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781 lines
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Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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**** ****
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THE HEART
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OF THE BIBLE,
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Where the Prophets Prophesy
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Falsely, and the Priests Bear
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Rule By Their Means
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by
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MARSHALL J. GAUVIN
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The
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Truth Seeker Company
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49 Vesey Street New York
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**** ****
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"THE HEART OF THE BIBLE."
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By MARSHALL J. GAUVIN.
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I am going to do what I have never done in my life -- I am
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going to base my address upon a Bible text. You will find my text
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in the thirty-first verse of the fifth chapter of Jeremiah; "The
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prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their
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means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in
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the end there-of?" And just to show you that I might have two
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texts, if I needed that many, I will call up as a witness a verse
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which stands in the next column -- the thirteenth verse of the
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sixth chapter: "For from the least of them even unto the greatest
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of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet
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even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely."
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"The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by
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their means." False prophets prophesied and by means of these
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false prophecies the priests controlled the people. Hence, both
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prophets and priests dealt falsely with their fellowmen. So says
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the Bible. I thoroughly believe in these parts of the Bible. I
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believe, moreover, that not only in ancient Judea did priests
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control their fellowmen by appealing to false prophecies; I am
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satisfied that in America, today, priests still fool the people
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with the same superstition based upon the same false prophecies.
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The evidence of this will become clearer as we proceed.
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Charles Foster Kent, one of the greatest biblical scholars
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of the English speaking world, a man who because of his great
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learning is Wolsey Professor of Biblical Literature at Yale
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University, recently came to Minneapolis, on invitation, to
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deliver several addresses on the modern scientific conception of
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the Bible. Assuming that the world has advanced somewhat since
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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1
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"THE HEART OF THE BIBLE."
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the dark ages of Christianity Professor Kent came to this city
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believing, doubtless, that thoughtful people here would pay
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respectful attention to the conclusions of science concerning one
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of the most important questions that can be of interest to the
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human mind -- the question of the origin and value of the Jewish
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and Christian Scriptures. The eminent scholar received, for the
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most part, the courteous hearing he deserved. So far, good. The
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time has come to tell the truth, and the whole truth, about the
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Bible and religion, and the man who is unwilling that the truth
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should be told is the enemy of his fellowmen.
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But one man in Minneapolis made himself conspicuous by the
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adverse attitude he assumed towards Professor Kent and his
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message. Dr. Riley, the man who advertises his name in large
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letters and his subjects in small print, the man who expounds a
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theology that is barbaric, our leading pulpit reactionary -- Dr.
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Riley got the idea that by means of a barrage of religious smoke
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be might obscure the light of reason which the master of biblical
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learning was diffusing in the intellectual atmosphere of this
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city. He therefore engaged the Auditorium, and invited us all to
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hear his great sermon on "Professor Kent, or Cutting the Heart
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Out of the Bible."
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I heard Dr. Riley's sermon, and this morning I want to tell
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you something about it. But before the reply to that strange
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pronouncement, a word of explanation.
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I should have preferred to answer Dr. Riley's attack on
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truth -- for that is what it was -- when face to face with him on
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the same platform. I accordingly sent him a courteous and
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friendly challenge to meet me in joint debate at the Auditorium,
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on the question, "Is the Bible the Inspired and Authentic Word of
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God?" I was satisfied when I wrote my letter that Dr. Riley would
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not debate. Therefore I was prepared for his refusal when, in
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referring to my challenge in his sermon at the Auditorium last
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Sunday night, he said: "Of course, I'll not debate with him. I'm
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here to preach to those people, but I'll debate this question
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with any woman who is teaching my child evolution in school."
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Later in his sermon, with characteristic logic the good man told
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of having once enjoyed witnessing a fight in which a big boy, who
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had beaten a little one, was in turn soundly beaten by another
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little fellow who asked: "Why don't you take somebody your own
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size." So the gentleman who would not debate with me thinks that
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to debate with a school-ma'am would be to take somebody his own
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size! But I am sure his argument would suffer disaster at the
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hands of any intelligent school teacher who has spent a little
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time in the study of religious questions.
