CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
 3 1924 031 782 901 
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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
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 the Cornell University Library. 
 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031782901 
 
THE 
 
 GODHOOD 
 
 OF MAN 
 
 And the Lord God said: 
 ' Behold, the man is become as one of us, 
 to know good and evil," 
 
 His Religious, Political and 
 
 Economic Development and the 
 
 Sources of Social Inequality 
 
 BY 
 
 NICOLAI MIKALOWlTCHt 
 
 r_ fi <; 4a*€,ia KVx-MU^ 
 
 ti^AN*. 
 
 CHICAGO, U. S. A.. .PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 
 1899 
 
 FOR SALE AT ALL BOOKSTORES AND NEWSSTANDS 
 
 T 
 
 THE BLAKCLV PRINTING CO.. .CHICAGO 
 
 ^ 
 

 1--- 
 
 Entered According to Act of Congress in the Year 1899, 
 
 By NICHOLAS MICHELS, 
 
 In the Office op the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I, PAGE 
 
 How THE Spirit Was Made Flesh 9 
 
 CHAPTER II, 
 How God Was Made Flesh 38 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 How God Was Made Into Gold 66 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 How Gold Was Made God 97 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 How Man Was Made God 132 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 We are fond of describing the present time as the 
 age of progress; nor do we wholly lack justification 
 for doing so, for science has indeed lifted the veil and 
 showered the gifts of nature upon us in a steady 
 flow. And yet we cling stubbornly to the hoary god- 
 idea of antediluvian generations, and continue to nour- 
 ish our children with the milk otf false modes of 
 thought. 
 
 Both church and state strive to sustain the mytholog- 
 ical god-idea of primitive races in a desperate effort to 
 prevent the image of the creator outgrowing their own 
 stature. Misdirected reform movements hamper the 
 inner growth of man, while utter insincerity permeates 
 the whole organism of civilization. 
 
 But let one dare paint a truthful picture of his- 
 tory, lay bare the cancers of the present social order, 
 and behold! the pharisees and scribes will perform 
 the most ludicrous antics in a mad endeavor to smirch 
 one's motives while glorifying their own acts by quo- 
 tations from law and holy writ. 
 
 But do what they may, this glaring truth can never 
 be erased from the tablet of the genius of time, that 
 we have ceased to believe in dogmatic theology and 
 should, therefore, no longer tolerate among us these 
 prophets of a falsified Christianity, if we pretend to be 
 freemen and followers of the Nazarene. 
 
No amelioration of the prevailing inequitable condi- 
 tions will be possible, unless it be preceded by the 
 overthrow of existing religious conceptions. When 
 once the true god of nature shall have taken up his 
 abode in the hearts of men, then will the false struc- 
 ture of state and society collapse and make room for 
 the ideal state which becomes a people that has 
 einerged from thraldom. To hasten the coming of 
 that event must be left to honest men of science. For 
 myself, I have endeavored, as far as in me lay, to expose 
 the roots of the evil, and hope that the oppressed 
 tiller of the soil and the slave of workshop and fac- 
 tory will thank me for so doing. Should I live to 
 see the sun rise over a generation of men of these two 
 classes who have ceased to be the common milch cow 
 from which church and state draw sustenance and 
 wealth I shall die content. 
 
 The Author. 
 
 Chicago, February, 1899. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 How The Spirit Was Made Flesh. 
 
 It was at dusk of day in the year 9981, when my 
 companion and I, two weary wanderers, landed at 
 the extreme slope of a lofty mountain range. The 
 vanishing rays of the sun gilded the softly rustling 
 tree-tops, as we sat down near the bank of a rippling 
 stream, happy to find refreshment in its clear water 
 after a tiresome journey. 
 
 In the bosom of smiling nature we could not resist 
 a feeling of gladness in reflecting how uniformly 
 happy the year found mankind on all the planets 
 thus far visited by us. Now we were nearing our 
 journey's end, and only the little Earth remained to 
 be explored before we would again return to our own 
 dear home. 
 
 Were we now on the verge of obtaining, at last, 
 a glimpse into the fabled wonderland of the half- 
 men? We had inquired about it diligently at all 
 places touched in our long journey, but without dis- 
 covering the least trace of it. And yet it is reported 
 to have once existed, and we had been charged to 
 find living remnants of it, if any remained among the 
 planet-dwellers. 
 
 For it was set down in our ancient archives that in 
 times long gone by intellectual dwarfs inhabited the 
 
planets, who believed they were doomed to everlast- 
 ing servitude for a single act of disobedience on the 
 part of their remote forefathers. One of their prin- 
 cipal doctrines, however, was that the planet inhab- 
 ited by them was the only one bearing life, while all 
 the other heavenly bodies were lights there placed 
 by a personal deity to illuminate the one inhabited 
 sphere. The abject fear of punishment which this 
 god instilled into their hearts prevented them from 
 ever knowing themselves. Our wise men had studied 
 the Earth for many years and reached the conclusion, 
 that the young age of that body indicated a scantily 
 developed intellect among its human dwellers, if there 
 were any. And we were now sent to continue that 
 investigation on the planet itself. 
 
 Our minds occupied with such thoughts, we lay 
 down to rest under a dense clump of trees, meaning 
 to ascend the mountains in the freshness of dawn. Ac- 
 cordingly, the rising sun found us striding along vig- 
 orously. At the very moment we took a view of the 
 landscape beyond from one of the many peaks, our 
 senses were powerfully stirred by the panorama un- 
 rolled before our eyes. 
 
 The plain in front of us was full of life and light 
 smoke was rising from many of the scattered cottages. 
 What attracted our attention with a weird fascination 
 was a tall spire surmounted by a cross. We heard 
 the peal of bells and saw many of the inhabitants 
 with measured tread moving toward the central point 
 of the village. We started to descend the slope. Half- 
 way down along the side of the road stood a tall 
 
wooden cross, from which depended a human figure 
 tinted white, above which appeared the legend : 
 
 "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." 
 
 While at the foot we read: 
 
 "Jesus, pray for us miserable sinners." 
 
 For a long time we gazed at the monument, seek- 
 ing in vain to form a conjecture as to the period of 
 human history to which it might belong. 
 
 Was it perhaps ? 
 
 Nay, we could not believe it. 
 
 A'fteir taking the necessary notes, we proceeded 
 toward the village, which now lay directly in front 
 of us. To the right and left of us fields and meadows 
 stretched far away to the adjoining hills and every- 
 where we observed hedges or heaped stone bowlders, 
 marking ofif areas of greater or less extent. Barring 
 the song of birds and the bleating of grazing flocks, 
 profound silence hung over the landscape. 
 
 Now and then a solitary woman would peep timidly 
 at us from behind the hedge surrounding her dwell- 
 ing, only to disappear as quickly as she had come. 
 We almost believed that we had come upon a half 
 deserted village, when there broke upon our ears, 
 softly at first, then in a mighty peal, the swelling 
 tones of music. Scarcely had we time to note the 
 direction from whence it came, when suddenly, at 
 a turn of the road, we stood upon the edge of an 
 open square, at the extreme end of which rose the 
 spire we had seen at a distance. It was part of a lofty 
 structure. 
 
Crossing the square, we approached the edifice, the 
 architecture of which struck us as singular. Again 
 we beheld a somewhat smaller cross over the main 
 entrance, while surrounding it were figures of stone 
 representing men and women of a world quite for- 
 eign to us. In the highly arched and colored windows 
 were paintings whose allegorical me'aning we were 
 wholly unable to discover. Flocks of sheep and 
 lambs, land doveis hovering in mid-air, constituted 
 a large part of what we saw. Our attention was held 
 longest by the picture of a matron carrying in her 
 arms a tender child, and riding on an ass, which was 
 being lead by a bearded man of serious mien. 
 
 From the interior floated the sound of music and 
 human voices mingled in song. We entered without 
 further hesitation. 
 
 The lofty room was filled with men and women 
 to the very entrance. Just in front of us a woman 
 sprinkled herself with water, which she dipped from 
 a hollow stone in the wall. 
 
 Far ahead of us a man of advanced age, and clad 
 in strange attire, was performing ceremonies which 
 we had never seen before, while the air was filled with 
 song in unisorii with the invisible music. 
 
 We stood spellbound, and vainly tried to under- 
 stand the lowly deportment of the multitude and the 
 actions of the venerable-looking old man. Meaningless 
 as it all seemed to us, every detail aiifected the audi- 
 ence with an overwhelming sense of significance. 
 With humble reverence they followed every action 
 of the old man, whose countenance displayed supe- 
 rior knowledge and dignity. We felt assured that 
 
13 
 we were witnessing an act which to this people was 
 of the greatest importance, and our conclusion was 
 speedily confirmed when the venerable man left the 
 place he had occupied and mounted a little elevation 
 in the midst of the audience. The eyes of all were 
 centered upon him when he began to read from a 
 large volume the following passage: 
 
 "I am the lord, thy god, thou shalt have no other 
 gods before me." Continuing, he explained that god 
 created the whole world in six days, and how every- 
 thing was good in the beginning. He created man 
 after his own image and formed woman from a rib 
 of the sleeping Adam. But by the disobedience of 
 the first human couple, their entire posterity became 
 subject to- sin and death. 
 
 Mankind grew worse and worse, and God became 
 more and more dissatisfied with his creation as time 
 passed on, until at last he destroyed it all, with few 
 exceptions, by an immense flood. 
 
 After the waters had subsided, he made a covenant 
 with the survivors, which, however, was kept sacred 
 only by few of them. Again the evil ones were scat- 
 tered by him over the earth, and only with one pious 
 man did he renew his covenant. 
 
 To his children he promised the land flowing with 
 milk and honey, and after many wanderings and 
 trials they took possession of it. But again and again 
 even these favorite children violated his law and 
 were, therefore, visited by him with severe penalties. 
 
 Driven from the promised land and held in servi- 
 tude by barbarians, they finally acknowledged him 
 their true god, and lamented their self-incurred 
 misery. 
 
14 
 
 At last the lord tcwk pity on them and led them 
 home from captivity. He promised them a messiah 
 who would restore them to power and grace. 
 
 In fulfillment of this promise, god sent his only 
 begotten son down upon the earth in human form. 
 Born of a virgin, he appeared among the children of 
 men, preaching peace. But they knew him not and 
 condemned his doctrine. At last the Wealthy in the 
 land, together with the priests and scribes, succeeded 
 in having him condemned and crucified by the au- 
 thorities, for inciting the people to rebellion. 
 
 Thus the son of god himself was made a victim 
 of sinful humanity. Nevertheless, the evil ones only 
 did that which the spirit of god had resolved from 
 eternity. Thus the predictions of the prophets were 
 fulfilled, and the salvation of man was brought about. 
 
 But the son of god arose from the grave and as- 
 cended to heaven, where he sits on the right hand of 
 the father, to reward the good and punish the wicked. 
 The speaker also insisted that the mysteries of the 
 true faith were preserved intact only in the church 
 which he represented, and that all who believed oth- 
 erwise were heretics and damned forever. 
 
 In conclusion, he admonished the poor to be con- 
 tent, the rich to be kind, and all without exception 
 to remain obedient to the powers that be, and faith- 
 ful to the church, if they would obtain mercy in the 
 eyes of god. 
 
 Thus concluded the singular ceremony, and the 
 faithful poured forth from the house of god, which 
 we also left in order to exchange our impressions while 
 standing at the entrance. 
 
IS 
 
 What was the meaning of all we had seen? 
 
 Could these men be the remnants of the old priest- 
 made faith, which had been extinct on Mars for nigh 
 two thousand years? 
 
 We racked our brains for an answer, and finally 
 decided to ask an explanation from the old man. 
 Just at that moment he appeared, leaning upon a 
 knotted stick, and bowing, we greeted him respect- 
 fully. "Blessed be our lord, Jesus Christ," he an- 
 swered, in returning our greeting, and, scanning us 
 attentively, he said, gently: "I am the priest of this 
 people and answer for them. What is it that leads 
 you strangers to us?" 
 
 My companion, the learned AlGeber, the one to 
 whom we owe the system of interplanetary commu- 
 Hication, answered: "VeneraWe man, you are quite 
 right in calling us strangers. On our part, we also 
 feel very strange here, for that which we have so far 
 seen of your people has been relegated by our wise 
 men among the legends of the half-men, and we are 
 undecided whether to feel glad that they are founded 
 in truth. 
 
 "Know, then, that we are emissaries of the Inter- 
 planetary Society of Mars, your neighbor, and have 
 been for some years traveling through the universe 
 in order to carry information concerning the progress 
 of the god-man to the friends of science. 
 
 "Wherever we have been, up to this time, the new 
 seed has borne splendid fruit. But your teachings 
 we have never heard until this day. Therefore, pray, 
 make us acquainted with the uses and development 
 of your science and religion, that we may make truth- 
 ful report of it at home." 
 
i6 
 
 The old priest gazed at us long and searchingly, 
 and with difficulty mastered his emotion, then he began 
 to speak: "It has reached my ears, also, that many 
 things have changed in the world. But we go on 
 living according to the law of god, and are accus- 
 tomed to reject everything new as heathen. It is 
 true, the good old times have gone forever. I know 
 it perfectly well, and yet cannot bring myself to preach 
 to my simple people a new faith, new customs and 
 another god. We, therefore, cling to the old order 
 and are happy in so doing. 
 
 "Even I cannot believe, as yet, that the stars which 
 illuminate our nights, are peopled with human beings. 
 And I feel by the pressure of your hands that you are 
 flesh and blood like ourselves, only you look some- 
 what loftier, and the light of your eyes is undimmed. 
 But whencesoever you may come, if your visit to us 
 is made with friendly intent, I welcome you. Bear 
 me company at my simple noonday meal, and I ven- 
 ture to say we shall come nearer the truth by a free 
 exchange of opinions." 
 
 We gladly accepted the offer and followed the 
 priest, who as we went along was greeted with rev- 
 erence by the villagers, and invariably gave the same 
 greeting in return. The parsonage lay in a beauti- 
 ful garden at the southern end of the village, and in 
 order to reach it we had to step across a little stream 
 in whose clear water nimble trout were bathing in the 
 sun. A gaily colored water fowl was haughtily hop- 
 ping from stone to stone in the midst of the stream, and 
 high above us in the air a lark was thrilling its fairest 
 song. 
 
17 
 
 Pointing upward, the old man turned to us and said : 
 "Yea, my friends, even the little birds praise the lord, 
 our god, as we have just been doing. For this is Sun- 
 day upon the earth, when all true believers among men 
 put on their best raiment and go to church. You were 
 fortunate in being allowed to attend our most sacred 
 function, the bloodless sacrifice of the mass. But I 
 keep forgetting that you are from Mars and, therefore, 
 prdbably a good part heathen." Concluding his words, 
 he laughed good-naturedly,^ and iwe followed him 
 silently through the garden and into the house. He 
 showed us into a large reception room filled with 
 big volumes, and excused himself for a short time. 
 We sat there and with much curiosity looked at the 
 books whose contents might be of so much importance 
 to us. We saw in solid ranks, like soldiers before battle, 
 the holy bible, the office of the apostles, the fathers of 
 the church, the infallibility of the pope of Rome, the 
 mystery of the holy trinity, prayer and hymn books. 
 The theological works overshadowed the scientific as 
 the oak tree the mustard seed. 
 
 What could be the god of these men that they de- 
 voted so many books to him ? According to all that we 
 had heard, he possessed all the good and bad qualities 
 of the half-men, and had a son, whom he sent down 
 among men to wipe out their sins, only to witness that 
 his own creatures crucified him as one who incited the 
 people to rebellion. 
 
 And yet, he not only knew in advance that all this 
 would happen, but himself thus ordained it from eter- 
 nity! What contradictions, to be thus brought to- 
 gether! What nonsense, to become established creed! 
 
i8 
 
 The more we reflected about it, the more distinct be- 
 came our conviction that we had at last found the 
 greatest of the lost treasures of the half-men. All these 
 books treated of their god and we were in the midst of 
 them ! Our reflections were cut short by the reappear- 
 ance of our host. He seemed to have guessed our 
 thoughts, for, pointing to the folios, he observed: 
 "Yes, those are my books. If you desire to become 
 acquainted with the great christian god of the Earth, 
 you will find him there. I shall gladly guide your 
 work, for the ways of the lord are wonderful and past 
 finding out." So saying, he asked us to follow him to 
 the table. The meal being finished, he led us back 
 among his books. "Ask, and ye shall be given; seek, 
 and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto 
 you. My friends, take from this treasure chamber as 
 much as you will, you can never empty it, for the truth 
 subsists from eternity and will never run dry." With 
 these words he handed to the venerable AlGeber the 
 book of books, as he called it. It was the holy bible. 
 Then he took his leave with the remark that he must 
 attend to his priestly duties and would give us answer 
 later on. 
 
 We opened the book, and were astonished to find in 
 it a minute account of the creation, as it had taken 
 place according to the theory of the half-men. We 
 there read, for a fact , that a god had created the world 
 in six days. i 
 
 We also had similar reports at home, but they had 
 been branded by our science as untrue and mythical. 
 We, therefore, scarcely believed our eyes when we 
 found that we had here, close to us, living renmants of 
 
19 
 
 the half-men. But there was no doubt about it. Here 
 we had an opportunity, by observing the extant spec- 
 imens, to investigate thoroughly the gradual growth of 
 man up to his present ideal position in the universe, 
 and to submit to the doubters clear proofs of the truth 
 of our science. For we were convinced that there was 
 opened to us here the nursery of the human race. Ac- 
 cording to their belief, as laid down in this book, the 
 all-creating spirit moved idly upon the face of the 
 waters and darkness was upon the earth, which was 
 without form. A simple word dispelled the darkness. 
 At this moment the floating spirit of god takes form 
 and begins his work, like the potter in his workshop, 
 utilizing the means at his disposal. Slowly he divides 
 light, air, water, and earth, and puts each of these ele- 
 ments in its appointed place. Then he finds a footing 
 on the created mainland, and everything takes perfect 
 form piece by piece. Turning to the water, he com- 
 mands it to bring forth plants and living beings. 
 
 Turning to the earth, he causes plants and beasts to 
 take being thereon. With his own hands he hangs the 
 sun, the moon and the stars in the firmament to light 
 up the day and illuminate the night. And at last he 
 performs the crowning act of creation. Man is cre- 
 ated, whom he makes, as it were, ruler of the whole 
 world. Looking at his work, he is pleased to find that 
 all is good. Then he rests on the seventh day. But 
 hold ! The very next day it occurs to him that for his 
 own delectation and as a test for man, he forgot a beau- 
 tiful garden. He at once creates it and takes posses- 
 sion in company with Adam. 
 
 Then he has his animals promenade up and down in 
 
front of the man, and Adam is delighted at the sight as 
 a little boy, and gives a name to each of them. The 
 creator had believed that Adam would select one of the 
 animals for his playmate, and is chagrined to see that 
 none of them suits the man. Again he is obliged to 
 supplement his work, and thus is made the master- 
 piece of creation, woman. At sight of the charming 
 Eve, Adam forgets the pilfered rib, for at last he has 
 a wife. Only after these amendments was creation 
 perfect and fully rounded out according to the eternal 
 architect. At least, he did no more work thereafter. 
 At most, he would walk in the coolness of the garden 
 and- they only heard his voice from time to time. 
 
 But soon after follows the fall, and the damnation of 
 the human beings, who, by eating the forbidden fruit, 
 have become as gods and like them know good and 
 evil. 
 
 Thus the world at once becomes sinful, and man 
 needs raiment to hide his nakedness. At first, man 
 and wife sew together some fig leaves and hang them 
 around their waists for aprons, but the generous god 
 pulls the skins from some animals and makes clothes 
 for them. Thus they are sent forth into the world, 
 condemned to earn their bread in the sweat of their 
 brows. Their descendants did likewise, and carried 
 on trade and commerce. 
 
