefourth Gospel) , if they should be writtenevery one, I suppose that even the worlditself would not contain the books thatshould be written. Oil did not comenear his body ; his face, or for that mattereven his feet, were never washed from the

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day of his conversion.. . .

His appear-ncewas just like an unfading flower, and

in his face the purity of his soul was dis-ernibl...

In all the fifty years ofhis abstinence he did not change the cover-ng

of goats' hair in which he had beenclothed. ^^

St. Ephraem claims for the relics of St.Abraham a remarkable efficacyin healingthe most deadly maladies. An invalid, re-ardless

of the nature of his ailment, hadbut to touch the vestments of the holyman, when, presto ''without any delayhealth followed. ^^ It may be interestingto observe in passing that St. Abrahamwas apparently conscious of no incon-ruity

in denouncing a devil that heimagined threatened to possess him, asnothing short of a most filthydemon ^^Here, it must be confessed, one's sym-athies

are (as usual) with the devil58


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rather than with the saint, whom the Al-ighty,forsooth, had failed to enrich with

a sense alike of humour and of justice.Examples similar to those which have

here been touched upon might be multi-liedindefinitely.These are by no means

isolated instances. On the contrary, theyrepresent typical and in the main faith-fuF^ portraits of all the early saints, whoin turn influenced by their austerities thelives of innumerable successors.^^ Un-leasant

though the truth may be to some,it is nevertheless a fact that Christianityestablished itself upon a groundwork ofasceticism. If the foundation is so rotten

and the term is used advisedly ^whatshall one say of the superstructure?Even St. James, the brother of theLord ^^ (d. c. 63),^* was in respect ofcleanliness not a whit better than the rest,according to Eusebius (c.260-c. 340) , the

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Father of Church History/ ' who citesthe testimony of St. Hegesippus (jB.c.150-c. 180). A razor never went uponhis head, he anointed not himself with oil,and did not use a bath. ^^ His practicein the last-named respect is followed atthe present day by the inmates of mon-steries

and nunneries in Roman Catholiclands (though not in missionary coun-ries

like England and the UnitedStates), perhaps, as Mr. Joseph McCabewittily suggests, because le bon Dieuvous verrait ^^

St. Simeon Stylites(c.390-459), whoseexcesses far surpassed those of any otherin the calendar of the canonised, was onthat very account the most revered of themall. When Tennyson desired to write apoem depicting the extreme rigour de-anded

by Christian asceticism, he choseas the subject of his verses St. Simeon,^^

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the personificationof everything foul andrepulsive/^

None can ever appreciate in their total-tythe baneful effects of the theological

doctrine that salvation of the soul is de-enden

upon mortification of ''itsworth-essshell, the body. It is no mere coin-idence

that the dismal ages of faith werefilled with plagues and pestilenceswithoutnumber. It is no mere coincidence thatthe employment of natural means inaverting and curing disease was considereda contravention of the will of God. In thelight of countless facts, it is not at allastonishing that just in proportion asChristian belief diminished, the length ofhuman life increased.^^

The Day of Judgment has come at last,but the Place of Judgment is here onearth. Christianityis on trial. Man, theSupreme Judge, has already condemned

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THROUGH AGNOSTIC SPECTACLESher on many counts, and she is nowdoomed to destruction and final disso-ution.*

Let us, the plaintiffs,ot omitto add ASCETICISM to the endless list ofher sins.f

* [Cf. Preface, last paragraph.]t [The small superior figures, as has elsewhere been

indicated, refer to the notes which are given in theappendix.]

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PIETY AND PLAGIARISM*

SOME time ago Franklin Steiner^s ex-osureof the Rev. William Sundayin the columns of the Truth Seekerevoked considerable comment from the

New York Times, the New York Herald,the Philadelphia Inquirer, and variousother newspapers in the land. The well-known evangehst, it will be recalled, hadhad the supreme audacity to steal an en-ire

oration almost verbatim from theworks of the late Colonel Ingersoll present address, according to the evangel-st,

care of the Devil. Yet it must be saidin justice to Billy Sunday that he isnot the only divine guilty of lifting long

* [This title was originally followed by a sub-titlereading: Again Ingersoll Is the Victim of a Preacher'sPenchant for Purloining. See Preface.]

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passages bodily from IngersoU. Anotherone who has committed the same offenceis the Rev. Dr. Madison C. Peters, oneof Brooklyn's most prominent clergymen.Both gentlemen, strangely enough, havedenounced the very infidel whose thoughtsneither hesitated to steal.

The present writer has in his possessiona book by the Rev. Dr. Peters, entitledThe Beautiful Way of Life: Pictures ofHappy Homes and Glimpses of HeavenlyMansions. Its avowed purpose, as statedin the preface, was to assist the reader infinding his earthly life a Path of Glory,and at last an eternal resting-place be-eath

God's Throne. The BeautifulWay of Life is replete with pious refer-nces

to God, Jesus, Heaven, Salvation,etc., and includes the usual clericalproofs that the opinions of Franklin andJefferson were not really heterodox, as

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PIETY AND PLAGIARISM

Freethinkers maliciously maintain. Somuch by way of introduction.