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Professor Kent holds that the Bible is not a supernatural
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book. He holds that it is a collection of myths and legends
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interwoven with various elements of more or less historical and
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moral value. This at once reduces the Bible to a human book, and
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by the same token it reduces Dr. Riley's religion to a
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superstition. It is therefore because Professor Kent throws away
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as myths the virgin birth, the miracles, the resurrection and the
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blood atonement of Christ, along with all the miraculous features
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of the Old Testament, that Dr. Riley charges him with "cutting
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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2
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"THE HEART OF THE BIBLE."
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the heart out of the Bible." The heart of the Bible, therefore,
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according to Dr. Riley, is its supernatural character. And so in
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reply to Dr. Riley, I ask today: Is the heart of the Bible sound?
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That is to say, Is the alleged supernatural character of the
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Bible a reality or a myth?
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When Dr. Riley began his sermon by declaring that his
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objective was to reach the teachers and students in the
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university and in the high schools, I thought he might have
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something really worth while to tell us -- something of sound
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fundamental value. When a man presumes to teach teachers and
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serious-minded students, he ought to have something to say.
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What, then, did Dr. Riley tell the teachers and students --
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whom he asked to show their presence by rising -- as well as the
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others of us who made up his vast audience of twenty-five hundred
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people? Let us begin with his text. He read the thirty-sixth
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chapter of Jeremiah. That chapter says that Jeremiah dictated
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certain words to a scribe who wrote them down in a roll; that
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Jeremiah had received the words from God; that the words were
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read to Jehoiakim, the king, and that the king, disapproving of
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the document, cut it up with his pen-knife and threw it into the
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fire, where it was consumed. The statement that Jehoiakim cut up
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the word of God Dr. Riley took for his text, and with the act of
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Jehoiakim who cut up God's word, the reverend gentleman compared
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the work of Professor Kent who has cut the heart out of the
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Bible.
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A clever comparison. But let us examine it. If the words in
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the roll were God's words, how does it happen that Jeremiah
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dictated them to the scribe" Why did not God dictate them
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himself? Could he not speak to the scribe as well as to Jeremiah?
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How is it that we can never get the words of God except through
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some self-appointed prophet or priest? If God wished to convey a
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message to me, why did he first tell it to somebody else?
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Moreover, if the words in question really came from God, the king
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must have known it, or must have had good reason to believe it.
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Why, then, did he mutilate and cast into the fire what he must
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have regarded as a divinely inspired manuscript? Is it not the
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fact that the king destroyed the roll evidence amounting to proof
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that he did not believe the claim that the document contained the
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words of God? The logic of the situation certainly implies that.
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And if the king of the Jews was satisfied that Jeremiah was a
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false prophet, why should we believe otherwise? Unwittingly, Dr.
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Riley gave his case away by resting it upon a story whose logic
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testifies against his claims.
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But this is not all. The Bible itself proves -- if it proves
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anything -- not by implication alone but by fact, that the story
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read by Dr. Riley is false -- that Jeremiah was a false prophet.
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In the same thirty-sixth chapter of Jeremiah, at the thirtieth
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verse, it is said that God made the following prophecy concerning
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the punishment he was going to inflict upon Jehoiakim for
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destroying a part of the Bible: "Therefore thus saith the Lord of
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Jehoiakim king of Judah; he shall have none to sit upon the
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throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day
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to the heat, and in the night to the frost." It is here stated
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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3
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"THE HEART OF THE BIBLE."
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that Jehoiakim was to have no successor upon his throne, and that
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his unburied body was to remain exposed to the weather. But 2
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Kings xxiv, 6, shows that neither of these things happened. The
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book of Kings says. "So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and
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Jehoiachin, his son, reigned in his stead." The Bible itself, I
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repeat, proves Jeremiah's prophecy false; and this false
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prophecy, mark you, is a part of the story Dr. Riley took for his
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text. "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule
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by their means."
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Dr. Riley insisted that the Bible is the word of God
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because, in numerous places in it, you may find such declarations
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as this: -- "Now the word of the Lord came unto the prophet
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saying," and "Thus saith the Lord." But does Dr. Riley not know
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that Mohammed, Joseph Smith, Mrs. Eddy, and numerous other
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religious people, some of them frauds and some of them mistaken,
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have claimed that their notions came from God? And does he not
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know his Bible well enough to know that a vital part of the story
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from which he took his text is shown by the book of Kings to be
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false?