 From this time on, the greatest horrors are perpe- 
 trated with the permission of god. Lying and fornica- 
 tion, murder and theft, are engaged in everlasting 
 struggle with the good. Full of wrath, the lord sees 
 that nothing is left to him but to destroy his creatures. 
 Ill all this hive of peoples he finds only eight persons 
 
that are worth preserving. -And then comes the 
 deluge. 
 
 Noah, having been saved from destruction, begins 
 hfe again on the dry land. But soon the old fight be- 
 gins anew, and god is obliged to confound the tongues 
 of the arrogant and to scatter the wicked over all the 
 earth. No doubt, his intention was to prevent fresh 
 wickedness. But if so, he made a grievous mistake. 
 Once again, he picks out a man from his creation and 
 renews his old covenant with him. And again the 
 consequences are the same. Promises and threats fill 
 all his days, while among men obedience and unfaith- 
 fulness play an alternating game. So says the book. 
 At this moment the venerable host enters the room and 
 sits down near us with the satisfied smile of one who is 
 sure of his case. 
 
 "Well, my friends from Mars, you have no such 
 book in your libraries, have you? Every word the 
 pure truth, and the breath of god in every line! There 
 you find his omnipotence, mercy and justice coupled 
 equally with his wisdom, and we stand amazed, when 
 we reflect how merciful he was to our forefathers. 
 Yes, this is our god, and yours also, about whom you 
 heard so much this morning. No wonder he detests 
 strange gods. 
 
 "How miserable are the figures of the heathen gods 
 by the side of him ! Not one of them survived his peo- 
 ple ! Like the proud Greeks and Romans themselves, 
 their deities also were doomed to perish. They were dis- 
 pelled by the truth as the mist is scattered by the sun . 
 It is true, we, too, have some so-called scientists who 
 deny god and assert that everything proceeded in a nat- 
 
ural way. But, thank god! they are few, and we toler- 
 ate them among us, and pray for them. My dear 
 friends, learn to know the great god aright, and you 
 will prostrate yourselves at his feet in humility and 
 understand all the smallness of human knowledge. 
 Fortify yourselves in the faith, and seek not in vain 
 to lay bare the works of god. For without his will 
 you can do nothing, and he has counted the hairs upon 
 your heads. 
 
 "But I see the wise AlGeber wants to reply. Pro- 
 ceed, for I am eager to hear your opinion. Tell me if 
 your god is as sublime as ours, for you, like ourselves, 
 must have heard his voice and preserved his word from 
 remote antiquity.'' 
 
 Our worthy host concluded, and my companion be- 
 gan as follows: "Venerable man, as the weight of 
 years has bleached your hair, so thousands of seasons 
 have matured the human race and modified its nature 
 and that of its deity. We are no longer the children of 
 god, but have become his equals. As you observed 
 very properly, you can do nothing without the will of 
 your god. We are subject to the same influence, but 
 our god is grander and better than yours. For your 
 god is the child of your mind and, like that mind, re- 
 mains small and petty. Our god is as great as the uni- 
 verse, and yet contained complete in each one of us. As 
 the strength of the individual corresponds to his facul- 
 ties and the structure of his body, so does omnipotence 
 accommodate itself to the structure of creation and is 
 neither greater nor in character different from it. Your 
 god spent six days building the world and did nothing 
 more. Our god is everlastingly building and destroy- 
 
23 
 
 ing and his creative activity knows no end. Your creed 
 is based upon fear of omnipotence. We have not only 
 fathomed and measured this power, but have made it 
 our servant. And as you, in accordance with this state 
 of your knowledge, speak ©f how god was made flesh, 
 so we speak of how man became divine, and of the plain 
 laws of nature, to which we cling closely, and into 
 which we merge completely at last. 
 
 "Our god is the god of equality. He makes no cove- 
 nants with favorites, for there are none such, since we 
 have eaten of the fruit from the tree of knowledge and 
 have tried our strength. The fear of the powers of 
 darkness has made way to knowledge of the laws of 
 nature. But where we know you still believe and 
 conjecture. 
 
 "Dear friend, the universe is no longer a riddle, and 
 what you still wonder at has long been buried by us. 
 If your god counts the hairs upon your heads, we have 
 counted his own, nor did we find them innumerable. 
 Thus we have quenched the fire of his wrath and taken 
 from him the thunder of omnipotence. Since that time 
 the evil of ignorance has made room to the knowledge 
 of the good. And if your god scattered the wicked 
 over the earth with their wickedness, the god-men 
 have rooted out the thistles and burned the weeds. 
 Hence, we harvest none but good fruit, the surplus 
 of which we shall leave to posterity, as a bequest of 
 those who witnessed the new-born godhood of man. 
 
 '"Inasmuch as we recognize no masters, neither have 
 we any slaves, and since we abolished hell, each one 
 seeks and finds heaven in himself. And what your re- 
 port only hints at we have fully realized, and are be- 
 
cone the lords of creation. Everything is subject to 
 us, and yet we are not ambitious of power, for by mas- 
 tering the universe we master ourselves. 
 
 The priest replied: 
 
 "When I listen to you I am inclined to believe that 
 you were sent to tempt me. But your candid manner 
 reassures me that you speak as your heart feels. But 
 tell me why you so frequently mention the half -men? 
 Who are they, and by what marks do you know 
 them? Surely you do not count me and my people 
 among them, for, if you do, let me tell you that millions 
 of children of the earth live and think as we do. Fol- 
 low the setting sun as far as you will, and you can 
 easily count the like of yourself on this god's foot- 
 stool." 
 
 AlGeber returned: "Half-men are those who have 
 not yet reached a state of knowledge of themselves 
 and, consequently, seek good and evil outside of their 
 own nature, as you do. They are easily known by 
 their creed, as the tree is known and valued by its 
 fruit. 
 
 "All we know about them up to the present we owe 
 to the writings left by our wise men from the begin- 
 ning of the present era and from subsequent excava- 
 tions on our planet. To judge by all these indica- 
 tions, the mind of the half-man was but poorly devel- 
 oped. He persisted in looking upon the world as a 
 miracle, and believed more than he knew. We, too, 
 had such a period on our planet, but it lies so far back 
 that we are no longer able, at this day, to find any liv- 
 ing remnants of it. This prompts us the more dili- 
 gently to study your earth, and to enrich our science 
 
25 
 
 with the knowledge thus acquired. For we believe 
 less, but study and understand more than you do. 
 
 "But here, also, man has become greater and nobler, 
 and knowledge is progressing with mighty strides. 
 We are already looking forward to the time when our 
 wise men will carry the doctrines of the god-man to 
 your children on well-prepared soil. Already the har- 
 vest is ripe, but the harvesters are lacking. The scien- 
 tists, however, of whom you speak so slightingly, are 
 our best friends, for they have learned to know them- 
 selves and will serve as shining examples to the future. 
 
 "They are the ones whom our wise men have 
 watched for years and years with increasing admira- 
 tion, as with the feeble implements of your science they 
 tried to break through the vapors which envelop your 
 minds, without attaining the aim which is within our 
 grasp. 
 
 "Know that for centuries past we have watched your 
 petty doings, and sought ways and means to commu- 
 nicate with you, in order to plant on this planet the doc- 
 trine of the divinity of man. And, since we are here, 
 let us take for our watchword: 'Either convert us to 
 your faith, or follow our knowledge.' " 
 
 AlGeber uttered the challenge, but the old man re- 
 mained silent. He seemed lost in profound contem- 
 plation and only sighed from time to time. Leaving 
 him to his thoughts, we picked up the remarkable book 
 once more, but did not increase our knowledge by 
 reading it. 
 
 Nothing but bitter struggles and everlasting favor- 
 itism coupled with total neglect of the rest of crea- 
 tion. Almost every page dripped with blood and 
 
26 
 
 reeked with vileness, and only at long intervals did we 
 meet a refreshing figure in this intellectual desert. 
 But even these righteous ones were tormented by god 
 from time to time most cruelly under pretense of trying 
 them, whereas the crafty villain who by stealth, ob- 
 tained a brother's patrimony was not only blessed by 
 him but appointed father of his chosen people. 
 
 In all respects the deity wore the chosen garment of 
 the half-men. As they thought, so must he think. 
 Their actions were his actions, and they tried to di- 
 vine his wishes. If they had erred, his wrath was 
 aroused and he swore vengeance, only to melt in kind- 
 ness and pardon the greatest crimes after his omnipo- 
 tence was once more recognized. They were then 
 once more his good children and he their beloved 
 father. At such times he commanded them to kill 
 their enemies and all their cattle, and scolded them if 
 the oxen remained alive. He generally finished the 
 horrors committed by them. Whenever they heard 
 his voice, creation resounded with the wails of the van- 
 quished, and the earth reeked with the blood of the 
 innocent. They alone were his favorites, and he their 
 only god, until they turned their love to another and 
 stronger one, which frequently happened. 
 
 We laid the book aside and looked at each other 
 in amazement. This, then, was the god of the half- 
 men. Such a depth of degradation we were not pre- 
 pared to find. If the father proceeded in such man- 
 ner with his creation, what could we expect of the 
 son? Just then the old man awoke from his reveries 
 and said: "If you have finished, my wise AlGeber, 
 I will take the liberty to remark that I also frequently 
 
27 
 
 thought as you do, but I looked upon it all as a se- 
 ductive inspiration of the devil and shook off the 
 thought from my mind, cast myself at the feet of my 
 god, full of contrition, and ceased to delve further 
 in the matter. 
 
 "But I forgive you, for you cannot yet comprehend 
 the justice of god and how he was offended by sinful 
 man before his benevolence turned to eternal wrath. 
 Only if you bear this in mind and are prepared to re- 
 ceive the book in that spirit, will you be able to under- 
 stand it, and heaven will be opened to you. For our god 
 takes more joy in the return of a repentant sinner than 
 in ninety-nine righteous ones." 
 
 With a smile AlGeber replied: "The book which 
 you gave me to read is not the work of god, as you 
 think, but emanated entirely and exclusively from the 
 hand of man. To me, therefore, it is proof only of 
 what conception the people in whose period it orig- 
 inated, had of their god. And if you would speak 
 accurately, do not say any more about a god who 
 created us all, but of the one that we have formed and 
 fas'hioned for ourselves. For just as the god-idea 
 differed among all nations according to the age and 
 conditions under which they lived, in like manner 
 the individual carries his own god within him, and 
 that god cannot be greater or more perfect than is 
 permitted by the limited nature of the individual. 
 And furthermore, as your god did not create all men 
 equally good or wicked, so you will never succeed in 
 preaching the same faith to all peoples. For each 
 individtfal ever holds his own god highest and best. 
 
 "You speak of his justice and mercy, but you do 
 
not give me a single example! And I have not yet 
 found the least trace of such qualities in your holy 
 bible. Your god remains to me at present the prime 
 source of all evil. His justice is inhuman criielty, 
 and his mercy might better be called criminal indul- 
 gence. His omnipotence becomes impotence in all 
 his works. Your mistake is that you seek your god 
 outside of the universe and, hence, you find neither 
 him nor satisfaction in yourselves. 
 
 "To show you the difference between your thought 
 and ours, let me state that we hold the following as 
 our law; 'I am' the lord, my god, and suffer no strange 
 gods beside me which are not in accord with my 
 nature.' 
 
 "Thus we remain true to ourselves and are able 
 to guard our rights and duties against everyone. For 
 as one thinks, so think all the others. 
 
 "As dripping water gradually hollows out the stone, 
 imperceptibly to the mind of man within life's short 
 span, thus we come and go in nature's peaceful work- 
 shop, well knowing that our deeds will incite the 
 coming man to still greater achievements. And as 
 with us, so with all things. The almighty net of 
 nature retains the creature in its particular form only 
 for a short period, and transforms all things at the 
 appointed time in the ever moving whirl of develop- 
 ment, for creation is everlasting and continuous. 
 
 "This knowledge elevates tK and creates a tem- 
 poral paradise in which we exist unconscious of our 
 present form, in order to continually supply our ever 
 active mother with the material for renewing her 
 creations. To-day, nature has reached its aim in the 
 
29 
 
 god-man. To-morrow, it will transmit him to the 
 coming ones in a more perfect form for still further 
 development. And while the past is not wholly with- 
 out influence in shaping the future, it is the spirit of 
 the present age which creates and bequeaths the latest 
 images to the coming generation. Know that nature 
 produces nothing new, unless it uses the old as its 
 material. Mind and matter are ever the same ; only 
 the created forms difter and produce different effects. 
 The same sap which gives life to the tree also serves 
 man, as both must necessarily expel the waste ele- 
 ments to make new life possible." 
 
 So far AlGeber. 
 
 The old man's eyes sparkled while he listened, and, 
 now rising from his seat so that he seemed to grow 
 before our very eyes, he replied : 
 
 "You have called down my god to convert you. 
 Harken, then, to the answer of his servant! Very 
 well, so be it! And my prayer shall be this, that I may 
 succeed in disentangling you from the wiles oi the 
 devil, and to lead you as penitent Iambs into the 
 bosom of our holy church. 
 
 "I shall willingly listen to your objections and try 
 to profit by what is good in your science. For there 
 is no knowledge but that which emanates from god 
 and augments his glory. 
 
 "Listen, then, to what we hold fast as the leading 
 principle of our lives. 
 
 "We believe in and worship a triune god of in- 
 finite perfection. He is a pure and simple spirit, eter- 
 nal, immutable, omnipresent, and without end. In 
 his actions he is omniscient, free, omnipotent, and holy, 
 
30 
 and, hence also, wise, good and just. Thus he is the 
 grandest, highest and most lovable good from which 
 all other goods spring as from an inexhaustible foun- 
 tain. 
 
 "This triune god, in the beginning of time, created 
 all that is outside of him in perfect freedom, for his 
 own glory, out of nothing, and all was good. 
 
 "This doctrine of the creation of the world stands 
 at the head of our creed and cannot be denied with- 
 out shaking the whole edifice of our religion." 
 
 Scarcely had the last words dropped from the lips 
 of the priest before AlGeber began : 
 
 "If in your doctrine everything springs from god, 
 is it not a contradiction to say that he created the world 
 out of nothing? If he is all, then there is nothing 
 outside of him. If he ceases to be all, he cannot re- 
 main your god." 
 
 Shaking his finger and smiling with an air of con- 
 scious superiority, the priest replied: 
 
 "You are just like our own scientists, in whose 
 minds god and the world are confounded. You try 
 to strip god of his divinity and to invest the world 
 with that attribute, and yet you only misunderstand 
 our doctrine. Bear in mind that he is almighty and 
 for that reason alone is capable of making something 
 out of nothing. Of course that is as incomprehen- 
 sible to the feeble mind of man as creation itself. 
 Plence, nothing is left for us but to believe." 
 
 "If he did not create the world out of himself and 
 at the same time there was nothing outside of him, 
 how, then, did it come into being at all? Even though 
 he created it out of nothing, he still remains the only 
 
31 
 responsible creator, since he produced the requisite 
 material," answered AlGeber. 
 
 "Yes, he is really responsible in a way," the priest 
 continued reflectively, "for he created the world in 
 perfect freedom. There was nothing on the outside 
 to urge him to it, for the reason that nothing existed 
 outside of him, and, being an infinitely perfect being, 
 he did not require anything outside of himself." 
 
 "Well, then," answered AlGeber, "why did he cre- 
 ate it at all if his perfection did not require it? 
 And what was he doing before he created the world ?" 
 
 "There, now," said the priest, "that is another thing 
 that you don't understand, as there are so many things 
 which you scientists cannot comprehend. Although 
 not acting externally, god, nevertheless, is active 
 within himself without end; he occupies himself in 
 the contemplation of his own perfection, forever know- 
 ing, loving and rejoicing in himself." 
 
 Laughing aloud at the termination of the good 
 priest's arguments, AlGeber said: "At last you are 
 coming to the point. At the moment when he ceased 
 to have pleasure in himself, he made man in his own 
 image. When he began to feel lonesome he made 
 himself company. But what becomes of his immuta- 
 bility in the light of these reflections?" 
 
 But the equanimity of the amiable man was not to 
 be disturbed. He replied: 
 
 "Although the world had its origin within time, 
 yet the resolution of god that it should be never had 
 a beginning. This eternal resolution was sufficient 
 to cause it to take being at the particular time when 
 he willed it so. Within him nothing has a beginning. 
 
32 
 
 but by his resolution everything outside of him has." 
 
 "How can there be anything outside of him, if he 
 is all-present and without end?" my companion per- 
 sisted, "for there is no room for anything else if he 
 is what you believe. 
 
 "Moreover, if it was' his resolution from eternity 
 that all things should be, then your account of the 
 six days' work seems wrong to me. The resolution 
 could not have waited so long for realization unless 
 it lacked omnipotence. It almost seems to me as if 
 you were serving up our doctrine of evolution to the 
 faithful in a little different form. 
 
 "You assume like ourselves an almighty will out 
 of which all things took being within time, by eternal 
 resolution. And since there was nothing outside of 
 him and he is goodness himself, it follows necessarily 
 that all emanations from him must be good. Hence, 
 the world is just like him — good. That is your doc- 
 trine, is it not?" 
 
 The good man was becoming uneasy while AlGeber 
 spoke, but he answered without hesitation: 
 
 "Yes, you are right. God created all things good, 
 because he cannot produce anything evil. Unfortu- 
 nately, all things did not remain good. But it does not 
 follow that he could not have created things better. He 
 was also at liberty to create more than he did, for, be- 
 ing omnipotent, he has the power to create all that he 
 can will, even though he does not actually will or cre- 
 ate it. , i ' ' ' ; 
 
 "That is just another of the fooHsh notions of the 
 scientists. They are reaching out for something with 
 which to belittle him, and all they accomplish is to 
 
33 
 smash their own little heads in contact with his omni- 
 potence. If they are unable to drag him down to their 
 level, they crawl around on him and proclaim they are 
 gods themselves. Crawling insects they are, and a ver- 
 itable plague of them! At last they shout at the top of 
 their voices there is no god, because they themselves 
 are only human. Out upon this age of infidelity ! And 
 you from Mars also seem to have been infected by 
 these heresies." 
 
 The old man was blustering and flourishing his 
 knotted stick in the air with great energy. We were 
 unable to imagine what had caused his excitement, and 
 AlGeber tried with soft words to induce him to con- 
 tinue the discussion. 
 
 "And where is the wisdom of god?" he began slowly. 
 "For if he was able to make all things better, why did 
 he not do so?" 
 
 "Being the prime cause of all things, he knew the 
 consequences that would arise, if he is a rational cre- 
 ator; or else he did not know them, and then his ws- 
 dom is at an end. You say that he can do all 
 that he can will; the only thing he cannot do is the 
 evil because he will not. Nevertheless, it is here. 
 Who made it? We know only one creator so far. Did 
 you discover another? You say your god is omni- 
 present and without end, hence the evil must also be 
 contained within him if there really is any evil." 
 
 The priest was nettled when he said : "Of course, he 
 knew the consequences, for he is a rational creator. 
 But how could he tell that man would transgress an 
 insignificant command and thereby alter his divine 
 destiny by his own power? 
 3 
 
34 
 
 "The evil, however, comes from the devil, and he 
 was at one time a good spirit, created by god before 
 man." 
 
 Taking him back slowly to what he had just said, 
 AlGeber replied: "If he did not know this, how do 
 you reconcile that with his omniscience? But if he 
 did know it and nevertheless willed it, he is, forsooth, 
 a vile god. Did you not also say that he made every- 
 thing in absolute freedom and, hence, is responsible 
 for his works? 
 