On pages 303 and 304 of this treasure-house of orthodox wisdom is to be founda selection entitled Love vs. Glory, towhich no name is appended. In thepreface to the book the Rev. Dr. Petersexpressly declares that ''The no-namearticles are either from the author's penor anonymous. Inasmuch as the passagein question is written in the first person,the natural implication is that it is fromthe author's pen. Comparison, how-ver,

with two of the most famous ofIngersoll'slectures* yields the followinginteresting deadly parallels :

REV. DR. PETERS INGERSOLLA little while ago I A little while ago I

stood by the grave of the stood by the tomb of theold Napoleon a mag- first Napoleon, a mag-

* I quote from the unauthorised pamphlet-versions cur-65


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REV. DR. PETERSnificent tomb of giltandgold^ fit almost for adead deity and gazedupon the sarcophagus ofblack Egyptian marble,where rest at last theashes of the restlessman. I leaned over thebalustrade and thoughtabout the career of thegreatest soldier of themodern world. I sawhim walking upon thebanks of the Seine, con-emplating

suicide Isaw him at Toulon Isaw him putting downthe mob in the streets ofParis I saw him at thehead of the army ofItaly- I saw him cross-ng

the bridge of Lodiwith the tricolour in hishand

I saw him in

Egypt in the shadows ofthe pyramids I sawhim conquer the Alps

INGERSOLLnificent tomb of giltandgold, fit almost for adead deity, and here wasa great circle,and in thebottom there, in a sar-ophagus,

rested at lastthe ashes of that restlessman. I looked at thattomb, and I thoughtabout the career of thegreatest soldier of themodern world. As Ilooked in imagination Icould see him walkingup and down the banksof the Seine contemplat-ng

suicide. I could seehim at Toulon; I couldsee him at Paris, puttingdown the mob; I couldsee him at the head ofthe army of Italy; Icould see him crossingthe bridge of Lodi, withthe tricolour in hishand; I saw him inEgypt, fighting battles

rent at the time of the Rev. Dr. Peters' plagiarism andlater collected under the title: Col B. O. IngersolVs44. Lectures. The authorised Dresden edition of Inger-solFs works had not yet been published.

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REV. DR. PETERSand mingle the eagles ofFrance with the eaglesof the crags. I saw himat Marengo at Ulmand Austerlitz. I sawhim in Russia^ where theinfantry of the snowand the cavalry of thewild blast scattered hislegions like winter'swithered leaves. I sawhim at Leipsic in defeatand disaster driven bya million bayonets backupon Paris clutchedlike a wild beast ban-shed

to Elba. I sawhim escape and retakean empire by the forceof his genius. I sawhim upon the frightfulfield of Waterloo^ wherechance and fate com-ined

to wreck the for-unesof their former

king. And I saw himat St. Helena, with hishands crossed behindhim, gazing out upon thesad and solemn sea. Ithought of the orphansand widows he had made

INGERSOLLunder the shadow of thePyramids; I saw himreturning; I saw himconquer the Alps, andmingle the eagles ofFrance with the eaglesof Italy; I saw him atMarengo, I saw him atAusterlitz ; I saw him inRussia where the in-antry

of the snow andthe blast smote hislegions,when death rodethe icy winds of winter.I saw him at Leipsic;hurled back upon Paris ;banished ; and I saw himescape from Elba andretake an empire by theforce of his genius. Isaw him at the field ofWaterloo, where fateand chance combined towreck the fortunes oftheir former king. Isaw him at St. Helenawith his hands behindhis back, gazing outupon the sad and solemnsea, and I thought of allthe widows he had made,of all the orphans^ of

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REV. DR. PETERS of the tears that hadbeen shed for his glory,and of the only womanwho ever loved him,pushed from his heartby the cold hand of am-ition.

And I said Iwould rather have beena French peasant, andworn wooden shoes; Iwould rather have livedin a hut with a vinegrowing over the door,and the grapes growingpurple in the kisses ofthe autumn sun ; I wouldrather have been thatpoor peasant with myloving wife by my side,knitting as the day diedout of the sky with mychildren upon my kneesand their arms aboutme ; I would rather havebeen that man and gonedown to the tonguelesssilence of the dreamlessdust, than to have beenthat imperial impersona-ion

of force and murderknown as Napoleon theQreat. And so I would,

68

INGERSOLLall the tears that hadbeen shed for his glory;and I thought of thewoman, the only womanwho ever loved him,pushed from his heartby the cold hand of am-ition

and I said tomyself, as I gazed, Iwould rather have beena French peasant andworn wooden shoes, andlived in a little hut witha vine running over thedoor and the purplegrapes growing red inthe amorous kisses ofthe autumn sun Iwould rather have beenthat poor French peas-nt,

to sit in my door,with my wife knittingby my side and mychildren upon my kneeswith their arms aroundmy neck I wouldrather have lived anddied unnoticed and un-nown

except by thosewho loved me, and gonedown to the voicelesssilence of the dreamless


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REV. DR. PETERSten thousand thousandtimes. ''Beautiful Wayof Life/' pp. 803-804..