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Dr. Riley told us that Moses went up into the mountain, and
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that God, with his own finger, wrote the decalogue on tables of
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stone. But if God is a spirit, as Dr. Riley believes, what sort
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of a finger can he have? Fancy God using his spiritual finger as
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a chisel with which to carve letters on flat stones. In
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imagination I can see the stone chips flying in all directions as
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God's finger ploughed through the granite. Let me tell you the
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truth -- which Dr. Riley did not tell -- about this God-writing-
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the-decalogue - on - tables-of-stone-with-his-own-finger
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business. In the thirty-fourth chapter of Exodus, you will find a
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list of ten commandments. These commandments are said to be an
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exact reproduction of those which were on the tables of stone
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which Moses broke, and which are reported to have been written by
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the finger of God. Now if you will examine this decalogue you
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will find that it deals largely with feasts and sacrifices, and
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that it contains not a word against stealing, or killing, or
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adultery, or bearing false witness; not a word in favor of
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honoring father and mother. Indeed it does not deal with moral
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questions at all; it deals solely with religious observances. Yet
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this set of ten commandments, although it is scarcely known at
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all to ordinary Christians, is the Bible's original decalogue.
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The popularly known version of the decalogue, found in the
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twentieth chapter of Exodus, is the one which deals with moral
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principles; but the Bible nowhere represents this series of
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commandments as having been written by the finger of God. In
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saying that the decalogue was written by the finger of God, Dr.
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Riley, who was thinking of course of the ethical commandments,
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misrepresented the Bible. The commandments which the Bible says
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were written by the finger of God are wholly worthless; for those
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that have value, no other authorship than that of man is claimed.
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These two strikingly different versions of one of the outstanding
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landmarks in the Bible go to prove the soundness of Professor
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Kent's conclusion that the Bible is a product of evolution --
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that it gradually grew into its present form.
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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4
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"THE HEART OF THE BIBLE."
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Dr. Riley ought to know that the whole story of Moses's
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dealings with God on Mount Sinai is a myth; he ought to know that
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biblical scholars have shown that the earliest parts of the Bible
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were not written until about 500 years after Moses is supposed to
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have died, and he ought to know that there is not a bit more of
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evidence for the existence of Moses than there is for the reality
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of an individual named Jack Frost.
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Dr. Riley quoted, without mentioning any name, a great
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professor" who said that "eight solid centuries passed before any
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theologian questioned the plenary inspiration of the Bible." Such
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a statement, coming from a man who pretends to be educated, is
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quite amazing. Is Dr. Riley not aware of the fact that the Jewish
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priests edited and changed their writings for centuries and that
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the question as to which books should be included in the Old
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Testament was not settled until the close of the first century of
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the Christian era? Does he not know that for centuries Christian
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theologians differed from one another as to which books, selected
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from a large mass of Christian writings, should be considered as
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belonging to the New Testament and regarded as inspired? Has he
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not heard that church councils tried to decide by a majority vote
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that certain books were inspired and that others were not, and
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that, with respect to different books, the verdict of one council
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was reversed by the vote of another? Is he not aware that today
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the Catholic version of the Bible contains several books which
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Catholics hold to be inspired but which Protestants reject as
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uninspired? In a word, does he not know that the dogma of
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inspiration is a human invention, built up and foisted upon the
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world by priests? "The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests
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bear rule by their means."
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But suppose it were true that the doctrine of inspiration
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was not questioned by any theologian during a period of eight
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hundred years. That certainly would not prove that the Bible is
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inspired; rather, it might prove no more than that no theologian
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was willing to risk his life at the hands of a persecuting
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church; for in those awful centuries, the murderous Christian
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church was ready to strike with death the man who dared to oppose
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her creed.
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This religious "champion" who will not defend his
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superstition in public debate, but who is perfectly willing to
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argue against science with a school-ma'am, has the audacity to
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say that the practice of calling the inspiration of the Bible in
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question "did not curse the Christian centuries," that it
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"belongs to the twentieth century." According to this man,
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therefore, it is an accursed thing to question a religious
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fiction that was invented by priests. But let us examine a little
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more closely the reverend gentleman's peculiar notion as to this
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matter. The centuries when the Bible filled the world with its
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authority were centuries of religious persecution -- centuries of
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tortures inflicted and agonies endured in the precious name of
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Christ. Let me give you one illustration. A few years ago I saw
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in the Eden Musee, in New York, a wax representation of one of
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the tortures of the Inquisition. By means of an iron band around
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one of his wrists, a man was suspended from a chain attached to
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the ceiling of a dungeon. Around one of the man's ankles there
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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5
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"THE HEART OF THE BIBLE."