 "And now you say, the evil is of the devil, and he 
 was before man. How do you reconcile that with your 
 teaching that god created all things in the beginning 
 of time, and that all was good? It seems to me that 
 you are becoming more and more involved in con- 
 tradictions. 
 
 "If everything took being out of him and was good, 
 whence do you get your devil? On the other hand, if 
 the devil was before man, what becomes of the omnip- 
 otence and wisdom of your god? 
 
 A singular god who, after having bad luck with 
 one creation, immediately brings forth one that is 
 worse ! 
 
 "Another point. If, as you say, he created the 
 world for his own glory, how came it that man, 
 brought forth from this eternal resolution, was able to 
 oppose himself to god's laudable enterprise? Unless 
 you deny reason to your creator, the cause of all cre- 
 ation must necessarily be responsible for all that was 
 created, since the effect springs from the cause. On 
 the other hand, if at the creation and of his own accord 
 he transferred part of his omnipotence to man, he at 
 
35 
 once ceased to be the old god. Being himself the 
 highest good, he could transfer only that which he him- 
 self had, and so all creatures must remain similar to 
 him. 
 
 "How can evil spring from a good source? You say 
 yourself he is holy and, therefore, just. But where is 
 his holiness if the creation which proceeded from him 
 alone was able to darken the fountain? In this case 
 the evil must have lain in the fountain itself. 
 
 "We are thus face to face with a peculiar problem. 
 
 "Your god is omnipotent, but does not put down 
 evil because he cannot. 
 
 "He is without end, and yet shares his bed with the 
 devil. 
 
 "Notwithstanding his wisdom, he was unsuccessful 
 in the second creation as well as in the first. 
 
 "He created all things for his glory, and yet en- 
 dowed man with all that brings disgrace. 
 
 "How can we get anything profitable out of this 
 maze of contradictions unless we rob Peter to pay 
 Paul?" 
 
 Quick as a flash the priest pounced upon my com- 
 panion in tones of thunder: "What! You claim to 
 have compassed all wisdom and yet do not know that 
 he endowed man with free will? You wiseacres from 
 Mars are still far behind in divine science." 
 
 In a gentle voice AlGeber replied: "Now you say 
 yourself that he did so and thereby deny completely 
 the perfection of your god. For how could the will 
 which emanated from him be freer or in any way other 
 than he himself desired, unless your god is not omnip- 
 
36 
 
 otent? How could this free will of man strive against 
 him if he is the rational cause of all that was created? 
 
 "By making such an assertion you deny a perfect, 
 reasonable god. On the other hand, if you deny that 
 the human will is independent of the divine, then the 
 divine will still remains the sole cause of creation and 
 its responsible creator. And inasmuch as god is the 
 highest good it is impossible that man became bad out 
 of him. 
 
 "In my opinion, your confession of faith ought to 
 read about as follows : 
 
 " 'We believe in an eternal god, who, in the course 
 of time, became satiated with his own perfection and 
 ceased to love himself. Being from eternity pregnant 
 with a plan of creation, he made the world, in a fit of 
 fickle caprice, in six days, in so imperfect a manner 
 that he soon saw that the creation of man had not 
 only deprived him of much of his omnipotence, but 
 that man, by the free will bestowed upon him, had 
 weakened the divine will so materially that it was no 
 longer able to overcome the contrary currents of the 
 human will. 
 
 " 'Full of chagrin and wrath, he looked down upon 
 his abortive work, well knowing that by the creation 
 of man he had soiled the eternal fountain of good and 
 smirched his own fingers without wanting to do so. 
 Being himself good by nature, he saved the residue of 
 his omnipotence by turning his face away from man 
 and leaving him to the power of evil of which he was 
 himself incapable.' " 
 
 "Stop your blasphemous talk," now cried the old 
 man, with rising- anger, "for neither you nor I can 
 
37 
 fathom his mysteries, since we are only weak mortals. 
 Faith is the only thing left to us. With all your subtle- 
 ties, even you cannot deny a god." 
 
 "Neither do I intend to do so," answered AlGeber. 
 "But pray explain to me your god who is three in one, 
 which I confess is really beyond my comprehension." 
 
 "That is the greatest mystery of our religion," the 
 priest retorted in a mollified tone, "which it is im- 
 possible for us to shake. For here our understanding 
 comes to a full stop. Did you ever see a milking stool 
 with three legs, such as ouf farm hands use in milking 
 cows? Three legs and one chair— three persons and 
 one god. That is the best explanation I can give 
 you. But whenever I see a farm hand with a chair 
 in one hand and a milk pail in the other going to the 
 barn, it reminds me of the holy trinity." 
 
 At the same time he winked at us piously and de 
 voutly as if to say, "Do you understand it now?" We 
 laughed aloud while he opened the door of the house. 
 
 At the supper table he was once more the most 
 amiable host and seasoned the meal with many a 
 story of country life. "We are not fond of becoming 
 heated over such matters," he smilingly said. "It 
 agrees much better with us simply to believe. I made 
 an exception with you to-day because you desired it. 
 To-morrow forenoon I shall attend to my duties out- 
 side. In the meantime look at my people and my 
 books more closely and try to become better ac- 
 quainted with us. And even though our god does 
 not suit you, I hope you will at least remember me 
 kindly. Live and let live, is the principle on which 
 to get along best. So, for better acquaintance, to-mor- 
 row afternoon in the garden! And now, good-night!" 
 
38 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 How God Was Made Flesh. 
 
 "If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear!" the 
 worthy old priest called out to us after seating himself 
 on a shaded bench. 
 
 We had been following him through the winding 
 pathways of the garden and were wondering at the 
 new life that seemed to have taken possession of him. 
 He flourished his stick like an active youth, knocking 
 down a bunch of leaves in one place, pulling out the 
 ripening fruit from under the boughs and vines, and 
 contemplating it with the joy of a planter. 
 
 Taking the offered seats, we waited for him to speak. 
 Looking at us out of his happy eyes, he asked: "Have 
 you such beautiful gardens on Mars? It has always 
 been a pleasure to me to observe the life sprouting 
 out into buds and flowers at the approach of spring. 
 And when the sweet fruit delights the eye and refreshes 
 the mouth, I am loath to part with summer. But 
 autumn comes every year and robs my beautiful gar- 
 den of its beauties. When the leaves turn yellow I feel 
 sad and think of how perishable are all the things of 
 this world. But hope of the coming year revives and 
 encourages me. Like the flowers and leaves, man also 
 decays, only to blossom once more beyond the grave 
 in everlasting life. 
 
3Q 
 
 "And I suppose that the almighty in his wisdom 
 arranged things similarly with you as he did with 
 us, if you really are from Mars. I had intended to ask 
 how you managed to come here, for we have never 
 been able to rise above our atmosphere. However, 
 there are so many arts of the devil in vogue nowadays, 
 that I no longer wonder at anything. 
 
 "But I am forgetting that I was to convert you 
 to our faith. After all that happened yesterday let us 
 to-day adhere to the words of the book. Then listen 
 to me. What you have read and heard so far will 
 give you ample explanation concerning the nature of 
 our god and the creation of the world. So it will not 
 be necessary for me to repeat anything on that subject. 
 Now, tell me how you think you can possibly deny the 
 truth of our account. If you assume a creation, you 
 cannot deny a creator, and must proceed from some 
 beginning. Without a beginning there can be no end, 
 and the infinite remains incomprehensible to us." 
 
 AlGeber answered: "As I understand you, the only 
 thing necessary in the beginning, according to your 
 account, was the almighty word, 'Let there be,' and 
 everything was." 
 
 "Yes, and the word of god cixated the world aboiit 
 us with all that is in it, out of nothing," replied the 
 priest, "despite your denial." 
 
 " 'Nothing' is a nonentity, and even your god cannot 
 make anything out of it. Did you ever find a shadow 
 without something substantial that cast it? Even your 
 book contradicts your belief when it says: 'In the 
 beginning god created heaven and earth, and the earth 
 
40 
 
 was without form and void,' accordingly, he only 
 transformed what already existed," AlGeber added. 
 
 The worthy man of god answered him: "There is 
 a good deal in what you say, but we see in those words 
 only a second creation which fully developed all things. 
 Although he spoke the creative word, that does not 
 imply that everything was ready all of a sudden. The 
 elements had to undergo a forming process by the 
 divine hand before the life-giving breath of god went 
 through the world and thus produced and perfected 
 everything in its own time. This may have taken 
 years. It is necessary to understand our account, and 
 to explain it is the proper business of the servants of 
 the church, my dear son. The others must simply 
 believe." 
 
 "Then, if I understand you aright, your god did not 
 create the world in six days. He only set life in mo- 
 tion and gave to each thing its appointed course. Is 
 that your belief, priest of god?" 
 
 "It is as you understand it, and I am surprised that 
 you comprehended our plan of creation so quickly," 
 replied the priest. 
 
 Without the least confusion AlGeber answered: 
 "We are accustomed to take words as commonly un- 
 derstood, and have care not to pervert their clear 
 intent. If I read your book aright, I find only six 
 days of creative activity in which the world was made. 
 If you, therefore, believe the written account, you im- 
 peach your own statement. On the other hand, if you 
 believe in a gradual development, you deny the truth 
 of the book. The statement of the book is contrary 
 to all reason and in opposition to our daily observa- 
 
41 
 
 tion, while the other assertion destroys the foundations 
 of your faith and, hence, your god. 
 
 "We can consider as correct only such a history ot 
 creation as agrees with the plan in operation at present. 
 As the flower and leaf wither, so does man decay, only 
 to fructify that which is to come. The new generation 
 only fills the place of that which has been. And there 
 are no exceptions in nature, all things being subject 
 to uniform laws. 
 
 "If you assume a reasonable creation you naturally 
 believe in a reasonable creator. His plan in the con- 
 tinuous creation, however, is quite different from the 
 one in which you believe. As yet, you have said 
 nothing to me about any change in the original plan 
 of creation by your god. Your book also is silent on 
 that point. But the creation going on at present you 
 cannot deny. And as all things come into being now, 
 so were they made in the first place. And as all that 
 has been disappeared, so that which is now will decay 
 and make room for that which is to come. Even the 
 planet which you inhabit owes its existence to the 
 gradual development of the universe, just as the minute 
 cell invisible to the naked eye originates in the warmth 
 of the mud." 
 
 "You may be right, my dear AlGeber," replied our 
 worthy host, "but what about man? For the divine 
 image cannot have taken being in any other way than 
 as we believe and teach. You cannot put him on a 
 level with the brute creation, for in him we see the 
 finger of god in the world of life." 
 
 But AlGeber continued unabashed: "What you 
 believe about the virtue? of man in paradise is an idle 
 
dream, and the very opposite is the fact. What your 
 ancestors are supposed to have been at that time, man 
 grew to be only by slow degrees. As the fruit from 
 the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the innocent 
 enjoyment of which drew down upon your heads 
 the wrath of an unjust god, doomed your forefathers 
 to misery, so the apple of knowledge has made us 
 what we are. Tlie moment when we buried your god, 
 we reached the regions where everlasting • light illu- 
 mines and strengthens the understanding. 
 
 "What miserable superstition that crawls in dread 
 of spectres, and seasons its own deeds with self-conceit! 
 Examine the divine in yourselves before you acknowl- 
 edge that which is incomprehensible. Look not be- 
 hind you for paradise, for it lies ahead of you. 
 
 "Fie on you, who crawl around like vermiji in the 
 beard of the prophet without getting any nearer to 
 your destination and dignity! Stop crediting deity 
 with false qualities which are possessed, neither by god 
 nor by you. Out upon the wisdom of your god which 
 destroys ninety-nine men in order to save one stupid 
 barbarian ! 
 
 "Cast away your faith, your stupidity, your self-con- 
 ceit! Desert the altars of your deity which was raised 
 on the bottle of error, and become disciples of the 
 genius of reason. So will you be like unto gods. And 
 since your ancestors tasted of the fruit from the tree 
 of knowledge, do you also know yourselves. With 
 the acquisition of higher knowledge your eyes will be 
 opened, and you will find a purer god in your own 
 selves. 
 
 "Like a football your god flung man upon the 
 
43 
 earth, and after endowing him with all kinds of wicked- 
 ness, tormented him in unspeakable ways, and then 
 killed him. 
 
 "Fie on him and those who beUeve in him ! Know, 
 my worthy friend, that your faith does not ennoble 
 you. Whatever your people may think of it, it cannot 
 have escaped you that your plan of creation has suf- 
 fered shipwreck in the course of time and must soon 
 collapse together with its creator. 
 
 "You tell me your book is the work of god. I have 
 proved to you that it is full of error and baseness. If 
 your god brought forth such untruth from the depths 
 of his ignorance, his divinity is gone. If he did it 
 knowingly, what becomes of his justice and mercy? 
 
 "If your book, as we believe, was produced in a 
 period of profound ignorance, such as existed in the 
 early dawn of the human race, then it merely reflects 
 the spirit of that period and is deserving of no atten- 
 tion except as an historical and literary monument. 
 With us the rule is recognized: 'False in one, false 
 in all.' 
 
 "But your report itself denies, better than I am doing 
 or am able to do, all that you are in the habit of credit- 
 ing to your god. What do you think, for instance, of 
 his justice by which he visits a little offense on all 
 future generations with the penalties of death and 
 damnation, thus punishing those who had no share in 
 the sin? 
 
 "Can you find any trace of his mercy where he 
 drowns millions simply because they did that with 
 which he had burdened their forefathers? Is it in the 
 fact that he saved eight of them? 
 
44 
 
 "Where was his omnipotence when he suffered the 
 temptation to occur, and his wisdom, when he made 
 the consequences evil instead of good? 
 
 "Answer me these questions, worthy priest, and your 
 god shall be my god! 
 
 "You are silent. No, there you are again! Eternal 
 resolution, inscrutable wisdom, divine justice, incom- 
 prehensible omnipotence, which permits wickedness 
 in order to show its infinite mercy by the death of the 
 son. 
 
 "Fie on your child's play and sophistry! If he 
 saved you thus he perished himself. 
 
 "Did you ever consider how your god would have 
 created all things if he had been the fountain of good? 
 You grovel in the dust to acknowledge his rights 
 without ever reminding him of his paternal duties. 
 You say he has duties to no one, and no one has rights 
 against him. A fine system of justice, indeed! Did 
 the absurdity of your doctrine ever occur to you? 
 Among our people we call that justice which brings 
 about a proper relation of mutual rights and duties." 
 
 A¥ithout displaying any anger at the powerful ar- 
 raignment, the old man replied: 
 
 "Let me tell you once more, your words are due to 
 your ignorance of our god. True, he could have 
 created man different, but he did not want to, and that 
 is enough for us. Man must earn his own salvation, 
 for he is at liberty to do the good and eschew the 
 evil. Moreover, he was endowed with the necessary 
 gifts of reason in order to know the wisdom of the 
 creator. And nothing but strict obedience to divine 
 law is necessary to walk in the right path. By the 
 
45 
 death of his son god only intended to lead man- back 
 to his mercy. This mercy is in the possession only 
 of the church which I serve, but man remains stubborn 
 like the Jews and heathens of the old testament. And 
 you from Mars are not better." 
 
 Such and more spoke the old man, and talked him- 
 self into a holy wrath, so that we almost fancied we saw 
 the old angry god of the book before us in flesh and 
 blood. And yet all this proceeded from the most de- 
 vout heart. It was a touching tale he told of the suffer- 
 ings of the righteous Job, the psalms of praise of old 
 David, and the wailing songs of the prophets. But 
 he said never a word of the injustice of god in Job's 
 case, of the infamy of David toward Uriah, and of the 
 decay of the people under the government of the 
 priests. 
 
 AlGeber listened to him with a smile, then began 
 anew : "Venerable man, you are to us a living exam- 
 ple of the teachings of science that the human mind, 
 like everything tangible and physical in the universe, 
 continually develops and changes under the influence 
 of ever-changing nature. The period of which you are 
 a child is but a round in the ladder of mind-culture. 
 You have not yet reached the loftier stage that we 
 occupy. The childish belief in a personal god which 
 continues to prevail here has long since disappeared 
 from our planet. In remote antiquity our people also 
 were adherents of the god you worship, but at present 
 he lives only in our books, together with those who 
 believed in him. And yet such was the seed from 
 which sprang our present generation. 
 
 "You also speak of the gods of the Greeks and 
 
a6 
 
 Romans who did not survive the people that worshiped 
 them. Here again, it seems, other god-ideas prevailed 
 which were lost in your creed. As between two 
 opinions one will always be the right one for a short 
 space of time, while the other disappears. 
 
 "You have the same change here to which all mate- 
 rial things are subject. Without the one, you will 
 miss the other. The invisible is reached only by the 
 tangible, as we oppose the infinite to the finite. 
 
 "I think I have demonstrated to you that all that is, 
 whether visible matter or palpable force, is utilized over 
 and over in nature and, therefore, cannot continue to live 
 an individual existence. So the reason, and, hence, 
 the cause, of your confused plan of creation collapses, 
 since I deny the truth of the effects and purposes in 
 which you believe. 
 
 "Instead of your unnatural history we believe in an 
 entirely natural theory of creation, and have found 
 the proofs of its truth. Thus we know, for example, 
 that Mars consists of successive layers, each of which 
 required an immense period of time for its completion. 
 This mass, originally nebulous, grew into the planet of 
 to-day. 
 
 "From excavations in the interior of Mars we have 
 learned that the manner of growth in the dififerent 
 layers is widely dififerent, and is graduated down to 
 lifeless stone. 
 
 "In the higher strata we find plants from whose 
 simple forms, no doubt, the many varieties existing 
 to-day have developed. Above them we find rem- 
 nants of animals that are extinct to-day. But we do 
 not find any of the types living at the present time. 
 
47 
 The strata near the surface of the growing planet show 
 us the bones of primitive man, which differ from the 
 body of the man of to-day in many respects. Here 
 we also find animals and plants divided into more 
 numerous varieties. 
 
 "The nearer we mount to the surface, the more we 
 learn the most recent things that have been. We there 
 find implements and buildings made by the hand of 
 man, and can easily trace the connection up to the 
 present age. 
 
 "Whole races and nations have come and gone 
 since that time, and live among us only in their deeds. 
 'And every coming generation gives proof of the 
 gradual growth of the mind and the truth of our be- 
 lief, that paradise lies not behind us but ahead of us. 
 What was sacred to those who have been has long 
 been discarded by us as childish. 
 
 "The more the ever-brightening mind of man 
 stripped the leaves from the god-tree of nations, the 
 more clearly there lies before our eyes the naked truth 
 of divine creation. And as you observed very truly, 
 truth \vill never perish. 
 
 "Now tell me, if you please, how you are governed. 
 We know from our books that the idea of a personal 
 god is always connected in some way with a crude 
 form of human government. As your belief in god 
 is wrong, your temporal laws cannot be right. For 
 imperfection attains its ideal in its like." 
 
 We had risen, and were admiring the sun sinking 
 behind the western mountains. 
 
 "See how he completes the daily circle and gilds the 
 
48 
 
 fruit with his radiance!" So sayingf, the old man 
 walked ahead of us and began his explanations. 
 