INGERSOLLdust I would ratherhave been that Frenchpeasant than to havebeen that imperial im-ersonatio

of force andmurder vrho covered Eu-ope

with blood andtears. '^IntellectualDevelopment.^'

Now compare the Rev. Dr. Peters'plagiarisedselection with another versionof IngersoU's meditations at the tomb ofNapoleon, and most of the minor differ-nces

occurring in the above-quoted par-llelare immediately accounted for:

REV. DR. PETERS INGERSOLLA little while ago I A little while ago I

stood by the grave of the stood by the grave of theold Napoleon a mag- old Napoleon^ a mag-ificent

tomb of giltandgold^ fit almost for adead deity and gazedupon the sarcophagus ofblack Egyptian marble,where rest at last theashes of the restless

nificent tomb^ fit for adead deity almost^ andgazed in the great circleat the bottom of it.In the sarcophagus ofblack Egyptian marbleat last rest the ashes of

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THROUGH AGNOSTIC SPECTACLESREV. DR. PETERS

man. I leaned over thebalustrade and thoughtabout the career of thegreatest soldier of themodern world. I sawhim walking upon thebanks of the Seine, con-emplating

suicide Isaw him at Toulon^ Isaw him putting downthe mob in the streets ofParis I saw him at thehead of the army ofItaly I saw him cross-ng

the bridge of Lodi ing the bridge of Lodi.with the tricolour in his I saw him in Egypthand I saw him in fightingthe battle of theEgypt in the shadows of pyramids. I saw himthe pyramids I saw cross the Alps andhim conquer the Alps mingle the eagles ofand mingle the eagles of France with the eaglesFrance with the eagles of the crags. I saw himof the crags. I saw him at Austerlitz. I saw

INGERSOLLthat restless man. Ilooked over the balus-rade,

and I thoughtabout the career ofNapoleon. I could seehim walking upon thebanks of the Seine con-emplating

suicide. Isaw him at Toulon. Isaw him putting downthe mob in the streets ofParis. I saw him at thehead of the army ofItaly. I saw him cross-

at Marengo at Ulmand Austerlitz. I sawhim in Russia, where theinfantry of the snow

him with his army scat-eredand dispersed be-ore

the blast. I sawhim at Leipsic when his

and the cavalry of the army was defeated andwild blast scattered his he was taken captive. Ilegions like winter's saw him escape. I sawwithered leaves. I saw him land again uponhim at Leipsic in defeat French soil,and retake

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REV. DR. PETERS INGERSOLLand disaster driven by an empire by the forcea million bayonets back of his own genius. I sawupon Paris clutched him captured once more,like a wild beast ban- and again at St. Helenaished to Elba. I saw with his arms behindhim escape and retake him, gazing out upon thean empire by the force sad and solemn sea ; andof his genius. I saw I thought of the orphanshim upon the frightfulfield of Waterloo, wherechance and fate com-ined

to wreck the for-unesof their former

king. And I saw himat St. Helena, with hishands crossed behindhim, gazing out upon thesad and solemn sea. Ithought of the orphansand widows he had made of the tears that hadbeen shed for his glory,and of the only womanwho ever loved him,pushed from his heartby the cold hand of am-ition.

And I said Iwould rather have beena French peasant, andworn wooden shoes; Iwould rather have livedin a hut with a vine

and widows he hadmade. I thought of thetears that had been shedfor his glory. I thoughtof the only woman whoever loved him, who hadbeen pushed from hisheart by the cold handof ambition; and as Ilooked at the sarcopha-us

I said I wouldrather have been aFrench peasant andworn w^ooden shoes ; Iwould rather have livedin a hut, with a vinegrowing over the doorand the grapes growingand ripening in theautumn sun; I wouldrather have been thatpeasant, with my wifeby my side and my chil-ren

upon my knees71


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REV. DR. PETERS INGERSOLLgrowing over the door, twining their arms ofand the grapes growing affection about me; Ipurple in the kisses of would rather have beenthe autumn sun; I would that poor French peas-rather have been that ant and gone down atpoor peasant with my last to the eternal pro-loving wife by my side, miscuity of the dust,knitting as the day died followed by those whoout of the sky with my loved me ; I would achildren upon my knees thousand times ratherand their arms about have been that Frenchme; I would rather have peasant than that im-been that man and gone perial personative [im-down to the tongueless personation] of forcesilence of the dreamless and murder; and so Idust, than to have been would ten thousand thou-that imperial impersona- sand times. ''Libertytion of force and murder of Man, Woman, andknown as Napoleon the Child/'Great. And so I would,ten thousand thousandtimes. '^Beautiful Wayof Life/' pp. 303-304,

It is manifest that both the lecture onIntellectual Development and that on

''The Liberty of Man, Woman, andChild formed the basis of the Rev. Dr.

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Peters' recast version of IngersolFs rev-rieas printed in The Beautiful Way of

Life. Curious as to what the clergymanmight say in his defence, I sent him a lettercontaining the following query and en-losed

a stamped and addressed envelopefor his reply:

* 'Would you kindly inform me, if it is not toomuch trouble, in what year The Beautiful Way ofLife was first published? I was especially inter-sted

in the excellent and inspiring lines on pp.303-304, entitled Xove vs. Glory/ and should verymuch like to find out whether they are from yourpen or anonymous. I observe that in the prefaceto the book you remark that the nameless articlesare either one or the other.