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was another iron band to which a chain was secured, and dangling
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from the end of that chain was a weight of some twenty-five or
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thirty pounds. Let me hasten to say that where the iron bands cut
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into the flesh -- at the hand and foot -- blood was flowing;
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while the features of the martyr bore the awful impress of agony
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and grim despair. Crouching behind this victim of the church, in
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a corner of the dungeon, were his wife and children with swollen
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hearts and eyes inflamed with tears. Perhaps that man was
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suspected of having expressed the charitable view that God would
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not burn a good unbeliever forever, and for that mild heresy the
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church had fallen upon him. And he was to endure that frightful
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torture until he confessed, and then he was to be burnt alive.
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The picture represented one of the practices of triumphant
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Christianity as exemplified in the ferocious Inquisition, in
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Spain, in Italy, in France, in Germany and in other Christian
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countries, during the frightful centuries when the man who dared
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to question the authority of the Bible forfeited his life. But
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thanks to the blessed influence of skepticism, which Dr. Riley
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denounces, the time came when the red hand of the church was
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wrenched from the throat of a suffering world; and the religious
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liberty of our time is the glorious child of that rationalistic
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spirit which says to the Christian: "You shall not persecute your
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fellow man on the strength of your belief that the Bible is the
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word of God." In denouncing as a curse the spirit which questions
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the authority of the Bible, Dr. Riley is denouncing as a cure the
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fact that increasing culture and advancing civilization have come
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to protect the sane man from the fanaticism of believers drunk on
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that priestly concoction -- the inspiration of the Bible.
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"History," says Dr. Riley, "is consistently illustrating the
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permanency of the Bible." Is that statement true? It certainly is
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not. I assume, of course, that by the "permanency of the Bible,"
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Dr. Riley means the unimpaired authority of the Bible. As to
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that, let us see. Only a few centuries ago the Bible was regarded
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as the final authority which proved that the earth is flat; that
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this is the only world in existence; that it is the center of the
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universe; that the sun travels around it every day; and men who
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differed with this ignorance were, on the authority of the Bible,
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burnt alive. Until a little while ago the Bible upheld the
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Inquisition, burnt women as witches, championed the despotism of
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kings, fanned the flames of religious wars, and bound shackles to
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the limbs of millions of slaves. Dr. Riley is from the South, and
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he knows that many of his relatives fought in the greatest of
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civil wars in defense of human slavery, because, among other
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reasons, slavery is upheld by the Bible. But we have advanced,
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and the man who would today quote the Bible in defense of any of
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the follies or crimes I have mentioned, would be laughed at by
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thoughtful people.
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Assuredly, the Bible as a book is relatively permanent; so
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is the book of AEsop's Fables; so are the tales of the Arabian
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Nights; but the authority of the Bible in matters of science and
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history and morals has gone from the cultured world forever.
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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6
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"THE HEART OF THE BIBLE."
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Voltaire, Paine and Ingersoll, and the other men who have
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criticized the Bible, Dr. Riley avers, "are dead and forgotten,
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and yet the book abides." But Voltaire is not forgotten; his
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works are read throughout the world; and the glory of the
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Rationalistic civilization of modern France is destiny's tribute
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to the genius of the greatest mind ever produced by the French
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race.
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Thomas Paine forgotten! He has more readers today than he
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ever before had; his influence against superstition is a growing
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influence; and only a little while ago the man who fought on two
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continents for the liberty of body and mind came very near being
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elected to America's Hall of Fame, where, in a little while, he
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will be honored with this country's immortals.
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Ingersoll forgotten! Ingersoll, whose rich humanity, touched
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with poetry, gave pathos and music to human speech; Ingersoll,
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who glorified all the virtues of life and love and home;
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Ingersoll, whose logic reaved the heavens of a heartless phantom
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who would gloat forever over the victims of his revenge;
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Ingersoll, whose radiant personality diffused a magnetic charm,
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whose home life was as beautiful as the most ideal heaven
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realized, and whose twelve volumes of eloquence, wisdom and
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humanity constitute a Bible infinitely more noble than that which
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Christians worship as the word of God! Ingersoll forgotten? But
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why argue the point? The giants of Freethought are surely not
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forgotten when even Dr. Riley has to mention them.