 "As god governs the whole world so we also have 
 a king whom we obey. For all authority comes from 
 god. The growing children are obliged to learn in 
 accordance with the old traditional rules, and are 
 drilled in faithfulness to god and obedience to the 
 powers that be. In that way church and state form the 
 two main pillars of humanity, without w'hich our whole 
 structure must fall. Many have tried to shake them 
 and perished in the attempt. For the people _still re- 
 main true to the old god, though some innovators are 
 trying to upset church and state. It often happens 
 that a proud and ambitious prince forsakes the old 
 path, and has the atidacity to attack the true faith, but 
 almost invariably he discovers in time that such a 
 course would ruin his own power as well. For, as 
 long as a people clings loyally to its god, it will also 
 give due obedience to the king. True, it is difficult 
 to follow all the commandments of god in a spirit 
 of humility, since the mind of man, ever yearning for 
 liberty, would fain cast aside its shackles. And inas- 
 much as this would lead to the dissolution of all human 
 institutions we do not allow it. For as god punishes 
 every transgression of his laws, so temporal justice 
 must be meted out to the offender and lead him into 
 the straight path. The discontent of man with the lot 
 assigned to him by god is alone to blame for all 
 wickedness. Hence, we hold that it remains the duty 
 of church and state forever to guard the rights given 
 to them by god, and thus to keep the individual within 
 the limits of the whole." 
 
49 
 
 To this AlGeber replied: 
 
 "As your book indicates to us only the cradle of 
 primitive man, so it has become with you the child- 
 bed of all falsehood, wherein the righteous seek and 
 find their reward and the wicked a loophole for 
 escape. Only in such a sea of duplicity could your 
 social order of to-day find solemn justification. 
 
 "As the yearning for liberty and the striving of the 
 peoples for truth spring from the enslaved condi- 
 tion of the individual and the subjection of nations to 
 extraneous authority, so the stubbornness with which 
 you cling to the god of the barbarians has obscured 
 your minds and impaired the natural forces of your 
 souls. As the climbing ivy will destroy the strongest 
 oak by depriving it of the life-giving light, so your 
 faith has crippled the capacity of your understanding 
 and enveloped it in a deadly web which effectively ex- 
 cludes the rays of knowledge. 
 
 "From equal causes we are bound to expect equal 
 effects. And as it is, your words call up in my mind 
 the recollection of similar beliefs and conditions on 
 our planet, which I will now narrate for your informa- 
 tion and which will interest you, no doubt. 
 
 "Seven thousand years ago, our ancestors also be- 
 lieved in a personal god, like you. To the children he 
 was pictured as a dear old man, with flowing white 
 beard, who from sheer kindness and a longing for hu- 
 man company created all this beautiful universe. 
 
 "It came down to them from the traditions of the 
 
 ancients that their god was the only true one and 
 
 themselves his only creatures, destined by him to have 
 
 dominion over the visible world. This fundamental 
 
 4 
 
So 
 thought grew into a religious idea among their poster- 
 ity and governed all their actions. 
 
 "As long as they kept their belief, and the state 
 growing out of it, within the inhabited boundaries of 
 the country and among their own people, there was no 
 desire for expansion. They were content vyith the 
 wealth of their flocks, and slaughtered many a head 
 of them for their deity. 
 
 "It happened one day during a destructive storm 
 that large flocks were carried into distant regions. The 
 scouts that were sent out after them, on their return, 
 told the people about the wonderful fertility of that 
 country, and of the strange people that lived there and 
 worshiped other gods. The elders of the people then 
 remembered that god had promised their ancestors the 
 possession of just such a land. 
 
 "Each, according to his age, invented new details of 
 this tradition, and in that manner this god became the 
 national leader of the people. The desire to migrate 
 took hold of old and young alike, and soon they left 
 the boundaries of their home country behind them. 
 But having believed, up to that time, that they were 
 the only inhabitants of Mars, they were surprised at 
 finding, wherever their journey carried them, men 
 who spoke a tongue and observed customs which they 
 did not understand. 
 
 "Very soon the question of the rightful deity led to 
 the distinction between my cattle and thy cattle, my 
 land and thy land. Many a hard struggle started 
 from this idea, and it always ended in victory for the 
 stronger. Their own superior strength over their ad- 
 versaries served only to confirm their belief in a single 
 
51 
 strong god. And because they would fain themselves 
 possess the fat flocks and the fertile country of the 
 strangers, the latter fell at the bidding of the strong 
 god. Then, came the idea to all the people that the 
 foreign gods must be weak, because they could not 
 withstand the god who found pleasure in the odor of 
 burnt offerings. 
 
 "Hence, the belief in a single strong god was con- 
 firmed and expanded among their descendants. 
 
 "From a sense of gratitude the people built for him 
 a great temple in which the most skillful butchers were 
 busy day and night offering fat beasts to him. And these 
 butchers, being at all times near the deity, were esteemed 
 so highly by many that they were frequently asked 
 about the well-being of the deity and how the sacrifices 
 were liked by him. Joy, sorrow, gratitude, atonement, 
 everything, demanded sacrifices. In the course of time 
 the sense of smell of their god developed so highly that 
 these butchers held themselves qualified to smell out 
 his wishes for new sacrifices and his pleasure in those 
 already offered. Whatever satisfied their nostrils was 
 pleasing to him, and what they disliked he would re- 
 fuse. The butchers were quick to perceive the ad- 
 vantages gained by them and enhanced their authority 
 among the people gradually by the most absurd lies. 
 
 "In that manner the chief butcher came by degrees 
 to rule the people, because through him alone the 
 wishes of the almighty became known. Very soon 
 the office of butcher became hereditary in certain fam- 
 ilies, and thus originated the powerful caste of priests, 
 which, in the course of time, enriched the deity and 
 themselves at the cost of the people. 
 
52 
 
 "The higher their authority rose, the more frequent 
 became the sacrifices; the more their power grew, the 
 more extensive and severe became the laws of their 
 god. But while the people were forced to spend their 
 time in carrying out the most absurd precepts, the 
 priests imposed fines on every neglect of the divine 
 law, which cost fresh offerings. 
 
 "In that way thy cattle became my cattle, thy land 
 my land, and my god thy god. For as I was his 
 servant, so you became mine, and slavery took its 
 origin and justification in this victory of the stronger. 
 Thence also emanated the national belief and the crude 
 state which is connected therewith, as I shall presently 
 show you. 
 
 "The people of which I am speaking had expanded 
 by degrees and unconsciously adopted many usages of 
 the vanquished tribes. With the growing wealth there 
 came also the lust of further conquests. In order to 
 gratify this feeling, the high priest of the country con- 
 sidered it wise, at the bidding of god, and in view of 
 the assembled people, to proclaim the strongest of the 
 warlike men king. 
 
 "As there was but one god and but one high-priest 
 of god, so there should be but one king of the people. 
 
 "Thenceforth, whatever god ordered was communi- 
 cated by the priest and executed by the king. 
 
 "From that time forward the ancient simplicity of 
 the people disappeared, and with it their primitive 
 purity and severity of morals. 
 
 "As the king would devote his warriors to death 
 for the sake of a beautiful woman, so the lowest strata 
 of the people did not scruple to follow his example. 
 
S3 
 
 "For with a young dove, a fat calf, or a heavy steer 
 oflfered to the deity in the temple, conscience could be 
 satisfied for the trespasses committed. Thus the 
 simple pastoral people was turned into a commercial 
 nation fond of splendor. 
 
 "Incontinence, murder, perjury and theft were 
 weighed with the acquired gold, while justice, truth 
 and purity of morals were laughed at. 
 
 "The old temple was pulled down and replaced by 
 one more gorgeous. But though it was loaded with 
 gold and precious stones, it covered only with a thin 
 veil the injustice of the rich and the vices of the rabble. 
 And the more handsome became the house of god, the 
 more bestial his adherents. 
 
 "While the great men in the environment of the 
 king gradually made themselves lords of the people, 
 the latter were deluded with pleasures and feasts of 
 all kinds, and thus deprived of the Hberty they had en- 
 joyed in a state of nature. Their rights were trampled 
 under foot until nothing remained but burdens and 
 duties. They became lost in the power of the king, 
 the avarice of the priests and the gluttony of their 
 god. 
 
 "For the popular faith had long disappeared among 
 the priests and was used only as a means to an end. 
 
 "This state of things continued for many years, until 
 another stronger people, enticed by the far-famed 
 wealth of the land, began to make hostile invasions into 
 its borders. 
 
 "In order to save their bare lives, the people allowed 
 the victors to depart home laden with booty. But 
 soon after, these sad events had faded from the memory 
 
54 
 of the people. From time to time, however, men 
 arose who condemned the wickedness of the priests 
 and endeavored to restore the religious faith in its 
 pristine purity. 
 
 "But under the dissolute government of the priests 
 and kings, the people had sunk so low that they were 
 successfully incited by the priests to stone these seers 
 to death. Others, however, walked in their footsteps, 
 and predicted a dark future and total decay. 
 
 "Again powerful enemies invaded the land, de- 
 stroyed the temple of god, and carried off not only 
 treasure, but a large part of the people into captivity. 
 Not until that time were the eyes of those who re- 
 mained behind opened, and they began to doubt the 
 power of the priests and their god. Many fell away 
 from him altogether and adhered to the gods of the 
 strangers, whereas but few deplored the decline of th« 
 nation and the destruction of the temple. 
 
 "But the recollection of former greatness still re- 
 tained its force, and wandering seers succeeded, by 
 pointing forward to deliverance, in leading the rem- 
 nants of this once powerful people back into the ways 
 of the ancient faith. And although their dominion 
 was never restored to its former status, the hope for the 
 king to come kept the people together as a unit, and 
 took an ever firmer hold upon their senses. 
 
 "Thus it came to pass that even those who had been 
 enslaved by foreign masters, and adopted their cus- 
 toms and religion, upon their return to their native 
 land were seized by the general longing and joined in 
 the lamentations of their people. They all waited for 
 a sign from above, and among the coming generations 
 
ss 
 the yearning only increased for the ancient splendor, as 
 its memory had been preserved by popular tradition. 
 
 "Meanwhile, this people had learned much, and its 
 mental horizon had been widened. By the hard blows 
 it had suffered, and by intercourse with the strangers, 
 its nature had been changed, and with this the old god 
 perished. He, too, was changed. 
 
 "The more oppressive became the tribute to for- 
 eign rulers, and the power of the great of their own 
 country, acquired by traffic and wealth from the blood 
 of the people, the more keenly did the laws of eternal 
 justice stand out in the minds of the people. And al- 
 though they continued from ancient habit to observe 
 the usages and precepts of the priests, nevertheless the 
 yearning for liberty grew apace, until at last it overcame 
 the voice of tradition and found vent in a desperate 
 attempt. 
 
 "But the arms of the strangers whose protection was 
 implored by the rich, were stronger than the remnants 
 of natural vigor in the people. It succumbed. But 
 at that time the last spark of the old faith was ex- 
 tinguished. The newly erected temple thenceforth 
 belonged entirely to mammon and his servants, who 
 interpreted and wrote down the history of the people 
 and the law of god in harmony with their own ideas, 
 and thereby only helped to widen the gulf between 
 rich and poor, power and weakness. Like the people, 
 the prevailing god-idea had drawn to itself much that 
 was foreign to it and had degenerated into empty lip 
 service, which killed the spirit, while adhering to the 
 letter of the falsified scripture. 
 
 "Those who saw clearer than others, therefore, ut- 
 
S6 
 
 tered the complaint of the old strong god, accustomed 
 to unconditional obedience: 'This people hon6rs me 
 with the lips, but its heart is strange to me.' " 
 
 The venerable man had listened with keen attention 
 to every word uttered by my companion, but toward 
 the end his uneasiness increased, and he said: 
 
 "Permit me to interrupt you, wise AlGeber, for at 
 the tone of your speech the old covenant passes before 
 my mind, and I see more clearly than,,ever how won- 
 derful are the ways of the lord. For all you have told 
 me marks the path of Jehovah and his chosen people." 
 
 "When did you say this faith existed on your planet? 
 
 "Oh, as late as four thousand years ago! Why, that 
 nearly agrees with our own revelation; but I am 
 curious to hear how the further development pro- 
 ceeded, for, judging from the beginning, god sent a 
 redeemer to you also. So tell me the further course 
 of your history." 
 
 And AlGeber resumed his tale : 
 
 "While everything was in this bad condition, a 
 simple man stood up among the people and taught all 
 over the land what is still, at this day, our confession 
 of faith. Then listen and judge for yourself if we are 
 wrong.'' 
 
 Pulling out a tiny book, he began to read the gospel 
 of the poor of the kingdom of god, as follows : 
 
 " 'If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear! 
 
 " 'The lord of the world is but one, and a good 
 father, and we all are his children. 
 
 " 'Therefore, love you him with your whole souls, 
 for he is the spirit of truth and detests sacrifices. 
 
57 
 
 " 'I issued from him and shall return to him, for I 
 do his will and we are one. But he is greater than I. 
 
 " 'Do I blaspheme god, then, because I call myself 
 the son of god? 
 
 " 'Whosoever shall do his will, the same is my 
 brother. 
 
 " 'Love your neighbor as yourself. Love one 
 another as I love you. Thus will you be perfect, even 
 as your father, which is in heaven, is perfect. 
 
 " 'Therefore, learn from me, for I know the way of 
 truth and will make you happy; for the kingdom of 
 god lies within yourselves. 
 
 " 'Whoever would follow me let him deny himself, 
 and whoever would exalt himself over you shall be the 
 servant of all. 
 
 " 'You cannot be divine and serve mammon ; there- 
 fore, lay up treasures which neither rust nor moths 
 shall corrupt. 
 
 " 'Take no thought for the morrow what you shall 
 eat, or what you shall drink, and wherewithal you shall 
 be clothed, for your father knows of what things you 
 have need. 
 
 " 'Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom 
 of heaven ! 
 
 " 'Woe unto the rich ! For it will be easier for a 
 camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for you 
 to enter the kingdom of god. 
 
 " 'Woe unto you, perverters of truth and sycophants, 
 hypocrites! For you devour vndows' houses and bind 
 heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them 
 on men's shoulders, but yourselves will not move them 
 with one of your fingers. 
 
S8 
 
 " 'Woe unto you, perverters of truth and sycophants, 
 hypocrites! For you compass sea and land to make 
 one proselyte, yet you have closed heaven to man 
 and stolen the keys of knowledge ! 
 
 " 'You who strain at a gnat and swallow a camel, be 
 accursed!' 
 
 "Such and many other things did he teach in the 
 land, and the people loved him much for his gentle 
 character and his beautiful teaching. At one stroke, 
 the positions of rich and poor were reversed. And 
 while the fettered will of the people was rising once 
 more from the oppression of slavery, the new doctrine, 
 as if by magic, threatened the power and wealth of the 
 priests and their old god himself. 
 
 "Is it any wonder that they sought to kill him? 
 
 "But how? 
 
 "For the right of the people lay in the hands of a 
 foreign ruler, who for reasons of state allowed the tra- 
 ditionary god to subsist, but retained for himself and 
 his jurisdiction everything else. 
 
 "As always happened among the half-men, attempts 
 were first made to turn the people away from him. A 
 rumor was spread that he was a false prophet and did 
 good by the aid of satanic forces. But he answered 
 that a kingdom which is divided against itself cannot 
 stand. And he was right, for if wickedness turns to 
 righteousness it certainly disappears. 
 
 "His authority among the poor kept rising con- 
 tinually, and many began to believe that he was the 
 promised king of the land. The priests, and those 
 learned in the traditional scripture, saw their power, 
 and with it their former revenues, dwindle away. They 
 
59 
 
 devised other means to get rid of him. They inquired 
 into his birth and past history, but both were en- 
 veloped in darkness, as could easily happen under the 
 conditions then prevailing among the common people. 
 Then they attacked his mode of life. He was cried 
 down as an idler, a glutton, and a drunkard, who kept 
 the worst company. And in order to confirm this 
 statement they brought to him a woman caught in 
 adultery and asked him what the law prescribed for 
 her. But he answered: 'He that is without sin 
 among you, let him first cast a stone at her!' Thus he 
 always stung them where it hurt them most. 
 
 "Sometimes he was obliged to rebuke proffered 
 honors quite rudely. Thus he said to a zealous ad- 
 herent who addressed him with the words 'good 
 master:' 'Why call you me good? There is none 
 good but one, that is god.' For he did not want them 
 to look upon him as a god. 
 
 "At last the priests and scribes thought they had pre- 
 pared a proper trap for him. With the hypocrisy pecu- 
 liar to their tribe they came and asked him: "Master, 
 we know that you are true and teach the way of god in 
 truth. Tell us, therefore, is it lawful to give tribute to 
 the emperor, or not?' Seeing their purpose, he an- 
 swered : 'Render unto the emperor the things which are 
 his, and unto god the things that are god's.' They 
 questioned him no further. 
 
 "But they were only confirmed in their diabolical 
 purpose and denounced him to the imperial governor 
 as one who fomented discontent among the people 
 and wanted to make himself their king. At last they 
 had found the proper way, for as their god suffered no 
 
60 
 
 other gods beside him, so it was forbidden under pen- 
 alty of death to assail the authorities ordained by god. 
 He was, therefore, taken prisoner and faced his ac- 
 cusers before the governor. Misinterpreting his 
 teachings, they used the words they did not under- 
 stand against him. But he made no defense whatever. 
 
 ''He was charged with attacking capital, praising 
 the poor, and condemning wealth. Thereby, it was 
 charged, he was inciting the common people against 
 the possessing class and the priests appointed by god, 
 with a view of rising in armed rebellion against the 
 emperor afterward. Everything was against him, 
 and his adherents remained in hiding. For the weak 
 fears the powerful and looks to his own welfare. 
 
 "He was condemned to death in order to protect 
 the dear people from encroachments and disturbances, 
 and to maintain the existing order. The law and the 
 hatred of the priests were appeased, and had not extra- 
 neous circumstances intervened the case would have 
 been closed. 
 
 "But a doctrine that takes hold of the popular soul 
 with such force will not die with the teacher. Grad- 
 ually his adherents appeared before the public again, 
 his grave was found empty, and there were rumors of 
 his having been seen here and there. Some of his 
 disciples claimed to have spoken with him, and it was 
 not long before the belief became general that he was 
 taken up into heaven. A terrible unrest came over the 
 people, and they began to deify him. So it happened 
 that the popular fury degenerated into rebellion against 
 the priests and open revolt against the foreign ruler. 
 
 "The old books were taken out of their hiding place 
 
6i 
 
 in the temple, and each construed the writing his own 
 way. Everywhere traces were found of the promised 
 savior of the people. Everything seemed to fit the 
 slain master. The events after his death as well as his 
 own teachings, led to the logical conclusion with many 
 that he had been the true son of god. 
 
 "All bonds began to be dissolved. The wrath of the 
 people found vent against the priests and their prote- 
 ges, the rich, and threatened to subvert the state. 
 
 "So the foreign ruler was obliged to make war upon 
 the land, in order to restore peace and good order. 
 Despite the most desperate resistance, their capital was 
 reduced to ruins, and even the temple of their god 
 destroyed. But on the ruins of the old temple the 
 new belief in a nobler god took root. Too late the 
 ruler saw that by keeping the old national god of this 
 people he had endangered his own dominion. The 
 disciples of the master, who were taken prisoners, 
 undertook to spread the new doctrine at his own 
 capital, and finally their adherents were found in the 
 palace of the emperor himself. 
 
 "In his country conditions were similar. A small 
 part of the population had usurped all wealth and with 
 it all power, whereas the masses of the people lived in 
 nameless misery. The gods they worshiped protected 
 only the powerful, and none could become pleasing 
 to them unless he possessed wealth. And the rich 
 were so surfeited with deities that many began to wor- 
 ship an unknown god. 
 
 "Like a whirlwind the new faith seized the minds, 
 and carried along all who were poor and heavily laden 
 in' its headlong flight. Old altars and temples were 
 
62 
 
 destroyed, idols broken to pieces, and sacrifices 
 stopped, only to make room for new ones. 
 