The somewliat unusual question, itseems, aroused the clergyman's suspicions,as I had indeed expected it would. In-tead

of making a clean breast of thematter, he immediately sent me the follow-ng

extraordinary reply:73


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THROUGH AGNOSTIC SPECTACLES'*My dear Mr. Kadison: In reply to your in-uiry

I beg to say that the article to which youhave reference was not from my pen. I do notknow how it happened that due credit was notgiven. The lines are from Robert G. IngersoU.The book, as you know, is a compilation which Ihurriedly prepared when I was a young man ofabout 26. Those were the days of subscriptionbooks which were composed largely of the sayingsof distinguishedwriters, I had thought there werenone in existence, as it was published nearly thirtyyears ago.

**I am enclosing you a number of cards whichwill take you to manufacturers and wholesalerswhere you can buy direct at the same price thedealers buy, and in addition I am adding a fewdiscount cards. Out of my lectures on the highcost of living,this cooperative movement has grownand it means a saving of one-third to one-half topeople who are using the cards. Write your nameand address on the cards and retain the same afterusing.''

[Here follow the titles of some of the books bythe Rev. Dr. Peters.]

Very sincerely yours,[Signed] Madison C. Peters.

Why is the Rev. Dr. Peters so con-74


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fiKTY AND PLAGIARISMciliatory? Why the unsolicited rebatecoupons? What, in the name of commonsense, have rebate coupons to do with thequestion at issue? If I know anythingat all about ministerial psychology, theRev. Dr. Peters' unseasonable and amus-ng

outburst of generosity, otherwise soinexplicable,is to be explained only on thetheory that the minister, in his eagernessto propitiate me, hit upon the extraor-inary

scheme of presenting me with theequivalent of money as a modest induce-ent

to refrain from taking any un-leasantsteps I might have in mind.

The Rev, Dr. Peters protests that hedoes not know how it happened that duecredit was not given. Yet the solution ofthe riddle is only too simple. In a bookintended for circulation exclusivelyamongvery orthodox folk of a generation ago itwould obviously never do to let it be

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THROUGH AGNOSTIC SPECTACLESknown that perhaps the most remarkableliterarygem in the entire collection wasfrom the crown of the infidel of infidels.

The Rev. Dr. Peters apologeticallyde-laresthat the book was hurriedly pre-ared.Yet both the absence of misprints

and the positivelybeautiful appearance ofthe work testifyto its having, on the con-rary,

been prepared with exceptionalcare. Passage after passage, moreover, isattributed to such champions of religionas Talmage, Beecher, and MargaretSangster. Unfortunate, is it not, thatjust IngersolVs name should have hap-ened

to be omitted?To be quite frank, the writer of this

article would have been only too willingto let bygones be bygones and to refrainfrom exposing the Rev. Dr. Peters as aliterarythief, had it not been for the ex-stence

of two circumstances which made76


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it impossible to suppress the truth even inthe interest of charity. The originaldraftof this article has been in the possessionof the present writer for half a year, andhis decision to have the article publishedis therefore not a hasty one, but, on thecontrary, has been arrived at after perhapslonger deliberation than was necessary.

First: In the year 1892 {afterthe pub-icatiof The Beautiful Way of Life)

there occurred the famous IngersoU con-roversyin the course of which, after an

unsuccessful attempt to boycott the NewYork Evening Telegram for having pub-ished

the Agnostic orator's ChristmasSermon, a number of clergymen ofvarious denominations attacked the viewsof IngersoU, who, needless to say, madethe masterly rejoinders only an IngersoUcould make. Among those who assailedthe distinguished heretic with especial

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venom and malignity was the Rev, Dr.Madison C. Peters. He it was who wasable to find no more delicate epithets to^PPly to Ingersoll's arguments thansneers, foamings, and ravings.Ingersoll, in his reply, exemplified thegentleness and gentlemanliness which hisassailant preached.

Second, and more important: The Rev.Dr. Peters, as I discovered on furtherexamination, is a practised plagiaristthat is to say, plagiarism is apparently ahabit with him and some of his literarythefts are of recent origin. In a book byhim published and copyrighted as late as1908 I have detected entire pages of

plagiarised matter. Here is a choicespecimen:

REV. DR. PETERS J. O. PECKA man without en- A man without en-husiasm

is an engine thusiasm is an engine78


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PIETY AND PLAGIARISMREV. DR. PETERS

without steam. Yourbrain [sic] will notmove unless the water isboiling.Better boil overthan not boil at all.Don't bank the fires inyour furnace. To aman sneering at excite-ent,

a Western editorpithily replied: *' Thereis only one thing done inthis world without ex-itement,

and that is torot. Enthusiasm gen-rates

the impulse thatdrives manhood on tonoble achievements. Itarouses a supernaturalheroism in one's ownforces. It is the drivingforce of character; itmakes strong men; itarouses unsuspectedsources of ability. Theman without enthusiasmin his work has lostthe race of life beforestarting. Beginning ofChap. VI, ''The Strenu-us

Career (Copyright,1908). [The fact thatthe copyright is entered.