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Dr. Riley was good enough to mention a number of theologians
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-- Kuenen, Wellhausen, Driver, Kirkpatrick and others -- who have
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produced and systematized the evidence that the Bible is a human
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book, and then with a wave of the hand he brushed aside the
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scholarship of these mighty men as a worthless thing. Then,
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railing against "modernism," which is the scientific view of
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religious questions, the progressive intellectual spirit of
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today, this sensational preacher, who would debate with a school
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ma'am, dared to refer to these masters of modern culture as
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"these fool professors."
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But is Dr. Riley a scholar? Does be know the questions
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involved in biblical study in a fundamental way? Is not his
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knowledge circumscribed within the narrow limits imposed by
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Baptist theology? I judge from what I heard him say. But the men
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he sneeringly calls "fool professors" are scholars; they have
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studied the Bible in the languages in which it was written; they
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are familiar with the history, the institutions and ideas out of
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which the Bible was born; and they have traced through various
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changes the growth of the myths and legends of which that book is
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largely composed. Yet Dr. Riley, with that confidence which is
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strong in proportion as knowledge is lacking, or with a less
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admirable mental disposition, would label these men as "fools"
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and banish them from the world's seats of learning. Well, he
|
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cannot succeed, and it is encouraging to remember that no fact
|
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ever yet was destroyed by the mere noise of a bagpipe.
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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7
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"THE HEART OF THE BIBLE."
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I should like to invite Dr. Riley's attention to this
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alternative. He either knows the facts which are found in the
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writings of the scholars he condemns, or he does not. If he does
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not know these facts, he is presuming on his ignorance; if he
|
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does know these facts, he is presuming on the ignorance of his
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supporters; for the culture of today is a challenge to the
|
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intelligent brain to know the truth about the Bible and remain an
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orthodox believer in it.
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What would you think of one who would dare to sneer at
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physiologists, calling them fools, and then triumphantly deny the
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circulation of the blood? What would you think of a man who
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professed to be well informed in mathematics, and yet argued that
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a part is equal to the whole? Yet that precisely is the attitude
|
|
of Dr. Riley in religion. If Dr. Riley had a, little more logic
|
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and a few more facts, he might qualify as a teacher; as it is, he
|
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is only a D.D. -- a Dispenser of Darkness.
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Why does Dr. Riley despise, or pretend to despise, the
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modernists? I will tell you. He is against them because they have
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shown that the Adam and Eve story is a myth; that man never fell
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into sin by disobeying God -- never brought upon himself the
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curse of eternal damnation; that civilization was never destroyed
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by a universal flood; that God never turned the river Nile into
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blood, never filled the houses of the Egyptians with frogs; that
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God never put himself on record as being in favor of slavery,
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polygamy, religious persecution and wars of extermination; that
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no prophet ever ascended into heaven in a chariot of fire; that
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50,070 persons were not killed, in one grand slaughter, for the
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crime of looking into a wooden box; that a fellow named Daniel
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|
did not live all night unharmed in a den with hungry lions; and
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that scores of other such pious tales are not a bit more true
|
|
than the sermons of Baptist preachers. In brief, Dr. Riley fights
|
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the critics because they have shown, and conclusively shown, that
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the supernatural character of the Bible is a myth; that the heart
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of that book is unsound; that Dr. Riley's religion is built on
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fallacies and fables.
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Dr. Riley's quarrel with Professor Kent arises chiefly from
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the fact that Professor Kent in his "Shorter Bible," rejects the
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alleged virgin birth of Christ, and explains away the
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resurrection, the miracles, the blood atonement. Christ is
|
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represented as having been a man -- an entirely human being --
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and all the supernatural embroidery of the Gospel story is
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accounted for as the product of evolution in religious thought.
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This makes the story natural, human, and fits it, or tries to fit
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it, into the procession of historical events.
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But Dr. Riley will not have Jesus the man. He knows that on
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any human foundation the Baptist religion must perish as a
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superstition. So he wants a God who died to save us from the hell
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he himself had made after we have been properly baptized by
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immersion!