 "For a long time those in power laughed at the new 
 doctrine, but the time came when they were compelled 
 to reckon with it. They decided to eradicate it in 
 order to save the throne, wealth and old gods. But all 
 in vain. Already many of the rich had accepted the 
 new faith and given their possessions to the poor. For 
 what availed their riches if they endangered everlast- 
 ing life? On such a basis this community developed 
 most seriously, and the succeeding persecutions only 
 bound the individual still closer to the whole. 
 
 "The more the adherents were persecuted, the more 
 rapidly did their numbers increase. The blood of the 
 martyrs only fertilized the seed of knowledge, which 
 with us has grown into a mighty tree. The higher the 
 tree grew, the more did the old sink into ruins, dwin- 
 dled the trade of the priests and fell the power of the 
 mighty. They became more like the subjects, the 
 more the latter recognized the deity in themselves. 
 
 "However, this condition was not long to endure. 
 Foreign elements were mingled with the simple doc- 
 trine of the master, and the deep-rooted slavery of the 
 people did the rest. With the greatest subtlety god 
 was elevated and creation degraded. Only animated 
 by the most profound humihty did man dare to ap- 
 proach him, only in the dust of impotence could he 
 look for mercy from him. 
 
 "Scarcely did this false doctrine gain headway, when 
 to the slavery of the body was added that of the mind, 
 and the safety of old conditions was assured. For it is 
 in the subjection to god that the power of the individual 
 
63 
 and the slavery of the masses has its origin, as the wis- 
 dom of the one often is based only upon the ignorance 
 or timidity of the other. What had been left in the 
 beginning to the experience of the elders was now 
 arrogated by certain ambitious disciples, to whom faith 
 was but a stepping-stone to advance their own power. 
 
 "Amid all these supervening modifications, the spirit 
 of the noble doctrine was gradually lost. The masses 
 voluntarily subjecting themselves to those who were 
 better informed, many relapsed into the old unjust 
 order without so desiring. A degrading reaction upon 
 the nature of deity itself was the natural consequence 
 of these influences. All that existed, whether good 
 or evil, found justification in the will or permission of 
 god, and mortal man must not set himself against his 
 ordinances. Such, at least, were the claims of the sur- 
 viving priests and the ruler of this people, who had 
 speedily discerned that element of the new doctrine 
 which forboded danger to the existing institutions. 
 So their god remained what he had always been, a 
 human patchwork and the perverter of natural rights. 
 
 "But as the deep-rooted belief in a personal deity 
 always demanded a caste of priests, so the latter in 
 turn reverted to the established right of kings. And 
 as the priest derived his rights from god and clung to 
 them with tenacity, so the king believed in the tem- 
 poral dominion secured to him. Although the king's 
 care for the temporal welfare was, by this arrange- 
 ment, subject to the priests, the two, nevertheless, 
 found in one another mutual support. Their united 
 power rested in reality upon the obedience- of the peo- 
 ple having faith in their superior rights. 
 
"As the priest cared for the spiritual welfare of the 
 people in the traditional sense, it was the duty of the 
 king, on the other hand, to adapt temporal justice 
 to the vested advantage of the individual over his 
 neighbor, and thus to lend legal sanction to the dis- 
 grace of the disinherited. And inasmuch as all legis- 
 lation sprang from the motives of accumulated wealth, 
 and thus withheld from the one what the other had 
 taken from him, the sources of temporal rights were 
 poisoned by the pestilential breath of the existing 
 barbarous notions of ownership. The natural equality 
 among men was thus lost. Even that which was 
 taken from: him unjustly, could not be resumed b}' 
 the person who had lost it. And the law took good 
 care that it was never restored to him. 
 
 "New ways were continually found to derive the 
 right of possession from the falsified books of the old 
 god, while the disinherited were meantime referred to 
 the virtuous teachings of the wise man. As, on the 
 one hand, affluence led to debauchery which ruined 
 mind and body, so the new faith taught the poor the 
 noble virtues of obedience and contentment. Every- 
 thing was equalized with hair-splitting subtleties, and 
 even discovered in the teachings of the master. But 
 there came a time when light separated itself from 
 darkness. The small number who first knew them- 
 selves also acquired an insight into the existing in- 
 justice and found the cause thereof in the prevailing 
 god-idea. Their number increased, and already the 
 influence emanating therefrom was growing per- 
 ceptible. The minds divided. As with one part the 
 belief in the supernatural could not be eradicated, with 
 
6s 
 the other part the moral development of the mind pro- 
 ceeded in the natural way. 
 
 "The breeding of the human race began with us in 
 the following manner: As formerly they had grafted 
 shoots from cultivated trees upon wild trunks and pro- 
 duced precious fruit, as from the oldest times the art 
 of refining the breed of animals had been practiced with 
 assiduity, so they began in this period to remove the 
 rank growth of weeds from the hearts and minds of 
 men by uniting the good with that which was inferior. 
 The design was to breed a higher type by artificial 
 means, and it was successful. This principle having 
 been universally accepted and become the leading ideal 
 governing individual relations, natural selection was 
 thereby directed into the proper channel, and by its 
 elementary force carried man forward and upward to 
 higher and broader planes of physical and mental cul- 
 ture. But all this was not accomplished without hard 
 struggles, as you shall hear. Generations came and 
 went before the higher man could move freely in his 
 natural environment. This part of the human race 
 became ever more perfect; disease and suffering dis- 
 appeared when the last priest exhaled his infidel spirit. 
 Only after he was buried did enslaved humanity 
 breathe freely and learn to know and appreciate itself 
 and nature around it. As man found the creator every- 
 where, so he carried him in his own heart. That was 
 also the knell of the government of kings. The place 
 of blind traditionary belief was taken by searching 
 science. Then came free thought, and at last the 
 shackles of slavery fell. With that point began the 
 period of the god-man on Mars. 
 5 
 
66 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 How God Was Made Into Gold. 
 
 "While one part of the people, clinging to the super- 
 natural, spoke of the advent of the wise man mis- 
 takenly as though god was made flesh, the new, pure 
 doctrine became to a few the foundation on which to 
 make man divine. 
 
 "You ask how we can be perfect, having neither 
 church nor the primitive kind of government that pre- 
 vailed among the half-men. Nothing is simpler. I 
 might ask you with as much reason how you can be 
 so imperfect, despite church and state. It is since we 
 are rid of the mediators between ourselves and the 
 deity that we know the divine spark in our own nature. 
 What the wise man taught we practice among our- 
 selves. 
 
 "About our manner of life and the aims and objects 
 of our being I shall tell you later. For the present, 
 I propose only to explain to you the history and vari- 
 able fate of the believers as distinguished from the 
 knowing ones. 
 
 "And since we count you and your adherents and 
 the millions like you among the former, you shall tell 
 me if your experience on this planet has not been 
 similar. If so, there is a great possibility that your 
 eyes will be opened and you will shake off the yoke 
 
67 
 of ancient tradition and grow into new and more 
 perfect beings. 
 
 "As I have already intimated, religious thought is 
 conditioned in, and modified by, circumstances of cli- 
 mate, government and heredity. Environment, 
 whether traditionary or made by the individual him- 
 self, together with the economic requirements of the 
 people, determines its god. That which governs 
 to-day may be laid on the shelf to-morrow. As the 
 giant among his neighbors or a youthful people among 
 the nations is conquered by age or forces superior to 
 it and slowly declines and disappears, so in the course 
 of time the god-idea was developed more actively in 
 one place and with less vigor elsewhere, until the 
 stronger one, adapting itself to changing circum- 
 stances, obtained the ascendancy, and attracting all 
 other ideas like a magnet, imposed its own form and 
 nature upon them. 
 
 "Different ideas were amalgamated and the new ele- 
 ments of the amalgamation handed down to posterity 
 for the truth. But as the degree of mental culture de- 
 termines all impressions in nature according to its own 
 character, and very frequently construes things 'clean 
 from the meaning of the things themselves,' it was 
 inevitable that the prevailing religious idea transnjitted 
 to the future a strange jumble of truth and falsehood, 
 which the babe immediately absorbed at his mother's 
 breast and assimilated as an integral part of his na- 
 ture. 
 
 "Those nations which were engulfed in the stronger 
 states and vanished in the light of the existing cycle of 
 ideas left behind them, nevertheless, strong shadows, 
 
68 
 
 from the unconscious amalgamation of which with the 
 freshly blossoming faith a new religious doctrine was 
 practically evolved. 
 
 "While one part of the people I am speaking about 
 believed the simple man came only to renew the old 
 god of tradition, others held him to be the savior of 
 the people promised to the fathers, and, consequently, 
 a prophet of god. To the greater part of oppressed 
 humanity, however, he became the true son of god and, 
 hence, himself a god. The low intelligence of these 
 wretched creatures misunderstood the simplest of 
 teachings given to them, which in turn were spun out 
 to infinite lengths by ignorant enthusiasts and began, 
 by degrees, to equal the commandments of the old god 
 in severity. 
 
 "All that ennobles human life and lends value to it 
 was forbidden as being sinful, like physical life itself. 
 The soul dwelling in the body could rejoice only after 
 it was freed from the fetters of the flesh. He who 
 tormented the body was pleasing to god, and he who 
 could go hungry the longest during life could gorge 
 himself to satisfaction in heaven. 
 
 "If one reached a stage where he was able to sleep 
 on pins he was called a saint. Scarcely was the master 
 cold in death when quarrels arose such as attach only 
 to the actions of the lowest of men. People vied with 
 one another in so-called self-denial, while elsewhere 
 unworthy disciples arrogated the government to them- 
 selves. The greatest gifts of bountiful nature were 
 lost to these men the more the teachings of the noblest 
 one among them all were misunderstood and falsified. 
 
 "Even as some bore all losses of worldly goods with 
 
69 
 .patience and forgot their physical well-being, the 
 avaricious among them found means to utilize every- 
 thing for their own profit. 
 
 "The old priesthood found a new lodging-place, de- 
 luding the poor with solemn words, while inviting the 
 rich to give of their abundance to the church, which 
 many did. The accumulated wealth of the so-called 
 servants of god unloosened the greed of the ruler, who, 
 seeing how willingly the followers of the simple man 
 were harnessed to the yoke, formed the resolution to 
 make the strange doctrine serve his ends with the aid 
 of the priesthood. 
 
 "After the new faith was elevated to the place of 
 the state religion the consequences of the false prin- 
 ciples that had been added became apparent. From 
 the religion of the oppressed it at once became the 
 oppressor of all dissenters. The simple, beautiful god 
 of the wise master was surrounded with the tinsel of 
 ill-gotten wealth and the splendor of the imperial 
 court, and in such company fell away to a skeleton, 
 which no one knew for the original. 
 
 "As there was but one emperor in the great realm 
 who ruled the people, a shrewd priest in the former 
 capital to the westward usurped the title and pretended 
 functions of the only ordained mediator between god 
 and man, and by firmly defending his pretensions and 
 allowing favors to the ruler managed to increase his 
 following continually. His audacity carried him so 
 far that he finally called himself the vice-regent of god 
 on Mars. 
 
 "The deluded people not being yet worthy of 
 liberty, came in the course of time to believe this 
 
70 
 
 claim. The ambitious ruler and the rich man of the 
 country found profit in everything, while the super- 
 stitious rabble was satisfied with their jugglery. The 
 murmurs of the better men were suppressed by force. 
 If the lowest classes became discontented it was the 
 priests who first held up the falsified teachings of god 
 before the eyes of the people. 
 
 "If this did not succeed, the ruler went to war, and • 
 each shared according to his rank in the spoils of con- 
 quest. When his hunger is appeased the lion will not 
 roar, and the wrong done is speedily forgotten. What 
 the ruler resolved, the high-priest of the empire de- 
 clared pleasing to god. So it happened that all the 
 horrors that were perpetrated were construed to the 
 greater glory of god. Did he not create the world for 
 them? Why, then, should they tolerate others? The 
 rest were children of the devil, and everything was fair 
 to encompass their destruction. 
 
 "The old laws were repealed and new ones, more 
 in keeping with the prevailing religion, were substi- 
 tuted. The rights of the individual were swallowed 
 up in the protection of vested property. The more 
 wealth was accumulated on the one side, the more 
 notable became the lack of freedom and the weakness 
 of the people on the other. 
 
 "As in the days of the old god, there stood up men 
 from time to time who sought to spread a purer idea 
 of god. Their fate was the same as that of the seers 
 of old. The high-priest denounced them for heretics 
 and disturbers of the people, and the ruler, ever will- 
 ing, made away with them. Meanwhile, the faith had 
 degenerated into empty lip service and fetish worship. 
 
71 
 The greedy priests began to traffic in the hoHest 
 things, God was made into gold. They began to 
 worship everything. Pieces of wood, nails, garments 
 and bones, even the swaddling clothes in which the 
 mother was reported to have held the master when an 
 infant, did not escape the keen eye of the priests. So- 
 called houses of god were built in all places and were 
 open to the faithful on appointed days. 
 
 "At the services of worshiping the idols the priests 
 wore gold-embroidered garments of peculiar design, 
 and by their splendid appearance charmed the people 
 and covered up their own vile misdeeds. Every kind 
 of villainy could be atoned for with money. After de- 
 positing a certain amount of money, the faithful son 
 of the church had permission to go on sinning. With 
 gold the rich man bought dispensation from the exist- 
 ing precepts whenever it became irksome to obey them. 
 By leaving a legacy to the church one could secure 
 promotion of one's seat in heaven. Even after death 
 the survivors were able to purchase absolution or a 
 reduction of the punishment decreed by god, accord- 
 ing to the amount given. Gold flowed into the hands 
 of this god and his servants in perfect torrents. He 
 wanted no pigeons or oxen, but gold, nothing but 
 gold. The value of gold did not change and it could 
 be used again at any time. The demands of the 
 church increased more and more; still the faithful peo- 
 ple did not grumble, for in this way they meant to pur- 
 chase everlasting bliss and the privilege of eating at 
 the same table with the son of god. 
 
 "But it was not given to the ruler long to enjoy 
 
72 
 
 the newly-acquired friendship. The weeds grew over 
 his head and frustrated his own ambitious plans. 
 
 "He readily allowed the high-priest in the western 
 city to adjust such disputes as might arise among the 
 disciples of god at the imperial court. He was thus 
 relieved of this care and could say to the beaten party 
 that distance assured impartiality and the decision was 
 bound to be right. He thought by favoring this priest 
 to safeguard his western frontier and maintain peace 
 at home. But scarcely had he closed his eyes in death 
 before the insatiate, greed of the ambitious priest tran- 
 scended all bounds. 
 
 "He began to derive his authority and rights from 
 the teachings of the wise man, and thus to found a 
 tyranny over the souls of men which he alone was en- 
 titled to exercise. 
 
 "As the slight movement of snow on the mountain 
 top, when once set in motion, drags everything along 
 with it and grows into the mighty avalanche, so the 
 favor shown the one priest was sufficient to erect upon 
 the ruins of the old faith a most dangerous tyranny 
 over the souls, upon which the power of the emperor 
 and the natural liberty of the people slowly went to 
 pieces, as the helpless wreck splits upon the rocks. 
 
 "What had been won must not be lost, so they began 
 to forge documents and reports by which the ignorant 
 were duped. jComing generations looked upon the 
 falsified records as the divinely vested right of the 
 priesthood. Even the rulers bowed obsequiously to 
 the rod. Then the people remained the only part to suffer. 
 The power and wealth of this priest-ruled state grew 
 apace, and by the aid of the temporal rulers became in- 
 violable. , 
 
n 
 
 "The beautiful teachings and all their simplicity were 
 buried in the books defaced by the ignorance and 
 avarice of the priests. Woe to him who dared assail 
 the truth of the report or demonstrate the falsity of 
 the priestly privileges! The judgment of god upon 
 him! The fate of the master was repeated. Tlie 
 church was no longer persecuted, but the persecutor. 
 Murders in the name of god became general and 
 reached those in particular whose wealth was desired. 
 Thousands of the noblest of men testified with their 
 lives the prevailing tyranny. 
 
 "The doctrine of poverty served to prove the right- 
 eousness of the ownership of land. After stripping 
 the people of their natural rights it was an easy mat- 
 ter to sell the immortal soul of the individual. It defies 
 description how openly and brazenly they proceeded 
 in their traffic and how they kept the ignorant, cred- 
 ulous people in abject fear and trembling. 
 
 "While the rankest weeds were thus flourishing 
 in the field of religious faith, the embodiment of the 
 religious idea in that of the state could not fail to clothe 
 the character of the master in a confused jumble of 
 nonsensical lies. 
 
 "Some asserted he was only like god, while others 
 taught he was one with god in nature but not him- 
 self god. Those who maintained he was god himself 
 at last remained in the ascendancy and began to in- 
 quire into his origin and the purpose of his becoming 
 flesh. By degrees there was developed among this 
 wretched people the insane idea that he was sent by the 
 father to save mankind from sin and death. 
 
 "From this, the government of the priests followed, 
 
74 
 of course. Did not the falsified books say that he 
 gave to them and their successors the keys of heaven? 
 How was it possible, then, to go there without their 
 help? And to go there became the most ardent long- 
 ing of enslaved mankind. 
 
 "Instead of endeavoring to realize the beautiful and 
 divine in life, human avarice erected a kingdom of 
 heaven lying outside of the boundaries of the world. 
 By this means the poor remained content and the rich 
 kept their ill-gotten wealth. 
 
 "In order more effectually to avert the dreaded dis- 
 content they created in the bowels of the planet the 
 horrible pit of hell in which the sinner must roast 
 forever as a punishment for his misdeeds in life. This 
 creation of the imagination did not fail to frighten the 
 people, and inasmuch as it threatened the rich as well 
 as themselves the poor believed in it the more fer- 
 vently. 
 
 "Nothing more hideous was ever devised by the 
 degenerate mind of man to the prejudice of his fellow- 
 man. He who had previously lived a righteous life 
 now began to grow conceited. Man learned to dis- 
 semble. Out of this developed the abject misery which 
 befell these poor people in the future. Never before 
 had men sunk so low or acted so infamously. 
 
 "But while the misery and brutalization of the peo- 
 ple increased more and more with the belief in heavenly 
 rewards, the temporal demands of the rich and the 
 priests multiplied from day to day. 
 
 "Possession and government by the few being just, 
 it was concluded that service and obedience on the 
 part of the others were proper. Such was the will of 
 
75 
 god, and thus did he ordain it. The stronger the theoc- 
 racy in the garments of the priesthood became, the 
 more did true religion fade away, until at last the 
 noblest doctrine was the butt of scorn and derision, 
 and the divinity of the master himself was represented 
 as a fairy tale. The successors of the first cunning up- 
 start among the priests gradually enlarged their power, 
 until finally they were themselves deified by the people. 
 So far did it go that the ruler of the empire was glad 
 to hold their stirrups or kiss their slippers. 
 
 "With a view of binding the priesthood more closely 
 to the church, the high-priest issued an order interdict- 
 ing marriage to them. By this means he planned to 
 cut them ofif entirely from the outside world. Still 
 he was unable to change their nature, and so it was 
 not long before the forbidden fruit rose the higher 
 in value the more it was withheld from the disciples 
 of the lord. 
 
 "What the cuckoo is among tlie birds, the priest 
 thenceforward became in the human family. As the 
 work of the locksmith serves to stimulate the cunning 
 mind until it learns how to open the most perfect lock, 
 so the priests managed to evade the strict, unnatural 
 precept and to indulge their passion where it injured 
 others most. 
 