J. O. PECKwithout steam. Yourtrain won't move unlessthe water is boiling.. . .

Don't bank thefires in your furnace.Pithily said a Westerneditor to a man sneeringat excitement: ''There isonly one thing done inthis world without ex-itement.

What isthat. To rot hereplied. ... It [en-husias

generates theinvincible pulses thathurl manhood on nobleachievements. Bulwersays: A certain degreeof temerity is a power....

It arouses a super-aturalheroism in one's

own forces. Enthu-iasmis the driving

force of character. En-husiasmmakes strong

men . . . arouses un-uspectedsources of

ability.A young man orwoman without enthusi-sm

in the work of lifehas lost the race beforestarting. Article by

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REV. DR. PETERS J. O. PECKnot in the name of the one J. 0. Peck, inauthor, but in that of Peters' Beautiful Wayone of the publishers, of Life/' pp. 271, 272,so far from mitigating, 273, (Sentences rear-only aggravates the of- ranged, where neces-fence of plagiarism; for sary, to conform to theit involves the addi- order of the Rev. Dv.tional offence of selling Peters' plagiarised ver-stolen goods and pre- sion of 1908.)sumably under falsepretences ]

The above is only a single instancechosen at random from among manysimilar ones that came to my notice. Prac-ically

the whole of pages 30, 31, and 32of The Strenuous Career, for example,were borrowed without acknowledg-ent

from the same article by J. O. Peck.The Rev. Dr. Peters evidently thoughtit a safe operation to make wholesaleplagiarisms from an article by an obscurewriter of a generation or more ago; byhis own inadvertent admission in his letter

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to me, he was under the impression thatthe book containing that article togetherwith the acknowledgment of its authorshipwas no longer extant.

There may be more cases of plagiarismin other works allegedlyby the Rev. Dr.Peters; speaking for myself, I should beastonished if there were not. I have not,however, gone to the trouble of finding outdefinitely. Sufficient unto the day is theevil thereof.

Dr. Madison C. Peters, stand upBilly Sunday, rise Now, Reverend

Gentlemen, shake hands ** [Among the publications which commented on this

article were the San Francisco Star and the LondonFreethinker. For the remarks of E. C. T., conductressof a woman's department in the Star, see Truth Seeker,Feb. 19, 1916, p. 121. See also editorial in TruthSeeker, Nov. 18, 1916, p. 741.]

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SPINOZA: A TRIBUTE

*'I thank. . .

Spinoza^ the subtlest of men.Ingersoll (in A Thanksgiving Sermon'' ).

All our modern philosophers^ though often per-apsunconsciously^ see through the glasses which

Baruch Spinoza ground/' Heine,

EVEN in the present year of gracenineteen hundred and eighteen,

malice and wickedness of heart are often

charitably alleged to be the temper actuat-ngthose who urge the arguments of

Reason as against the dogmata of Faith;but we, the wicked of heart, knowingour hearts, do well to ignore the mean andignoble aspersion. That it is one gloriousfunction of Rationalism to revive bitter

memories of the past that better memoriesmay fall to the lot of the future in this

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SPINOZA: A TRIBUTE

conviction is to be found at once the psy-hologicmainspring and most potent in-piratof militant Rationalistic propa-anda.Thus, we who call ourselves

Rationalists, few and scattered though webe, can be trusted not to let the worldforget the harrowing picture of GiordanoBruno slowly meeting death, on the Flor-ntine

Campo dei Fiori, in flames lit bythe hands of Dominican friars

Brunothe infidel, grandest victim of basestRoman Catholic persecution. We can betrusted not to let the world forget how,in the city of Geneva, Michael Servetuswas burned at the stake by order of thegodly, devilish Calvin Servetus the dis-enter,

undying prey to rabid Protestantzeal for the greater glory of God. Andsimilarly can we be trusted not to let theworld forget that the same or a like fate ^piost probably death by stoning would


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have befallen Baruch de Espinoza (for sowas the great Dutch thinker called beforehis formal emancipation) if Judaism, inhis day, had been in the ascendant.

Nor, because Spinoza survived themalevolence of his saintly enemies, is heon that account less worthy the venerationof mankind than either the martyredBruno or the martyred Servetus. Theselast imperilled their lives,and succumbed;Spinoza imperilled his life,and escaped;but he did not fail to justify,splendidlyand consistently throughout his career,the observation made two centuries laterm allusion to him that to die for thetruth, they say, is hard : harder it is to livefor it r

I* ^^ ^V? ^*

Majestic beyond words in its sim-licity,invested with a noble and solitary

grandeur, heroic, the figure of Benedict84


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Spinoza stands at the entrance to thatancient temple which the sages of Miletus,first of the giant-brood of mighty thinkers,consecrated to Philosophy. Familiarenough to Rationalists, at least, is the in-pirin

story of Spinoza's pilgrimage: hisbirth, at Amsterdam, in 1632; his infancy,his boyhood, and then his youth, character-sed

by fearless, independent thinking;his excommunication, at the age of twenty-three, by the bigoted and densely ignorantrabbis, who would have followed the in-uncti

of their divinely inspired OldTestament and stoned him, had they hadthe power to do so ; his unceasing applica-ion,

during the remainder of his life,inan atmosphere of almost perfect solitude,to philosophic study and meditation; hisunpretentious pursuit, the while, of thehumble calling the grinding and polish-ng

of lenses by which he was enabled tq85


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gain a meagre, though to him ample, live-ihood.