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The dear Doctor complained bitterly that the Professor has
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"mutilated" the account of the virgin birth. The virgin birth! --
|
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a miracle that all nature denies. Dr. Riley should know that not
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only is there no evidence whatever for the virgin birth of
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
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8
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"THE HEART OF THE BIBLE."
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Christ, but that there is not a line of evidence to prove that
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Christ ever lived at all, But taking the story as it stands in
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|
the Gospel, he ought to know that according to the first chapter
|
|
of Matthew, Joseph and Mary were husband and wife when it was
|
|
discovered that Mary was to become a mother. He ought to know,
|
|
further, that both Matthew and Luke try to show that Christ was
|
|
of the house of David, and accordingly trace the descent of
|
|
Joseph through the royal line, thus plainly implying their belief
|
|
that Joseph was Christ's father. Nothing can be clearer than that
|
|
it was the intention of the writers of the genealogies of Joseph
|
|
to show that Jesus was the son of Joseph. That is common sense.
|
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But Dr. Riley does not want common sense; he wants religious
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dogma. Ah, but he would appeal to common sense if he were brought
|
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face to face with a virgin birth story today. Suppose a young
|
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woman of Minneapolis were to declare that the father of her child
|
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was a Holy Ghost, do you think Dr. Riley would believe the story?
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It is only when you go back far enough into history, to the
|
|
foundation of a religion, that a plain fiction becomes a pious
|
|
fact!
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And the resurrection and ascension of Christ -- what of
|
|
these miracles? Dr. Riley classes Professor Kent among the fools
|
|
because he does not believe these fairy tales. Well, suppose a
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|
devout member of his congregation came to Dr. Riley and told him
|
|
that while passing through the cemetery yesterday, he saw the
|
|
door of one of the vaults gently open, and lo! as he looked, a
|
|
Christian gentleman who died and was buried some time ago walked
|
|
out of the vault in his grave clothes, alive and apparently well.
|
|
Do you think, once more, that Dr. Riley would believe the story?
|
|
What would be regarded as a deliberate untruth, or as an evidence
|
|
of mental derangement, when viewed at close range becomes divine
|
|
inspiration when placed in the hazy distance of religion's dawn.
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Christ ascended into heaven, says Dr. Riley. Very well, but
|
|
which way did he go? If he left at noon, he went in the direction
|
|
we call up. If he left at midnight, he went in the direction
|
|
exactly opposite. The direction we call "up" changes every moment
|
|
with the continuous revolution of the earth.
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|
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Dr. Riley says Christ went "up," but science replies that
|
|
there is no "up."
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|
|
Dr. Riley complains that Professor Kent's theories lead
|
|
straight to Unitarianism. But what of that? Unitarians are good
|
|
people, and in the matter of religious common sense they come
|
|
very close to Freethinkers. And among the statesmen and literary
|
|
men of this country, the Unitarians are as remarkable for their
|
|
number and ability as the Baptists are conspicuous for their
|
|
absence. Moreover, in the Bible, Unitarians figure far more
|
|
prominently than Baptists. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, were
|
|
Unitarians. Christ, if he lived, was a Unitarian, and so was
|
|
Paul. These men were of the opinion that one God was quite
|
|
enough, and that view is the essence of Unitarianism properly so-
|
|
called. Dr. Riley, of course, has a combination of three Gods in
|
|
one, but that notion gets no real support whatever from the
|
|
Bible. It is worthy of note that the only verse in the Bible in
|
|
which the three heavenly witnesses are mentioned was thrown out
|
|
as a forgery by the makers of the Revised Version.
|
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|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|
9
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"THE HEART OF THE BIBLE."
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|
|
|
Dr. Riley's pet aversion is the science of evolution. Over
|
|
and over again in his sermon he attacked the doctrine, now
|
|
accepted by the entire educated world, that all living things
|
|
have developed from lower forms. And, as you will recall, this is
|
|
the question he is willing to debate with the schoolma'am.
|
|
Indeed, he ought to be very good in a debate on this question
|
|
with a lady, particularly a young lady, for he has had some
|
|
experience, and he has a victory to his credit. Yes, he once
|
|
convinced a girl of nineteen, a Columbia University student, that
|
|
evolution is all wrong, It happened in this way. He met the girl;
|
|
the conversation turned to the subject of evolution; and the
|
|
following dialogue ensued: "Do they teach evolution at Columbia?"