 "This precept, like all others, was claimed to be 
 derived from the doctrine of the master. Did he not 
 remain unmarried himself? Although far from emu- 
 lating his purity of morals, they at least pretended to 
 follow in his footsteps. It is incredible what debauch- 
 ery and unnatural lust was fostered by this inter- 
 diction. The evil example exerted a corrupting in- 
 
76 
 fluence upon the people, even as it invaded the private 
 life of the individual to his drtriment. Corruption of 
 morals became general. The priest alone concealed his 
 infamy most easily beneath the mantle of godliness, 
 the descendants of the ancient believers having fa- 
 miliarized themselves v^rith the idea that he was in- 
 capable of sin. Did he not frequently hold the true 
 body of god in his hands, and stood he not closer to 
 the deity than all others ? 
 
 "Even out of the degradation of the people the 
 priest-state coined money. Everthing that was nat- 
 ural was prohibited. Everything that was prohibited 
 was sinful. For everything that was sinful man was 
 consigned to the open pit of hell, from which there was 
 no release. But it continued to remain uncertain which 
 of the departed were really there. And the priest 
 of god wisely refrained from asserting the presence 
 of any of the dead, as long as the survivors were able 
 to assuage the wrath of god by gifts of money. 
 
 "So an anteroom was created where, with proper 
 treatment, the ordinary human misdeeds were extin- 
 guished in the course of time. God was over-merciful 
 and was most readily satisfied by the chink of gold. 
 And none but the priests had a supply of the requisite 
 formulae and knew how most advantageously to write 
 the proper prescription for each case as it occurred. 
 They weighed the sins and fixed the fines so methodi- 
 cally that the tables of rates yielded an infinite revenue. 
 
 "Everything cost money, and those who -had none 
 were left to roast forever. In that way the usurer was 
 let off cheapest, for he had taken from others that 
 which became a blessing to himself. With the neces- 
 
77 
 
 sary cash the wrath of god was turned into god's 
 mercy, as by the spell of the priest common bread was 
 converted into the real body of god. All this was done 
 as easily as by pouring water over him, and, mumbling 
 the formulae of the priest, the crudest heathen was 
 transformed into the mildest child of god. Whoever 
 failed to have this done was damned in-advance unless 
 he was converted and subjected himself to the dominion 
 of the priests. Therein lay his only salvation. And 
 how many were converted, how many saved, who 
 never again thereafter saw a day of prosperity ! 
 
 "Each individual must be made new in the belief 
 in god. The church alone remained as of old. In- 
 dustriously it gathered up all that the dupes cast aside 
 and were taught to discard as sinful. But what it 
 once acquired was never restored to him who was in 
 need of it. It belonged irrevocably to the insatiate 
 god before whom man dissolves into dust. 
 
 "The poor people lay prostrate, not knowing whence 
 rescue would come. On the one side they were de- 
 luded with the fancy of a glorious heaven after death, 
 on the other side gaped wide the jaws of hell. Neither 
 one nor the other was attainable in this life. Still it 
 was absolutely necessary to prepare for both. While 
 the unattainable was thus forever dangling before the 
 eyes of man he forgot the material necessities, which 
 the priest managed to appropriate. 
 
 "The inevitable outcome of such conditions was 
 the development of a regular science, having for its 
 object to explore the nature and wishes of the deity. 
 Relentlessly it progressed under the protection of pliant 
 rulers, and in the course of time deprived the faithful 
 
78 
 
 of the last remnant of natural liberty, by forbidding in- 
 dependent thought and aspiration. God and the man 
 made in his image thenceforth languished in the nar- 
 row dungeon of the science of divinity. And the 
 priesthood took care that the prevailing darkness was 
 not lifted. 
 
 "The high-priest having succeeded in attaching his 
 disciples to himself, the whole priesthood now fell to 
 making the people docile also. He who confessed his 
 misdoings in a spirit of repentance, down to the small- 
 est detail, was relieved of the imaginary burden by a 
 short sentence, and was once more at liberty to breathe 
 freely. In that way the institution of the confessional 
 originated, whereby the priesthood was enabled to lay 
 bare the most secret emotions of the human heart and 
 to destroy the trembling miscreant by a mere glance. 
 
 "By this means a handle was afiforded for instigat- 
 ing the most pernicious movements among the people, 
 while at the same time every noble aspiration could be 
 nipped in the bud. Of all the achievements of the 
 priests, this was the greatest. Had not the soil been 
 well prepared, mankind would never have tolerated it 
 as the teaching of god. What had been irksome and 
 objectionable to the father was accepted in a devout 
 spirit by his very son. But the, more he poured out 
 his heart, the more firmly did he knit his fate to the 
 whim of the cunning listener. The latter became 
 privy to his guilt and was in a position not only to be 
 dangerous to him in this life, but by a turn of the 
 hand to transform the hereafter. And that was just 
 what the penitent wanted to avert. 
 
 "By this institution the priesthood succeeded most 
 
79 
 effectively in not only retaining the ancient slavery, 
 but forging additional shackles about the excitable 
 mind of man. The doom of the people was sealed. 
 Woe to him who strove for freedom ! The judgment 
 of god upon him ! Whoever dared contradict the pre- 
 vailing insanity fell a victim to divine justice as it was 
 then practiced by the priests on Mars. And that de- 
 manded either death or unconditional obedience. 
 
 "As they became masters in the practice of ruining 
 the endeavors of noble minds by slander in the confes- 
 sional, so also did the use of the dagger and the prep- 
 aration of lingering poisons grow into a flourishing 
 art. If the people could not be moved to terror at 
 sight of true manhood, it became necessary to remove 
 such men. Instead of punishing the murderer after- 
 ward, the affair was explained to the people as the 
 judgment of god, which had taken the guilty one off. 
 Wherever they held sway, the bones of their murdered 
 victims lay bleaching, and ravens croaked hoarsely 
 over well-filled dungeons. 
 
 "In place of real divine worship, the adoration of 
 images, days and places increased excessively. Not 
 satisfied with this growth, they continued filling up 
 heaven with so-called saints, who were worshiped like 
 god. 
 
 "The mother of the master enjoyed the special favor 
 of priests and people to the verge of madness. She 
 was called by the most tender names and perfect 
 litanies were devoted to her, the expressions of which 
 reached the highest degree of absurdity. Woe to him 
 who questioned her virginity! The judgment of god 
 upon him ! For years the learned doctors of divinity 
 
8o 
 
 disputed whether she conceived in the old-fashioned 
 way or through the ear. At last the decision was in 
 favor of the ear, and those who denied the new doctrine 
 of the conception lost their lives. 
 
 "These everlasting excursions of the priests into the 
 supernatural led to the result that the popular soul 
 was stirred by a powerful nervous agitation which 
 claimed thovtsands of victims. Whole armies of the 
 most ignorant rabble ran together and scoured their 
 bodies raw for the greater glory of god. Others had 
 gone so far that their muscles twitched involuntarily 
 and their movements resembled a dance. What 
 among the higher priesthood had settled down into 
 quiet hypocrisy was genuine suffering among the 
 wretched people. 
 
 "Already the voice of revolt was heard here and 
 there. The noble-minded saw the life of the priests 
 and the detestable idolatry with loathing. What was 
 at first derided with contempt grew into a howling 
 storm in the eastern part of the empire. Images and 
 altars were laid in ruins and primitive simplicity sup- 
 planted the contemptible priest service. Obedience to 
 the high-priest was renounced, and thus the defection 
 was made complete. What began here was finished at 
 a later period in the western part of the empire. 
 
 "The free spirit of man began once more to revive, 
 and the counter-blow gradually freed the ruling god- 
 idea of the cobwebs of time. Many denied the truth 
 of the traditional scriptures. The rotten foundation 
 began to quake. With all the strength of despair the 
 war of extermination began on both sides. That part 
 of the race which clung to the priest-faith turned like 
 
8i 
 
 wild beasts on their neighbors, if the latter thought 
 otherwise. Woe betide him who acted contrary to the 
 priests! He was damned! The judgment of god upon 
 him! 
 
 "What had previously been accessible only to the 
 priests — the scripture — now became common property. 
 At last the people saw how their fathers had been 
 duped. The high-priest hurled his curse from afar 
 over the new devil's art, but it rebounded harmless 
 from the resuscitated spirit of man, and the wise ones 
 laughed at him. The rulers called upon the scholars 
 to confirm their ancient rights and, like the people, re- 
 sisted further encroachments of the priests. The lat- 
 ter were obliged to give up their practices of debauchery 
 or be subject to temporal justice. Even some of the 
 succeeding dissolute high-priests failed to escape the 
 wrath of the awakened people if they did succeed in 
 evading the lingering poisons of ambitious rivals. 
 
 "The more the art of printing rose and expanded, 
 the lower did the power of the priests sink. Begin- 
 nings were made to unfold the abominations of their 
 past history, to prove the falsity of their doctrines 
 from their own works, and to sustain the words of the 
 good master in opposition to their teachings. Heavy 
 thunder clouds gathered over their heads and presaged 
 a dark future. Irresistible was the onward march of 
 science, and every new doctrine shook the strongest 
 pillars of their dominion. 
 
 "Scarcely had the disciples of god recovered a little 
 from the shock of these events, when a seaman, un- 
 known to fame, succeeded in convincing the ruler of 
 one people that there was land beyond the sea. From 
 
 6 
 
^2 
 
 old habit the priests were consulted.. For a long time 
 they resisted the idea and sought to show from their 
 sacred books that Mars was flat and not inhabited be- 
 yond the ocean. The high-priest also approved this 
 opinion and condemned the project as inspired by the 
 devil. But the lust of conquest caused the prince to 
 yield to the seaman, and the conjecture proved true. 
 
 "The voyage was successful. A new magnificent 
 country lay before the astonished eyes of the seafarers, 
 and it was inhabited, besides. 
 
 "Tlie old brood was now most thoroughly scared, but 
 not dead. The tricksters surrounding the high-priest 
 began to concoct new wiles. What had been lost in 
 the old field of the faith was to be regained in the new 
 land. Here faith found fresh work, for it was learned 
 with surprise that the god-ideas there prevailing were 
 altogether different from their own. The ruler decided 
 to take possession of the discovered land and to preach 
 the god of his people to its inhabitants. In this wise 
 what the high-priest had condemned as a snare of the 
 devil became a great boon to his craft. As ever, it was 
 again the priests who first reached forth their greedy 
 hands for the new acquisitions. 
 
 "The poor native who worshiped god in his own 
 fashion, must stop and change his ways or he was lost. 
 The foreign faith was imposed upon him by force. 
 The old horrors were repeated. For the greater glory 
 of god there was murder, plundering and stealing. 
 Still the pretext was that they came only to preach 
 peace and the kingdom of god. A fine doctrine, that 
 speaks one way and acts another! The liberty of the 
 natives gradually perished and it was not long before 
 
83 
 
 this land also was blessed with the famous priest-slav- 
 ery in its aggravated form. 
 
 "What preaching in words failed to accomplish was 
 finished with armed force. The wealth of the priest- 
 hood grew enormously. With insolent hands they 
 took from the people while blessing them, and obedi- 
 ent to revived avarice the interior of Mars was dug up 
 in search of precious metals. 
 
 "Although the faith had received a great blow by 
 this expansion, it was easily forgotten in view of the 
 accumulated gold. 
 
 "The subsequent fate of this new country I shall tell 
 you later, that you may see how impious were the ac- 
 tions of these priests, and how little they followed the 
 teachings of the master. While their idolatry flour- 
 ished in this country, it bore in its consequences the 
 most hideous fruit. It was here the priesthood laid 
 the foundation upon which gold was made god. But 
 you shall soon see how the new worship spread and in 
 the course of time stifled all noble strivings in the 
 human breast. 
 
 "What was here gained with great labor, was lost all 
 the more rapidly in the old land. With eager expecta- 
 tions men had watched the course of the voyage and 
 when the word of the priests failed to prove true, the 
 old faith received the first powerful blow from which it 
 was never to recover. The question was asked : "If god 
 himself illumines the priest, how does it happen that 
 he palms off such falsehoods on the people? By the 
 art of printing, knowledge had been increased and ex- 
 panded and idolatry crowded out, while the discoveries 
 led to the conviction that the lands hitherto known 
 
84 
 
 constituted but a small part of our planet. Other voy- 
 ages were made eastward, and there also were found 
 lands and peoples, the nature and appearance of which 
 placed them as a connecting link between man and 
 beast. All the experiences thus gathered were printed 
 and given to the people, and the loss of the old priest- 
 hood was inevitable, as the blow to their pride was 
 severe. 
 
 "When their books — which they derived straight 
 from god— proved false, the conclusion was drawn that 
 they could not be much better themselves. Either they 
 were ignorant like the deity which they served, or 
 willful impostors and strangers to the truth. They 
 now fell back upon their old tricks. The printed 
 books were condemned as works of the devil, and by 
 the aid of obsequious rulers much that was valuable 
 was consigned to the flames. The people were not to 
 read and be educated, because they would else desert 
 the theologians. But do what they might, they could 
 not regain what had been lost. 
 
 "So they began to impress the people with mag- 
 nificent buildings. New holidays were appointed, 
 jubilees of all kinds proclaimed, and relics never 
 before heard of suddenly discovered, in order to save 
 the old power from ruin. In the capital of the high- 
 priest with the riches dishonestly acquired, a splendid 
 structure had been erected which was calculated to 
 bind the faithful anew to the old doctrine. All these 
 enterprises consumed milHons of the piled-up money 
 and yet failed of their purpose. Now the treasure was 
 gone and the house of god remained unfinished not- 
 withstanding all the outlay. The more they tried to 
 
8s 
 turn backward the hand of time, the more irresistible 
 became the current of new events, which threatened to 
 break the yoke of tradition. Still ways were found to 
 save them. With a skill born of long practice, the high- 
 priest set on foot a traffic in pardons for sins. All 
 known lands were canvassed by faithful servants. The 
 ignorant but devout people were captivated by the ad- 
 vantages of the scheme, and millions flowed into the 
 treasury of the high-priest. It was taught without cir- 
 cumlocution that the works of the saints were stored up 
 in such ample quantities in the heavenly treasure cham- 
 ber of the church, that the abundance of them was not 
 only sufficient to cover any sins already committed, but 
 fully capable of atoning for offenses still to be perpe- 
 trated. It v/as a simple auction of the seats in heaven 
 to the highest bidders. 'When in the box the ducats 
 ring, straight up to bliss the spirits spring,' were words 
 heard everywhere. It has not been recorded how 
 many murderers, thieves, ravishers of innocence, or 
 wife-beaters bought seats for the everlasting heavenly 
 concert in this easy manner. We can only say that 
 never before did such a fury of crime break loose as 
 after the pardons were sold. But the splendid church 
 was completed, which in itself was sufficient for the 
 greater glory of god. 
 
 "Unfortunately, this infamous traffic was carried too 
 far. Even priests protested. In the north of the land, 
 a bold disciple of god took a vigorous stand against it, 
 both by word and deed. He was not only dissatisfied 
 with the infamy of this last doctrine, but in rough out- 
 lines assailed the existing church-state by demonstrat- 
 ing its rottenness from his own experience. He de- 
 
86 
 
 manded a return of the old simplicity if they would 
 remain true to the teachings of the master. 
 
 "The contradiction of the high-priest followed on the 
 heels of the revolt of the disobedient disciple, but it was 
 too late to stem the tide of the new current of thought. 
 The strong man burned the judgment of the high- 
 priest consigning him to damnation, and in violation 
 of the old precepts of the church took a wife. Fol- 
 lowing his example, monklets and nunlets, as they 
 were called, escaped from the harness of involuntary re- 
 nunciation and restored their nature to honor. What 
 had been at first only a revolt among the servants of 
 god, by degrees now took hold of the people at large. 
 Already some princes compelled the surrender of 
 church property to needy subjects. Each, according 
 to his capacity strove to make up for the wrongs of 
 centuries, and from this strife arose the most terrible 
 war for the sake of faith. Like wild beasts people of 
 one creed flew at the throats of those who believed 
 otherwise. Murder and plundering was done upon 
 command till whole countries resembled carrion fields. 
 
 "After the storm had passed, the survivors looked 
 mournfully over their work of destruction. But as the 
 atmosphere is purer after a storm, so religious beUef, 
 though divided, came forth more refined from the 
 struggle. The dominion of the priests had gone to 
 ruin in places. Science, however, was not ruined, but 
 had only grown. 
 
 "The opinion began to be heard that Mars was 
 spherical, and did not stand still, as had been believed 
 up to that time, but like other planets revolved around 
 the sun, and thus was part of a great system. This 
 
87 
 doctrine also was condemned but not suppressed and 
 under the new conditions spread rapidly. 
 
 "As the receding peals of thunder indicate the grad- 
 ual subsidence of the storm, and the dazzling lightning 
 dies away in fainter flashes, so the curses and anathe- 
 mas of the high-priest spent themselves, unheeded and 
 undreaded, before they passed the lofty mountains 
 which separated his capital from the northern part of 
 the land. 
 
 "It seemed almost as though the ndble teaching of 
 the master was at last to be realized. On the one hand, 
 simple manners had returned, while on the other 
 science was seeking quietly to explore the eternal mys- 
 teries of nature. Both elements were striving for the 
 truth, and in their peaceful union the nations might 
 have been blessed. 
 
 "But the old disturber was still alive. Although the 
 wings of his old power were singed he had enough 
 strength left to set the rulers against each other and by 
 the intrigues and lies of his servants to sow discord 
 between the nations. Having recourse to the most 
 disgraceful tactics, both parts were convinced by 
 cunning devices that the proposed sacred end hallowed 
 the means employed. And since from that time for- 
 ward the following of the high-priest was made up of 
 the lowest elements of human society, it was an easy 
 matter to whisper into the ear of one ruler the evil in- 
 tentions of his neighbor. Thus they became the tale- 
 bearers of the mighty. These disciples of god used 
 the peace doctrine of the master in order to confirm 
 their old power by stirring the hatred of nations. The 
 greater the gulf became between the believers, the 
 
more vigorously did the old priest-state flourish, all its 
 aims and endeavors thenceforth being concentrated 
 upon the destruction of the one enemy — science. 
 
 "First, individual rulers were won over to the idea 
 that by the teachings of the wise ones the people were 
 being led astray and their own power endangered. But 
 in order to hold the favor of the masses as well, the dis- 
 ciples of god at the same time instilled into the minds 
 of the ignorant believers mistrust of the purposes of 
 the princes. 
 
 "In .such wise they made themselves masters of all 
 without being subject to either part. The prince be- 
 held in them the guardians of his power, while the peo- 
 ple considered them the defenders of their rights. This 
 point having been reached their true intentions were 
 revealed. 
 
 "While men of science were compelled by the most 
 cruel means to forswear their teachings, the printed 
 works were consigned to the flames. Persecution 
 became systematic after the hatred and avarice of the 
 mob had been unshackled and the power of the rulers 
 laid low. The better to perpetuate the work of their 
 own knavery even the art that had been cried down as 
 devilish was pressed into service. So the priests made 
 themselves at one stroke the educators of the young, 
 whose minds were made receptive to the old rusty god- 
 ideas, by poisoning the youthful soul against the 
 achievements of science. Thus they came to be slan- 
 derers of the good. And as the powerful lion succumbs 
 impotently to the stings of the invisible gnat, so the 
 men of science were obliged to submit to the slander- 
 
89 
 
 ons hissing of these snakes of darkness, without know- 
 ing who their adversaries were. 
 
 "Wherever they gained a foothold, the pernicious 
 effects of their teachings speedily became apparent. 
 While in one place, a prince who enjoyed their dislike 
 fell a victim to their machinations, elsewhere they 
 caused thousands of dissenters to be destroyed at the 
 bidding of the ruler. 
 