Such was the substance of the first fivechapters chapters uneventful enough butfor their single dramatic incident. Hadthey formed the whole of the tale, thename Spinoza would have passed awaytogether with him who bore it,and well,there would have been no tale But therewere yet two chapters to be added ^thefirst sublime and never-to-be-forgotten,the second tragic and ever-to-be-deploredchapter the sixth: Spinoza's constructionof a system of thought unparalleled forsheer intellectual subtlety,and unequalledin its subsequent influence upon the mindsof men;* and chapter the last: his un-imely

death, hastened by the ravages oftuberculosis, in the year 1677, when the

* It is not unnatural that Agnostics should view withsatisfaction the ever-widening influence of Pantheism.For on the side of anthropomorphic religion, and ip-

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deathless heretic was only in the goldenprime of life.

* * * *

Oh, how much better pleased would thegentle rabbis of Amsterdam have beenwith Spinoza's execution than with themere excommunication to which, for wantof something deadlier, they felt them-elves

constrained to have recourse Wit-essthe fiendish wording of the ban which

was publicly pronounced, on the 27thof July, 1656, upon the youthful Free-hinker

who would not play the Prag-matist and dishonestlyrecant:

The members of the council do you to wit thatthey have long known of the evil opinions anddoings of Baruch de Espinoza, and have tried bydeed of all theology grounded upon the idea of apersonal God, Pantheism is Atheism; as the most creed-less of the creeds, it is least remote from Agnosticism;and it may well serve as a halfway house for many whoare destined to reach the Promised Land by a deviousroute.

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divers methods and promises to make him turnfrom his evil ways. As they have not succeededin effectinghis improvement, but, on the contrary,have received every day more information aboutthe abominable heresies which he has practised andtaught, and other enormities which he has com-itted,

and as they have had many trustworthywitnesses of this, who have deposed and testified inthe presence of the said Espinoza, and have con-icted

him; and as all this has been investigatedin the presence of the rabbis, it has been resolvedwith their consent that the said Espinoza shouldbe anathematised and cut off from the people ofIsrael, and now he is anathematised with the fol-owing

anathema :'* *With the judgment of the angels and with that

of the saints, with the consent of God blessed beHe and of all this holy congregation, before thesesacred scrolls of the law, and the six hundred andthirteen precepts which are prescribed therein, weanathematise, cut off, execrate, and curse Baruchde Espinoza with the anathema wherewith Joshuaanathematised Jericho, with the curse wherewithElisha cursed the children, and with all the curseswhich are written in the law: cursed be he by day,and cursed be he by night; cursed be he when helieth down, and cursed be he when he riseth up;cursed be he when he goeth out, and cursed be he

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when he cometh in; the Lord will not pardon him;the wrath and fury of the Lord will be kindledagainst this man^ and bring down upon him all thecurses which are written in the book of the law;and the Lord will destroy his name from under theheavens; and^ to his undoing, the Lord will cuthim off from all the tribes of Israel, with all thecurses of the firmament which are written in thebook of the law. But ye that cleave unto theLord your God, live all of you this day '

We ordain that no one may communicate withhim verbally or in writing, nor show him anyfavour, nor stay under the same roof with him, norbe within four cubits of him, nor read anythingcomposed or written by him. ^

Conceived and framed in the vindictivespiritof the 109th Psahn, this infamousdocument serves but to recall to themodern reader, for whom it assuredly pos-esses

no further significance,the circum-*Cf. Spinoza's Short Treatise on God, Man, and His

Weil-Being (edited by A. Wolf), Introduction, pp.xlv-xlvi; Sir Frederick Pollock, Spinoza: His Life andPhilosophy, 1880, p. 18; 2nd ed., 1899, pp. 17-18; Mat-hew

Arnold, Essays in Criticism, 1st ser., 1905, pp.307-308.

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stance that it was Judaism that originallytaught the thrice-damned lesson of re-igious

persecution to Christianity thelesson which the pupil-faith learned sowell and applied so remorselessly. Be-ond

the recording of this familiar fact,suffice it to say that the Lord hath notdestroyed Spinoza's name from under theheavens On the contrary, the verymalediction which was designed to renderthat result the more certain, made pos-ible,

in fact, precisely the reverse For,as has been eloquently said, the anathema,in effect, was for Spinoza not a curse,but a blessing in disguise. It freed himentirely from sectarian and tribal con-iderations;

it helped to make him athinker of no particular sect and of noparticular age, but for all men and for alltimes.

* * * *

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SPINOZA: A TRIBUTE

To-day, under the heavens, the nameSpinoza signifies*infinitelyore thanthe name Jehovah. t

* Among thinking men and women, of course. The otherkind does not count except numerically.

t Is this mere fustian and bombast? Should anyreader be disposed to feel that it is, let him peruse, say,the last chapter of Sir Frederick Pollock's standardwork, referred to above. (Cf. Encyclopcedia Britannica,vol. XXV, p. 691; Picton, Pantheism: Its Story andSignificance,passim.)