|
|
"Oh, yes." "Do you believe in it?" "Why, yes, don't you?" "No."
|
|
"You don't believe in evolution?" "No." "And you say you are an
|
|
educated man?" "I have had a college education." "Well, why don't
|
|
you believe in evolution?" And then for one whole hour he poured
|
|
out his soul to that girl in defense of the Bible against
|
|
evolution. And the girl, completely overcome -- convinced if not
|
|
enlightened -- said to him: "I wish my father could have been
|
|
here and heard your great plea for the truth." No wonder Dr.
|
|
Riley likes to argue with ladies. They flatter him and make him
|
|
think he's smart!
|
|
|
|
But in his defense of the Bible against evolution, did Dr.
|
|
Riley tell the girl of the numerous contradictions that are to be
|
|
found in the first and second chapters of Genesis? Did he tell
|
|
her that according to the first chapter the earth, in the
|
|
beginning, was completely enveloped in water, and that according
|
|
to the second chapter the earth was originally a dry plane? Did
|
|
he tell her that according to the first chapter the trees were
|
|
made, before man, while the second chapter says they were made
|
|
after man? Did he tell her that according to the first chapter
|
|
all the beasts of the field were made before man, but that the
|
|
second chapter plainly declares that the beasts were made after
|
|
man? Did he tell her that if the first chapter is true the man
|
|
and the woman were made together, after all other things had been
|
|
formed, but that if the second chapter is to be believed, the man
|
|
was made alone, and then the beasts were made, and finally the
|
|
woman was manufactured from one of the man's ribs? In short, did
|
|
he tell the girl, what every biblical scholar now knows, namely,
|
|
that there are two completely contradictory accounts of the
|
|
creation side by side in Genesis, and that both of these accounts
|
|
are Babylonian myths? He certainly did not. And it is because he
|
|
is unwilling to face these proofs that his creation stories are
|
|
utterly without scientific value, that he writes me of his being
|
|
"not at all disposed to debate with unbelieving men."
|
|
|
|
Dr. Riley does not believe in evolution, and with a pride
|
|
that is truly pathetic he sneers at the most comprehensive,
|
|
illuminating and constructive science ever grasped and unfolded
|
|
by the intellect of man.
|
|
|
|
But stay a moment, Dr. Riley. When you have finished with
|
|
your denunciation of evolution, I want you to come over here and
|
|
sit down beside this anthropoid ape from the African forest,
|
|
while I tell this audience some very meaningful facts in your
|
|
hearing. Passing over the evolution of living things from the
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|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|
10
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|
|
"THE HEART OF THE BIBLE."
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simplest forms of life up to this ape, I want to call your
|
|
attention to the essentially human characteristics of this
|
|
animal. This ape stands nearly six feet high -- a powerful man-
|
|
like creature. I recognize him as a relative of mine and I am
|
|
satisfied that he is a relative of Dr. Riley's. This ape has two
|
|
hundred bones in his skeleton; So has Dr. Riley. This ape has
|
|
three hundred muscles; so has Dr. Riley. This ape's body is
|
|
covered with hair; so, in lesser degree, is Dr. Riley's. This ape
|
|
has a four-chambered heart; precisely the same kind of a heart
|
|
beats in the breast of Dr. Riley, This ape has thirty-two teeth,
|
|
set in a certain definite order in his jaws; Dr. Riley has the
|
|
same number and kind of teeth correspondingly arranged. This
|
|
ape's brain is built up of ganglionic cells, and consists of the
|
|
cerebrum, the cerebellum, the corpus callosum, the medulla
|
|
oblongata and the hippocampus minor; Dr. Riley's brain is
|
|
composed of the same kind of cells and has the same parts.
|
|
Indeed, bone for bone, muscle for muscle, nerve for nerve, the
|
|
ape and the man agree -- even to the rudiment of the tail! This
|
|
ape has four or five joints at the base of his spine -- the
|
|
lingering relic of an ancestral tail; and at the base of his
|
|
backbone, Dr. Riley carries the same conclusive proof that his
|
|
remote ancestors -- the primitive Baptists -- swung from the
|
|
limbs of trees by their tails. In one important respect alone,
|
|
relatively speaking, the man surpasses the more humble creature
|
|
-- in the development of the brain. But who shall say that in
|
|
several hundred thousand years Nature could not raise the low
|
|
forehead of this lesser brother high enough to enable him to
|
|
preach sermons denouncing knowledge and praising superstition?