 "Perjury and greed, hypocrisy and knavery, slander 
 and murdei permeated the simplest souls. The an- 
 cient spirit of cruelty erected the most abominable 
 monuments to baseness and slavery wherever their 
 diaboHcal influence reached. Poison and the dagger 
 removed the noblest men as of yore. And all this, 
 nevertheless, was done solely for the greater glory of 
 god, as they managed with their native sophistry to put 
 a fair color oti everything. Both the murdered prince 
 of one country and the dissenters in the other land 
 were offensive to god, so his will alone was done. 
 
 "The pestilential breath of hypocrisy permeated and 
 poisoned the generations educated by them so com- 
 pletely that even the mind and body of the individual 
 were stunted. So they imprinted upon man the badge 
 of Cain and became birds of ill omen to the nations. 
 For in the flourishing clerical nonsense was rooted the 
 subsequent decline of these wretched beings. 
 
 "As the fox, ridding himself of lice, drops the moss on 
 which they have gathered into the water, yet does not 
 change or improve after disposing of his little torment- 
 ors, so the priests by short words freed the wicked ones 
 and themselves from sin, yet failed to advance a single 
 individual nearer to his divine destiny or to ennoble the 
 
90 
 
 hearts of the people. The ones remained foxes as be- 
 fore, while the others never raised themselves above 
 the horizon of the louse. 
 
 "On the contrary, those lands whose gates remained 
 closed to them, begot children of knowledge, who by 
 the light of science cast the old priest-state out among 
 the rubbish of time. Here the men of science were 
 protected, their books were safe from the flames. Nat- 
 ural laws never known before that time were discov- 
 ered, and creation lay like an open book before the 
 astonished eyes of all. The genius of the age discov- 
 ered that the doctrines of the priests were taken from 
 a by-gone period and the account of the creation 
 accepted till then was a myth. The more completely 
 the wise men investigated Mars and the starry heavens 
 about us, the more untenable became the old faith. 
 The former belief of the people, that there were no Uv- 
 ing beings but themselves having been refuted by the 
 discovery of new lands on their planet, the discovery of 
 living creatures on your Earth moved all minds most 
 profoundly. They were prepared to believe anything 
 but that. 
 
 "Even the noblest of these people still retained much 
 of the ancient priest-creed and, therefore, looked upon 
 the teachings of the wise men as an attack upon their 
 god. The purpose was to dethrone or even destroy 
 him, which the faithful could never allow. Thus a 
 wretched compact was concluded between the apos- 
 tates and the old priest-state, founded upon a commu- 
 nity of interests, whereby the progress of science was 
 perceptibly checked with the aid of servile rulers. 
 
 "The adherents of the married monk, also, had 
 
91 
 preachers, who in the course of time arrogated more 
 and more to themselves. 
 
 "As in the case of the old priests, their existence was 
 likewise endangered by the advance of science, and the 
 power of the rulers afforded the desired protection 
 again those who denied god. But this very union, new 
 as it was, of state and church, testified the native weak- 
 ness of the god they worshiped. However, since his 
 existence was at stake, he must be saved, cost what it 
 might. It could not therefore, be otherwise than that 
 the glorious new doctrines attracted the best elements 
 which sought their god in his own works and there 
 found him. Only the ignorant rabble, which had 
 been raised on the bottle of tradition, continued to fill 
 the churches. 
 
 "In the face of united opposition, science with irre- 
 sistible force carried one bulwark of faith after another, 
 and tore the veil from the supposed divine mysteries, 
 by convincing the people of the truth of the laws of 
 nature. Never before did creation stand out so beau- 
 tifully as it now was in all its nakedness. The priests 
 behaved like madmen, the new teachings were con- 
 demned as erroneous, the books in which they were 
 laid down were prohibited, the poor believer who read 
 them was excommunicated. 
 
 "The bolts on the dungeon of god were doubled, the 
 old confessions of faith renewed and enlarged, and 
 idolatry practiced the more vigorously. New saints 
 were assigned to heaven, the seats of others, and hence 
 their worship, being raised. Through it all resounded 
 the enraged yelping: "Down with the atheists!" 
 
 "Here an ignorant preacher blustered about mercy 
 
92 
 
 and predestination, while beyond the mountains the 
 high-priest sent his ravens into all the regions of Mars, 
 to preach to the people the doctrine of merit and free 
 will. It was thought the current of refractory mind 
 could thus be stopped and destroyed. Barely a faint 
 echo of these endeavors in the field of old religion 
 reached the men of science, who went on calmly cut- 
 ting the old god to pieces and putting in his place him 
 who regenerates and maintains the world and before 
 whom all men are equal. 
 
 "With the greater spread of knowledge the ideas and 
 aspirations of the people grew loftier; its idea of god 
 more beautiful; the lower and more contemptible the 
 priest-made faith. The union of church and state came, 
 in the course of time, to be looked upon by the common 
 man as but the double implement of his slavery. While 
 the people carried the burdens of the favored ones and 
 sufifered want, the latter reveled in affluence. Poverty 
 and wealth, misery and debauchery, dominion and 
 slavery, went hand in hand. 
 
 "The pennies of the people continued to flow into the 
 coffers of the greedy high-priest, who' used them 
 to enrich his relatives and soil the fountains of eternal 
 justice. As the officers of the state belonged to the 
 privileged classes, and in the king's name impover- 
 ished and despoiled the people, so the high-priest sold, 
 for*' money dignities and offices, bones of saints, and 
 even the soul of the individual. The doctrine of the 
 master became the stepping-stone to power for vile 
 men. 
 
 "The dissembling high-priest concluded agreements, 
 the execution of which by the power of the state, or 
 
93 
 
 even in alliance with persons of different creed, aimed 
 at the suppression of popular liberty and the complete 
 enslavement of the subjects. The ancient, mysterious 
 darkness of tradition was to extinguish the new light 
 of the popular mind — science. 
 
 "But the more the people were oppressed and loaded 
 with intolerable burdens, the greater grew their yearn- 
 ing for freedom. Every fresh degradation only dug 
 deeper the grave of dominion by kings and priests. 
 In vain did men of science warn state and church of the 
 coming crash. They turned a deaf ear to the voice of 
 wisdom. The confidence that the armed power of the 
 kings was sufficient to curb any movement for freedom 
 among the people, caused the distinction of classes to 
 stand out the more glaringly. But the notable differ- 
 ence in the mode of life of the one, occasioned a won- 
 derful modification in the belief of the other. 
 
 "Likeavolcano in the interiorof Mars, the long pent- 
 up wrath worked violently in the breast of the enslaved 
 people. Their murmurs became more audible, the pres- 
 sure from above more acute, the more the minds were 
 inflamed and divided. In its capacity of tried gatherer 
 of all temporal goods, the church was the defender of 
 the mighty and of possession. It stood loyally on the 
 side of the oppressors and preached obedience to the 
 powers that be, contentment with the existing condi- 
 tions, and fidelity to the god of the unjust. All traces 
 of the noble doctrine of the master were wiped out. 
 On the lips of the married as well as the single men of 
 god, it continued to be distorted, and was turned into 
 a vile weapon of the wicked. 
 
 "In opposition to the priests, the men of science 
 
94 
 taught that the power of kings was derived solely from 
 the consent of the subjects and did not emanate from 
 god. From the life and the teachings of the master, 
 moreover, they demonstrated strikingly the injustice 
 of the priesthood and the falsity of the prevailing social 
 order. As the disciples of god taught the relation of 
 masters and servants, so they preached liberty and the 
 rights of man. Like lightning from a clear sky flashed 
 the long coveted word 'liberty' and the echo passed the 
 call from land to land, from people to people. 
 
 "Of a sudden was discharged the pent-up wrath of 
 centuries. The roles were exchanged. Priests, the 
 state, and god himself, fell victims to the unbridled 
 power of the people. The old institutions collapsed, 
 and in the blood of the slain buried the oppressors of 
 mankind, the injustice of the old state and the infamy 
 of the church. T"he god of liberty, equality and fra- 
 ternity, born of this destruction of the existing order, 
 made all things new. Thrones trembled and the cow- 
 ardly high-priest fled to the mountains. 
 
 "The people began to govern themselves. The sun 
 of liberty dried the tears of the liberated and for a time 
 at least stayed the hand of the oppressors. In the newly 
 created state the citizen of the country also was its 
 ruler, and the knowledge of equal rights and equal du- 
 ties directed the minds of all. In such manner the 
 wrongs committed against the liberties of the people 
 were atoned for. But the human mind, freed at a blow 
 from the darkness of slavery, could not by any possibil- 
 ity grasp at once the pure, noble god of the wise men. 
 And the same popular liberty which buried the old god 
 also gave birth to an immature child. For from the 
 
95 
 chaos of the old priest-fadth there issued the goddess 
 of reason. 
 
 "Thus one extreme always begets another." 
 
 Silently the worthy priest had listened to every word 
 uttered by my companion. An unmistakable gravity 
 covered his countenance, and deep wrinkles furrowed 
 his brow. 
 
 "You have shaken my faith and deprived me of my 
 peace of mind without filling the void in my heart," 
 he answered slowly, lifting up his eyes moist with tears, 
 "for I regret to confess that your words apply to our 
 Earth. When a youth even my free spirit often re- 
 volted against the prevailing doctrine. The fetters of 
 faith seemed unnatural even to me, and nothing but 
 the fear of men prevented me from bursting them 
 asunder. Thus my whole life has been one of inces- 
 sant struggle. Your words opened up the wounds of 
 the robust man at my advanced age, and my heart 
 bleeds at the thought that I have served a phantom 
 and, therefore, have spent a fruitless and unworthy life. 
 
 "Only the care of the souls confided to me affords 
 me comfort. They are innocent and simple in their 
 faith and remain strangers to my struggles. Oh, how 
 often have I wished to be one of them! Whatever 
 may become of me, preserve them in their ignorance! 
 As yet, the plague of this age has not reached any of 
 them, and in their intercourse with nature they have 
 remained pure. Do not destroy their faith and with it 
 their contentment ! For their sake alone, my life shall 
 remain what it has been heretofore, an inward struggle 
 and outward pretense. This unfaithfulness to myself 
 
q6 
 
 will, I trust, be counterpoised by their happiness and 
 erased from the eternal book of the world spirit. 
 
 "I adjure you both, not to expose the confessions of 
 my soul to anyone, for the forces of darkness still live 
 beyond the mountains. Like a hunted deer they 
 would persecute me, nor rest till their curse had with- 
 ered the grass and flowers upon my grave. For the 
 master's doctrine of love is unknown to them, and im- 
 placable hatred alone governs all their actions. You 
 have sketched them true, and I swear to you that their 
 entire texture of lies will forever remain an abomina- 
 tion to me. I meant to convert you, but you have 
 turned my weapon upon me by passing the history of 
 my church in review before my mind. Complete my 
 conversion! If I understand your intimation aright, 
 when you tell how gold was made god, you will de- 
 scribe the conditions of the present day. For, since the 
 old god is dead, there sits in his place the golden calf. 
 It is enthroned upon our altars; it soils the chair of 
 science and the actions of the business man; it defiles 
 the heart of the child as of the old man. Its power 
 dominates rulers and people, rich and poor, servants 
 as well as masters." 
 
97 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 How Gold Was Made God. 
 
 We were seated once more on the shaded garden- 
 bench and AlGeber continued his narrative: 
 
 "Science had opened the floodgates of nature and 
 never dreamed-of blessings would have poured freely 
 into the lap of nations, had man but known the god 
 of the wise ones and not clouded the new order of 
 things with the right of private ownership. 
 
 "Those countries which were governed by the citi- 
 zens themselves served as models to the princes, and 
 already some rulers did of their own accord what had 
 to be forced from others. Thenceforth the subjects 
 took an important and active part in the government 
 of states. 
 
 "But the cradle of liberty lost its guiding star when 
 its people bent their knees to the unknown goddess, 
 and the subsequent fate of this country shows clearly 
 how even the noblest thought may, in the mind of the 
 unwise, bring disaster upon a people and modify and 
 determine the destiny of man. 
 
 "The great revolution had indeed cleared the at- 
 mosphere and freed the people from their tormentors, 
 but the new deity did not fulfill the expectations of the 
 masses. Bitter disappointment took hold of the popu- 
 lar mind. Man's attempt to realize the god of the 
 7 
 
98 
 
 wise ones had yielded a changeling. But there still 
 dwelt in the people the need to recognize a higher 
 being, and so many turned their backs upon the 
 loathsoine goddess to again fall helplessly into the 
 arms of the old priest-made god. But even the latter 
 had lost much of his former rigor in the general revo- 
 lution. His surviving disciples were full of meekness 
 since they had known and felt the strength of the 
 people. Even the high-priest no longer was the 
 hurler of anathemas, as of old, but had become ob- 
 sequious and conciliatory. 
 
 "And while in the eastern part of the land a worthy 
 prince of his own accord liberated all the serfs, the 
 people along the western confines beheld the high- 
 priest beyond the mountains bending his back before 
 subjects and rulers alike. Thus his inventive genius 
 created a new religious doctrine, purified in the 
 crucible of time, of which he himself was to be the 
 very center. The temporal power which had been 
 lost to the people was replaced and enlarged by him 
 in a manner never before thought of. For no sooner 
 was he sure of his ground when, by an act of sheer 
 violence, he made himself the spiritual ruler of men. 
 In this sign he could mold their minds more success- 
 fully, for his power was the same everywhere, and his 
 strong arm reached to the uttermost regions of Mars. 
 He was declared infallible. 
 
 "But while in the old dominion wise men with in- 
 cessant labor trained up a young and vigorous genera- 
 tion, greed of wealth grew overwhelmingly in the 
 newly discovered land. 'In this abyss the precious 
 liberties of the people and the efforts of no'ble minds 
 
99 
 
 were gradually lost. Here, then, was the favorable 
 field where, under the guise of spiritual power, it was 
 possible to regain temporal dominion. No one would 
 observe it, for all were absorbed in the hunt for the 
 goods of this world. Why not the new church as 
 well? 
 
 "As the inheritance of the fathers was taken piece 
 by piece by dishonest greed, from the people, who were 
 not aware of it, the disciples of god, in the meantime, 
 were adding to their wealth and influence day by day. 
 What the greedy predecessors had begun here, their 
 successors faithfully continued and completed under 
 the banner of liberty. In unholy alliance with the 
 slaves of gold they extended their power at the cost 
 of the people. All sources of production were ex- 
 ploited by them, every liberal endeavor was sup- 
 pressed with their aid. Thus only was it possible to 
 bring to life the ugliest changeling of their doctrine 
 and put gold on the throne of god. 
 
 "They preached that it was more blessed to give 
 than to receive, yet emphasized the oppvosite of their 
 belief by taking so long and so much that nothing re- 
 mained to the duped people. And here again was the 
 unclean tree known by its fruit. The desire to grow 
 rich as quickly as possible dominated all. Countless 
 wealth was taken from the bowels of the earth, and 
 the number of the people grew apace with their knowl- 
 edge of the prolific soil. Adventurers from all coun- 
 tries poured into the land to hunt for the elusive gold. 
 
 "The sailing vessels of the fathers were placed out 
 of service, and perfect palaces propelled by steam 
 traversed the ocean, making travel lively and secure. 
 
100 
 
 On iron rails powerful engines carried the traveler 
 and his wares in long, splendid trains into the interior. 
 The impenetrable thicket of the forests was cleared. 
 The blows of the ax on the mighty trunks and the 
 hum of steam saws were heavenly music to the indus- 
 trial pioneer. Canals began to intersect the land, and 
 limitless swamps, the haunts of wild fowl, were turned 
 into cities. Amidst this din was heard the powerful 
 trip-hammer and the whip of the farmer. Thus civili- 
 zation marc^hed irresistibly on its way. 
 
 "Dazed by his new environment, the poor native 
 leaned on his spear, and knew not what befell him. 
 Like the trees upon the patrimony of his fathers he 
 was cut down himself. Did he not stand in the way 
 of true civilization ; was he not a heathen in whose wel- 
 fare the true god took no interest? In devout suppli- 
 cation, he raised his hands to the powers that had so 
 long protected him and his. He gazed upon the sun, 
 which still shed his golden radiance at dawn over the 
 mountains of his home. He knew the stars which had 
 so often pointed the way to him and his people, and 
 they were still the same. The gentle moon that had 
 >watched many a tender tryst of his youth blinked 
 through the leaves as kindly as of yore. The calmly 
 flowing brook in whose sparkling waters he had so 
 often beheld his own image proved that he had not 
 changed, and the birds greeted him with the same 
 jubilant songs. The gentle murmurs of the air still 
 carried to his soul the old harmonies of nature. And 
 yet he felt transformed, he knew not howl Trembling 
 with dread before the suspended ax of fate, he with- 
 drew, awe-stricken and timid, into the depths of his 
 
lOI 
 
 forests. Farther and farther from the dear old home 
 he wandered across the broad land, leading his hungry 
 children. His poor wife had naught but the tears of 
 a mother's love to satisfy the cravings of her babe, 
 for like himself the hunted deer had fled before the 
 lowering storm. At times he would halt, and with 
 unquenchable hate in his heart, try to defend the sa- 
 cred soil of his fathers against the bold intruders. 
 And then, perhaps, the white man, who had been car- 
 ried too far by his greed, would be found dead in the 
 primeval forest with an arrow in his breast. 
 
 "But woe to the poor savage and his tribe if the 
 vengeance of powder and ball struck him ! What was 
 he but a common murderer that must not escape the 
 white man's justice? Thus has man ever colored his 
 own wrong since priest-made faith promulgated the 
 doctrine that heretics have no rights. And those who 
 despoiled the red man were descendants and disciples 
 of the priests. The common property of the natives 
 was lost in the sanctity of private ownership, as soon 
 as the powerful priest-creed in the guise of modern 
 civilization had vanquished the poor aborigines and 
 their god. 
 
 "And yet, the red man was created in the image of 
 the same god that the white man worshiped, and the 
 teachings of the noble master extended to him with 
 equal force. But the master was dead and did not 
 know the circumstances! And how could greed be 
 a companion of love if it would thereby be deprived of 
 the fruit of its depravity? Where, as in this case, a 
 higher civilization was imposed on the lower, it was 
 impossible to yield, and impracticable to love one's 
 
neighbor. The weak must give way to the strong as 
 the arrow to the bullet. And what could not be ac- 
 complished by main strength was completed by cun- 
 ning. 
 
 "Thus following close upon the heels of the new 
 god of culture and of powder and ball came rum and 
 whisky, and while in the pliable mind of the native 
 youth the old god yielded to the new through the in- 
 fluence of the priests, the fathers fell victims to these 
 insidious beverages. After the rightful owners of the 
 land were despoiled and expelled, the cultured robber 
 was generous enough to provide for those whom he 
 had stripped of their rights. And while the rich rev- 
 eled in the possession of their ill-gotten wealth, the 
 deluded people — themselves no longer free — contrib- 
 uted to protect the red man from hunger, that he 
 might not arise and demand restitution of his stolen 
 heritage. In that way charitable institutions were 
 erected by the state, in which those who had been 
 forcibly deprived of their patrimony were permitted to 
 sicken, decay and die under the protection of a higher 
 civilization. But by this very means the wrongs of 
 the individual were hedged about with legal sanction, 
 and, though the people did not suspect it, this charita- 
 ble practice was destined to benefit themselves at a 
 later period. For the spoliation of the red man was 
 but the prologue of the awful tragedy to which grad- 
 ually the white man was subjected by his brother. 
 
 "In a burst of generosity black slavery was abol- 
 ished, but, in obedience to political intrigue, the ig- 
 norant beings thus liberated were placed on an equal 
 footing with the white man. With their assistance the 
 
103 
 
 priests and wealthy men of the land at last succeeded 
 in forging the fetters of slavery upon the whole people. 
 