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THE SUMMONS TO PRAYER

ON the first Sunday of October* mul-itudesof churchgoers throughoutthe United States assembled in their re-pective

houses of worship and petitionedthe Ruler of heaven and earth that thewar raging in Europe might cease. Butthe struggle still goes on.

Prayer has not stopped the war. Prayercannot and will not stop the war. Andyet the President's prayer day procla-ation

is destined to effect very definiteand momentous results. What will

they be?For one thing, the absence of an an-wer

to their supplications will set manythousands thinking. These are a few of

* [1914. See Preface.]

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the questions which they will ask them-elves:

Can it be that God wishes the war tocontinue? If he does, what is the use ofpraying to him? If he does, is he reallyinfinitelygood? Or is he still a 'jealousGod'? Is he still the God who cries:'Vengeance is mine '? If so, is he a Godor a demon?

If God wishes the war not to continue,why does it not end immediately? Is Godnot omnipotent? Why, in fact, did thewar ever begin?

Is God omniscient, or is he not? Ifthe former, does he not know in advancewhat the result of the war is to be, andwhen it is to cease? Why, then, pray tohim? And if he is not all-knowing, is hea God worthy of the name?

Is there a personal God, or is therenot?

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Many will smother their doubts by de-outlymurmuring, Thy will be done,

little suspecting that they thus blasphemethe very deity they worship. Others willmanfully face the facts, and will acceptthe verdict of reason. There is but onepossible verdict. Upon them will beforced the conviction that, whereas Godand his churches have ever failed to securepeace, man alone and unaided, by adopt-ng

different tactics, may yet succeed inushering in the reign of universal brother-ood.*

At the outbreak of the present Europeanholocaust a correspondent of the London

* [To-day (May 14, 1918), as I re-read this passage,it occurs to me that exactly three and a half years havepassed since the date of its first publication. Onlythree and a half years: yet how strange a sound havethe words universal brotherhood acquired during thatshort period

... All the interim isLike a phantasma, or a hideous dream. ]

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Literary Guide ventured the suggestionthat the following form of intercession beused in the churches of all denomina-ions

:

''Almighty God and Father and Protector of allthat trust in Thee^ who art the only giver ofvictory^ and canst save by many or by few:

''We implore Thee^ in this great calamity whichhas overwhelmed Thy people through the madnessof wicked men^ to save the world from the un-peakable

horrors of war.For nearly two thousand years we have been

taught that Thou canst do all this in virtue ofThy almighty will. We therefore implore Theeat this time to manifest Thy wisdom and powerby changing the implements of destruction into themeans of health and wealthy by causing strife andbloodshed to cease^ and by making known thereality of Thy goodness.

If our prayer receives no response, we shallknow that Thy servants have deluded us with falsepromises, that Thy hand is nowhere visible in thelife of the world, and that there is no heavenlyFather in whose love we may trust.

Yes, indeed; the believer in a personal,95


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beneficent, overruling Providence will beobliged to put a number of painful ques-ions

to himself.*Thus the world moves on.

* [Curiously enough, vestiges of belief in the bene-icenceof a personal God may persist (doubtless as a

result, at least in part, of childhood training) evenunder the guise of Agnosticism. Thus, Sir HenryThompson, who regarded himself as agnostic to thebackbone, nevertheless conceived the beneficence ofthe Infinite and Eternal Energy [italicsmine] to beproved beyond dispute, and maintained that he foundno difficulty in the existence of wars and misery.The letter containing and expatiating upon these opin-ons

is introduced with the remark that the writer whose parents, significantly, were strict Baptistsbecame an Agnostic, although not with the sure-footed-

ness of Huxley. Cf. Clodd, Memories, pp. 4 -49. More familiar, of course, is the case of Matthew Arnold.Cf. Bury, History of Freedom of Thought, pp. 218-219.]

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Xines to f.

2)*

Seek not through prayer the goal of your desire:Vain must prove the quest

Bend not the knee to but a fabled SireAt a priest's behest

Have faith

have faith in me and let me be to

youWhat only Man can be a friend and comrade true.

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APPENDIX

Not one reader in a hundred takes the pains toturn backwards and forwards, as such appendicidarreferences regwire. MylesDavies: AthenwBn-tannicw, vol. ii,p. 192 (London, 1716).

THE GOLDEN AGE OF FAITHAND FlLTn NOTES

1 Lecky, Histmy of European Morals, 1869, vol. ii, pp.119^120;1904. vol. ii,p. 112; BPA- ed.. vol. ii, p. 48.2. The chronology, here and elsewhere, cannot be deter-ined

with precision, and must frequently be taken with theproverbial grain of salt.

3. St. Athanasius. Life of St. Anthony, in Nuiene and Post-Nicene Fathers. ZndseT..yo\.iy. p. 195.

4 Ibid p 196. Cf. Cydopmdia of Btbhcal. Theological.aJtEcclesiasticalLUerature. vol. i, p. 250; Catholic Encyclo-pedia. vol. i, p. 554; Encyclopmdia Britanmca. vol. xvui,p 687; Cassels, SMperno MraZ KeKffwra. B.P.A. ed.. p. 98.