|
|
|
|
It is of no use for Dr. Riley to deny the truth. All the
|
|
facts of animal and plant life contribute their force to prove
|
|
the truth of evolution, and in the whole field of thought there
|
|
is no other explanation of the rise of living things. In fighting
|
|
the doctrine of evolution, Dr. Riley is like the man who thinks
|
|
that by holding a straw hat before his eyes he can darken the
|
|
sun. The truth is with us to abide. The creed must disappear.
|
|
|
|
Dr. Riley's sermon was delivered; the evening passed; and as
|
|
I left the Auditorium, I tried to recall one unassailable truth,
|
|
one conclusive argument, one striking example of healthy,
|
|
rational thought, one certain indication that the man who would
|
|
teach teachers has grasped the essential scope and meaning of the
|
|
broad scientific culture of our time; but I could not do it. We
|
|
were again told that "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from
|
|
all sin"; that Freethinkers are unhappy; that skeptics should not
|
|
be allowed to teach in our schools; and that the philosophy of
|
|
today is the climax of foolishness. Indefensible assertions were
|
|
uttered with complete ministerial assurance. But nothing was
|
|
argued in a scientific way; nothing was proved; the whole sermon
|
|
was inadequate, hollow, pitiful. Twenty-five hundred people
|
|
listened attentively to a discourse that was so lame, so
|
|
medieval, so childish, so barren of cultural worth, that a lover
|
|
of truth, one who knows the importance of time and knowledge in
|
|
human life, might well have wept.
|
|
|
|
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|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|
11
|
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|
|
"THE HEART OF THE BIBLE."
|
|
|
|
Dr. Riley complains that he cannot get into the University
|
|
of Minnesota to address the students as often as be used to.
|
|
Well, "there's a reason," and that reason is our ground for hope.
|
|
The school is freeing itself from the dead hand of the church.
|
|
Science is completing its divorcement from superstition. The
|
|
purpose of the school is to teach what somebody knows --
|
|
practical facts for the conduct of life. The church is a stranger
|
|
to truth. Founded on fallacies, her teachings grope in a mirage
|
|
of mythology. When education becomes completely free from the
|
|
impediment of religion, humanity will surge forward upon the
|
|
broad highway of intellectual and moral advance. In the school
|
|
from which Dr. Riley's teachings are excluded there is hope for
|
|
real education.
|
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|
|
**** ****
|
|
|
|
From a lecture delivered before the Twin City Rationalist
|
|
Society, in the Lyric Theater, Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday
|
|
morning, Nov. 20, 1921; being a reply to Dr. W.B. Riley's sermon
|
|
on "Professor Kent; or, Cutting the Heart Out of the Bible."
|
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|
|
**** ****
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|
GAUVIN'S WRITINGS:
|
|
|
|
Aims of Freethought ........................ 10 cents
|
|
Bible a Dangerous Moral Guide .............. 15 cents
|
|
Did Jesus Really Live? ..................... 15 cents
|
|
Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? ............. 15 cents
|
|
Gauvin-Olson Debates ....................... 75 cents
|
|
Illustrated Story of Evolution ................ $1.00
|
|
Is There a Life After Death? ............... 20 cents
|
|
Is There a Real God? ....................... 20 cents
|
|
Story of Evolution .......................... 5 cents
|
|
Why the World Is at War. ................... 15 cents
|
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**** ****
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|
|
Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
|
|
|
|
The Bank of Wisdom is a collection of the most thoughtful,
|
|
scholarly and factual books. These computer books are reprints of
|
|
suppressed books and will cover American and world history; the
|
|
Biographies and writings of famous persons, and especially of our
|
|
nations Founding Fathers. They will include philosophy and
|
|
religion. all these subjects, and more, will be made available to
|
|
the public in electronic form, easily copied and distributed, so
|
|
that America can again become what its Founders intended --
|
|
|
|
The Free Market-Place of Ideas.
|
|
|
|
The Bank of Wisdom is always looking for more of these old,
|
|
hidden, suppressed and forgotten books that contain needed facts
|
|
and information for today. If you have such books please contact
|
|
us, we need to give them back to America.
|
|
|
|
**** ****
|
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|
|
Bank of Wisdom
|
|
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
|
12
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