6. The translator has into. for which to is heresubstituted, in conformity with the best modern usage. (Cf .iVew no/M Dictionorj/. vol. vii, p. 1645.)

6. St. Athanasius. Life of St. Anthony. ^J^^^'^'^^iJ ^Nicene Fathers. 2nd ser., vol. iv. p. 209. Cf. White. Warfareof Science with Theology, vol. u. pp. 69, 71 note,

9?


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APPENDIX7. Cf. St. Athanasius, Life of St. Anthony, in Nlcene and

Post-Nieene Fathers, 2nd ser., vol. iv, p. 209.8. I.e., from about his twentieth year (cf. p. 39) untilhis death.9. Cf. Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. i, pp. 553, 555; CyclO'

pcedia of Biblical, Theological,and Ecclesiastical Literature,vol. i,pp. 250, 251; vol. vi, p. 466; Encyclopcedia Britannica,vol. ii, p. 96; vol. xviii, p. 687; Neander, History of theChristian Religion and Church, 1849, vol. ii,p. 229.10. Cycloposdia of Biblical, Theological, and EcclesiasticalLiterature (edited by John McClintock, D.D., and JamesStrong, S.T.D.), vol. vi, p. 468 (unsigned article). Cf. St.Athanasius, Life of St, Anthony, in Nicene and Post-NiceneFathers, 2nd ser., vol. iv, p. 195; Cassels, SupernaturalReligion,R.P.A. ed., p. 99.11. For reference to St. Athanasius as Bishop of Alexan-ria,

see Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. ii,p. 35 (art. St. Athana-ius). For reference to him as the great Archbishop of

Alexandria, see ibid.,p. 34 (art. Athanasian Creed ). Cf.Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd ser., vol. iv, pp. xxxvii,564.

12. St. Athanasius, Life of St. Anthony, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd ser., vol. iv, p. 220.

13. Ibid.14. Besides, it seems to have been accounted a great priv-lege

to wear part of the apparel of a deceased ascetic. It isrelated of St. Anthony himself that on the feast-days ofEaster and Pentecost he always wore the tunic of palm-leaves which St. Paul the Hermit had so long worn (St.Jerome, Life of Paulus the First Hermit, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd ser., vol. vi, pp. 301, 302); and St.Jerome concludes the treatise in question with the avowalthat he would much sooner take Paul's tunic with its merits,than the purple of kings with their punishment {ibid.,.

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APPENDIX

SOS). Of St. Hilarion it is related that he bequeathed to hisfriend and discipleHesychius all his riches, comprising,in addition to a copy of the Gospels, his eminently filthy sackcloth tunic, cowl, and cloak (idem. Life of St. Hilarion,ibid.,p. 314; cf. p. 315, and see pp. 51-54, above).


16. Ibid, Cf. Lecky, History of European Morals, 1869,vol. ii,p. 117; 1904, vol. ii,pp. 109-110; R.P.A. ed., vol. ii,p. 47; Westermarck, Origin and Development of the MoralIdeas, vol. ii,p. 355; Maeterlinck, Miracle of Saint Anthony,passim (summarised in New York Times Review of Books,Aug. 11, 1918, p. 349).

17. The Athanasian Creed. Cf. Cyclopwdia of Biblical,Theological,and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. ii, pp. 560-562;Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. ii,pp. 33-35; Encyclopedia Britan-nica, vol. vii,p. 398; Bonner, The Chri tian Hell, pp. 7-8, 93.


19. Cf. Cyclopcediaof Biblical, Theological,and EcclesiasticalLiterature, vol. i,p. 508; vol. vi,p. 468; Catholic Encyclopedia,vol. X, p. 473.

20. Cf. arts. Monasticism '* and St. Jerome in Cyclo-posdia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature,Catholic Encyclopedia,and Encyclopcedia Britannica; CatholicEncyclopedia, vol. v, p. 75; Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,2nd ser., vol. vi,p. xi.21. St. Jerome, Letter XIV (to Heliodorus), in Nicene andPost'Nicene Fathers, 2nd ser., vol. vi, p. 14.

22. Cf. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd ser., vol. vi,p. 13.

23. A pedantic allusion to Virgil'sMneid, bk. xii,1. 59.24. St. Jerome, Letter XIV (to Heliodorus), in Nicene and

Post'Nicene Fathers, 2nd ser., vol. vi, p. 14.101


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APPENDIX

Cyclopcsdiaof Biblical,Theological,and Ecclesiastical Litera'tare, vol. i, p. 886; Encyclopcedia Britannica, vol. iv, p. 505;Protestant Dictionary (edited by Rev. Charles H. H. Wright,D.D., and Rev. Charles Neil), pp. 84, 85; McCabe, TwelveYears in a Monastery, R.P.A. ed., pp. 92-93; idem. Popesand Their Church, p. 163.

41. Breviarium Romanum, die xxi Octobris (October 21st).Cf. White, Warfare of Science with Theology, vol. ii,pp. 69,71 note.

through agnostic spectacles

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