 "The increase of population leading to a more 
 thorougli exploitation of the sources of production, it 
 was but the inevitable result of existing conditions 
 that by degrees the stronger robbers forced the prop- 
 erty and persons of the weaker ones into their service. 
 Having profited by the murder and spoliation of the 
 natives, they were not satisfied with this result imtil 
 the last remaining trace of popular Uberty was lost 
 and nine-tenths of the people reduced to abject slavery. 
 How this was possible under the laws of the land is 
 so curious a phenomenon that I am moved to describe 
 to you the beautiful political constitution of its people. 
 
 "Refusing to pay unjust taxes to the mother country, 
 the fathers succeeded after a severe struggle in con- 
 quering their freedom. Liberty, equality and fra- 
 ternity were the pillars on Which the new popular 
 government was erected. Only in the recognition of 
 these principles was the injustice of the old order con- 
 firmed. From the righteous disobedience of the 
 fathers sprang a union of states in which it was held 
 as a self-evident truth that all men were created free 
 and equal, and that the creator had endowed them 
 with the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pur- 
 suit of happiness. The laws of nature and of nature's 
 god afforded ample justification for the separate and 
 equal position of this people among the powers of 
 Mars. But as this power derived from the consent 
 of the citizens could subsist only as long as it safe- 
 guarded their sacred rights, it might be destroyed as 
 soon as it ran counter to them. 
 
104 
 
 "With these purposes in view, provision was made 
 for the administration of justice, to insure domestic 
 tranquillity, to provide for the common defense of the 
 land, and to transmit the blessings of liberty to future 
 generations. How complete was the failure you will 
 see in a little while. Again it was the bartaric notions 
 of ownership that interfered with the aspirations of the 
 people and led to the destruction of equality among 
 them. Had the state remained the owner of the soil, 
 the individual citizen would have been unable to over- 
 reach his fellow-man. With equal opportunities, rights 
 and duties would have remained equal, and the state 
 would have been able to miaintain a balance of the 
 burdens imposed. 
 
 "Now, however, there was no limit to the trans- 
 gressions of the strong, while the spoliation of the 
 weak was sanctioned by the laws themselves. Two 
 hostile principles were thus introduced into the body 
 politic, the further development of which was neither 
 justified by the constitution of the country, nor based 
 upon the eternal laws of nature. Tbis changeling was 
 the offspring of greed, which in turn was a child of the 
 old priest-made faith. Their god had favorite chil- 
 dren — why should not the state raise a brood of them ? 
 Two classes were thus developed, one owning all that 
 the other created. 
 
 "The same law which protected the possession of 
 the one also profaibited the acquisition by the others, 
 who were thus thrown wholly upon the mercy of a 
 few. And all this happened under the constitution of 
 the country just as easily as though the cornerstone 
 of the structure had been despotic instead of republi- 
 
los 
 
 can. Like the wealthy, the poor man took his com- 
 modity — 'his labor — ^to market. But even there he 
 was outdone. Means having been found to appro- 
 priate all inventions and thus minimize the cost of 
 production by their use, measures were also devised 
 to overcrowd the labor market and acquire the goods 
 there offered at constantly diminished rates. Labor 
 was said to be the sweetening of life, so the working- 
 man must be satisfied and ought to be glad to have 
 an opportunity to work! This was the gospel that 
 was taught the child at school, the youth in the count- 
 ing-room, the father in the factory, and all without 
 exception at church. 
 
 "Prior to that time, money was but the customary 
 medium of exchange. It now began to rule every- 
 body and everything, determine values, and measure 
 civic virtue and the rights of man. The dollar became 
 almighty and practiced what the god of old had done. 
 If its rights were questioned, the thunder of its power 
 rolled across the land and annihilated the disobedience 
 of its wicked children. Woe to him who attacked or 
 refused to worship it! The judgment of god upon 
 him ! Head over heels these unworthy beings flung 
 themselves into the abyss of avarice. The natural 
 consequence of their ignoble greed was that many 
 dropped along the roadside, sacrificed to a misdirected 
 civilization and false god-worship. No one heard their 
 cry of pain and onward sped the furious train. Each 
 would be nearest to the new deity, and, while some 
 were successful, the greater part of the people perished 
 in the attempt. The noblest achievements of science 
 served the new god, who permeated all like the plague. 
 
io6 
 
 Never before did man pray to the old god with fervor 
 so great as were the loathsome ecstasies with which 
 the worshipers of gold were seized. In its posses- 
 sion man had found at last the proper center of his 
 destination. Gold was the divining rod by which 
 everything was made possible; the divine seed which 
 fructified the heart of man like rank weeds. The 
 god-man shudders when he takes up the books that 
 describe the period known to us as the age of design- 
 ing hypocrisy. Never before did man fall so low. 
 
 "But Hsten! 
 
 "As in an earlier age the wise counselor of a prince 
 managed to store up in the spacious granaries of his 
 state the abundance of one year for the scarcity of the 
 next, withdrawing the products of nature, of indus- 
 try and science from the greed and over-reaching of 
 individuals, and yet keeping them available to the 
 needs of the people, in like manner the rich were en- 
 abled during this period to> attract the furtive gold 
 within their own possession, and by its aid determine 
 the values of all products. 
 
 "After they had once succeeded in making gold the 
 only standard of value it was an easy matter to ma- 
 nipulate all the sources of wealth and their products. 
 A peculiar tribe of men was thus developed, whose 
 sole endeavor it was to force values up and down. 
 Their skill in making the golden standard visible or 
 putting It out of sight at will was the foundation of 
 their despotic power, by which they were enabled 
 methodically to despoil the people and the land. Not 
 satisfied with the prolific yield of their knavery, the 
 disciples of this art even began to trade in non-exist- 
 
107 
 
 ing values. Then their exchanges became veritable 
 barometers where the credulous could see the power 
 of gold without perceiving the cunning rogues be- 
 hind the scenes. As in former times the disciples of 
 god were wont to hawk around pardons and indul- 
 gences for money whereby miracles were expected to 
 be wrought, so the disciples of the exchanges robbed 
 all who came within reach of their barometer. Real 
 values were doubled or multiplied a hundredfold over 
 night according to the state of the manipulated barom- 
 eter. 
 
 "One man sold wheat which was not yet grown, 
 while another passed finely printed parchments which 
 had not the slightest value. The dream of one man 
 would be realized by another. The truly honest and 
 genuine industrial operations were stifled in the falsity 
 of speculation. 
 
 "How the fish did bite ! 
 
 "What had its beginning in the products of nature 
 and human industry reached its full height when the 
 conquests of science were made tributary to the god 
 of the age. 
 
 "To put new ideas into practical execution money 
 was needed, and this only the wealthy possessed. In 
 this way, however, were the modern means of trans- 
 portation established, telephones made possible, the 
 electric force put in harness and steam utilized prac- 
 tically. The law confirmed the undisputed first right 
 of the rich man to these achievements. This knowl- 
 edge, also, was turned by him into a means of acquir- 
 ing wealth. He alone was entitled to direct produc- 
 tive activity. The parchments he sold and by which 
 
io8 
 
 the ignorant expected to obtain an interest in certain 
 industries were as worthless as the solemn pardons of 
 the priests of old, and remained subject to the power 
 of the rich man as they were continually exposed to 
 his manipulations. What promised well at night burst 
 in the morning like a soap bubble, for it was the child 
 of falsehood and collapsed by its own hollowness. 
 'Sell all things, hold fast that which is good,' was the 
 law of the rich man, and no one knew the hollow nuts 
 better than he did. Thus he handled his wealth as 
 the juggler does the balls. And what he once began 
 was repeated with growing frequency. 
 
 "At an earlier period some shrewd disciples of gold 
 had induced the people to donate to them immense 
 tracts of land and to advance vast sums of money for 
 the construction of railroads. Had those favored ones 
 been honest their enterprise should have succeeded. 
 But as they had defrauded their fellow-men, so the state 
 also fared at their hands. The lands were sold and the 
 proceeds used to build new roads to compete with the 
 first one and thus gradually deprive it of its income. 
 The people grumbled, but they were simply told that 
 the old enterprise did not pay because it was prema- 
 ture. The people be d — d! 
 
 "Meanwhile, however, these speculators had suc- 
 ceeded in making millions out of the sale of fraudu- 
 lent securities, while the pretty parchments were faith- 
 fully hoarded by the credulous people. And then the 
 crash came over night, and the whole house of cards 
 built in dishonesty tumbled down. The poor lost the 
 savings of a lifetime, while the wealthy scoundrel 
 simply smiled — and reorganized his devilish undertak- 
 
109 
 
 ing. No rich man was ashamed to entice the people into 
 swindling schemes by allowing the use of his name and 
 thousands were thus lost, part of the stolen profits 
 going to the schemer. This was called superior smart- 
 ness. 
 
 "Proofs of these infamous transactions are still pre- 
 served in our museums to-day, and they are sufficient 
 in themselves to bear eloquent testimony of the utter 
 corruption of the age. 
 
 "One shrewd man succeeded by dark means in ac- 
 quiring all the oil wells of the country, while others 
 supplied gas and water at exorbitant rates. Even 
 the coal in the mountains fell gradually into their hands. 
 No road was safe from these wolves; no industry but 
 was poisoned by their pestilential breath; no means 
 was too vile to carry out their designs. For with gold 
 everything could be bought, animate or inanimate. 
 The representatives of the people in the halls of legis- 
 lation, the scholar in the chair of the university, the 
 judge upon the bench, the priest at the altar of god — 
 they all heard its sweet tinkle and pricked up their 
 ears if it sounded near them. Honesty and candor 
 were laughed at, the poor man who was so unfortunate 
 as not to own anything became a beast of burden ; the 
 rich man shrugged his shoulders at him in contempt; 
 the priest blessed all who paid him, and above them 
 all the old god scoflfed at the impotence of his creation. 
 "Wealth held them all captive and from sheer tedium 
 became the benefactor of the poor creatures who lifted 
 the mighty hammer of industry only to be crushed 
 beneath its blows. As a dog greedily licks up the 
 crumbs that fall from the table and is happy to have a 
 
master, so this modern civilization created hospitals, 
 insane asylums and jails by which those who remained 
 sound in body and mind were rid of the offscourings 
 of the time. Even institutions of learning were founded 
 by the pious men who had appropriated the oil 
 wells, the gas supply and the coal beds. There 
 the rising generation learned to know and honor their 
 benefactors. Others who had become rich by trad- 
 ing in meat and wheat followed the noble example 
 and erected schools in which the goodness of god and 
 his chosen ones was incessantly kept before the eyes 
 of the people. Men who had made much money by 
 selling silks and other articles went so far as to build 
 museums in which were exhibited the achievements 
 of the period for the delectation of the poor. There 
 everybody could see what progress man had made under 
 the influence and with the aid of the new god-idea. 
 Of these fountains the disinherited were permitted to 
 drink their fill and acquire fresh courage for a harder 
 fate. For the new benefactors were far from building 
 institutions of learning, schools and museums out of 
 their own pockets. Oil, gas, flour and coal were made 
 dearer without any honest reason, and the people could 
 have made a perfect paradise out of what was thus 
 taken from them. And to fill the measure of unhap- 
 piness for the poor their wages were cut down. If 
 the people grumbled and tried to take revenge upon 
 their tormentors, they were answered with god, the 
 law and soldiers. 
 
 "And the more the rich man amassed, the more pro- 
 tection he required. For his sake part of the people 
 were frequently compelled to become murderers of 
 
friends and brothers, or to fall themselves by their 
 hands. What were the people good for if they could 
 not be molded to suit one's whims ? 
 
 "In such manner fate was preparing a grewsome 
 future for this country. Signs of the coming storm al- 
 ready began to gather over the horrified heads. The 
 soil was drenched with the blood of innocence, and the 
 spirit of rebellion was stretching its wings. The poor, 
 compelled by dire need, were driven in droves like 
 hungry beasts into the dens of industry, whence at 
 evening, black with soot and weary in mind and body, 
 they went home to wife and children, carrying their 
 scant wages. The little ones cried for bread; the 
 wrinkled face of the mother saw with anguish how it 
 boiled and seethed in the breast of the beloved husband. 
 He was withholding a secret from her, but she dreaded 
 to question him. Later on comrades called for him, 
 and what was then discussed behind closed doors only 
 made him more close-mouthed. His eyes flashed mys- 
 teriously when he looked at his poor children and the 
 brawny arm twitched involuntarily as though about 
 to strike. So things remained for a long time. He 
 had only gathered himself up and lay crouching for 
 the leap. Why should he go on living like this? He 
 asked himself the question and before his eyes sparkled 
 bright the constitution of his country. He looked up 
 to the employer, but that worthy shrugged his shoul- 
 ders in contempt, while the priest of god referred him 
 to his religion. And the state, his own handiwork, 
 applauded all that helped its corrupt servants to ob- 
 tain gold. For the poor, justice had only penalties; 
 for the rich, only rewards. The man who paralyzed 
 
112 
 
 whole industries was allowed to reorganize under the 
 protection of the law, but he who stole a loaf of bread 
 to save his wife and family from starvation was con- 
 demned to suffer punishment. 
 
 The example of the masters soon found imitation 
 among the siervants. Thousands of workmen pledged 
 themselves by solemn oath to put an end to the pre- 
 vailing disorder and promote the welfare of those de- 
 pendent upon them. The rich man looked upon the 
 proposed measures with contempt and seemed at a 
 loss to account for the workers' rebellion. He pre- 
 tended that competition was ruinous so that he worked 
 at a loss, and continued his business only to keep the 
 dear workmen employed. He begged, he agitated, he 
 threatened. But the workman was no longer to be 
 cajoled and demanded higher wages and shorter 
 hours that he might live like a human being with his 
 family. He is refused, and laying aside his blouse he 
 rakes out the fires. But the heartless man brings in 
 other slaves to carry on his business. At this the 
 poor breadless one loses all patience, he is turned into 
 a wild beast, and the house of industry breaks down 
 with a crash. No fires are started, not a hammer stirs, 
 and the rich man for the first time has to reckon with 
 the new power. 
 
 "He intrenches himself behind the law and god, 
 calls to his aid the armed force of the people, and it 
 is granted to him. A volley of lead — screaming 
 mothers and children — a few fathers slain — and the 
 sky clears. The law has conquered. 
 
 "A black hearse — children dissolved in grief — men 
 impotently clenching their fists — a whining priest — ^and 
 
113 
 the grave closes over the remains of the murdered vic- 
 tim. His struggle is ended. 
 
 "Leading her children, clad in rags, the deserted wife 
 goes begging from house to house until the higher 
 civilization shuts her out from the eyes of the indig- 
 nant rich man. The poorhouse is open to her. The 
 children are taken from her because it is deemed the 
 duty of the state to educate them. The mother dies 
 of grief. Unwept, she is laid in the cold earth. No 
 monument marks the spot, no inscription tells the tale 
 of her woe. The grave covers all. 
 
 "The daughter blossoms like a fresh rose. Her 
 bright eye knows no wrong, and she falls a victim to 
 the lust of the rich man's son. She, too, has been 
 provided for. 
 
 "To the right hand the den of vice, to the left the 
 refuge for erring women. She may choose for her- 
 self which fate is the better of the two. 
 
 .."Shall I tell you more? But you are weeping as 
 though your heart would break. 
 
 "Very well, I shall say no more. 
 
 "The first onslaught had passed by. But the thun- 
 der-clouds of impending disaster still hung threaten- 
 ing in the sky. Still the rich man sucked the life- 
 blood from the people — his idle son seduced their 
 youthful maidens. Even the possessing class split up 
 into groups separated by the greater or less amount 
 of wealth. The whole idle brood having nothing to 
 do began to look up their family trees, and the so- 
 called blue-blooded ones banded closer together. In 
 this occupation they are reported to have developed 
 
 8 
 
tl4 
 great proficiency, but the matter is so trifling that I 
 may pass it over. 
 
 "The millions having been counted and the family 
 tree arranged in proper order, the wives of these vul- 
 gar, coarse upstarts took their daughters to the mar- 
 riage market. 
 
 "Some titled remnant of the ancient feudal barons 
 was purchased for a husband. They sought high con- 
 nections. As they had neither strength nor intelli- 
 gence, it is shrewdly surmised by some of our scien- 
 tists that the present tribe of monkeys on Mars is de- 
 scended from them. But the scientists are not agreed 
 on this point, many maintaining that they were but 
 the connecting link between the half-man and brute 
 creation, which opinion is not without strong support. 
 "Such degeneration within three generations could 
 be derived only from the false civilization of the 
 period. It was a common occurrence that the father 
 who had sprung from the robust common people left 
 behind an unworthy son as the slavish servant of cor- 
 rupt business enterprises. Even priests of god kept 
 the claws of avarice scantily hidden beneiath the hypo- 
 critical sheepskins, and deluded the faithful with dis- 
 honest schemes. They pretended to extract gold from 
 the briny water of the sea, and cheated many. Com- 
 panies were formed that existed only through the 
 credulity of the people whom they humbugged. The 
 greed of gold enticed thousands away from home to 
 the barren ice-fields of the far north, where they lost 
 not only all they possessed, but their misspent lives 
 as well. 
 
 "The preparation of adulterated food and injurious 
 
"S 
 
 beverages became a protected, powerful industry. 
 And what the big robbers had left to the people, 
 these penny-scrapers were glad to relieve them of. 
 They were satisfied to share their spoils with the 
 priests of god. Fraud, bribery, cunning and hypoc- 
 risy became the ruling vices that sought by slander 
 to smother all noble efforts, as a bombastic theology 
 full of deceit and falsehood had smothered the true 
 religion in the hearts of a majority of the people. 
 
 "You ask, why did not the government of the peo- 
 ple prevent all this, and what became of the god of 
 these half-men ? You shall learn. The tendency of the 
 period was becoming clear to the vision of all. But 
 the government of the people as well as the pre- 
 vailing religious belief was without strength and 
 stale, like the people themselves, who had been des- 
 poiled of the very marrow of their bones. The think- 
 ing citizen looked about him for a remedy and the 
 workman began to prepare for a desperate struggle 
 against vested wrong. The disinherited slaves united 
 for mutual protection, and the law of self-preservation 
 and the sacred rights of man began to shine forth 
 brightly from the mist of environment. The people 
 became confident of their power when they found 
 what an insignificant number of! legally protected 
 robbers were opposed to them. They meant to organ- 
 ize as a powerful party and thus take hold of the 
 government. Leaders, hitherto of unquestioned in- 
 tegrity held the reins with practiced hand, and in 
 powerful speech exposed the existing evils. Success 
 seemed assured. The corrupt servants of the people 
 were called to account for their misdeeds, and the 
 
ii6 
 
 rich trembled with fear of the coming judgment. But 
 the judgment came not. 
 
 "As though struck by lightning from a clear sky, 
 the new-bom power suddenly collapsed. Pale with 
 horror, the disinherited stared at each other. What 
 was it that had disturbed their union, and why did they 
 scatter in cowardly fear like a flock of sheep? Again 
 it was gold. Betrayed by the leaders and deserted 
 by weak comrades , the ranks became thinned. 
 Not a shot was fired; no one had been wounded by 
 the thrust of a bayonet. Thus the power of the people 
 was destroyed at one blow by bribing the leaders and 
 threatening the privates. Coined gold in the hands 
 of a few cunning rogues sufficed to bring this 
 about. A dishonest leader was rewarded for his 
 treachery with permanent provision by the state, and 
 the deluded people returned of necessity to the dens 
 of industry. The priest of god sang scores of hal- 
 lelujahs and praised the righteous god who in his in- 
 finite care had saved the people by the aid of the rich. 
 The dishonest servant of the people, the treacherous 
 leader of the disinherited and the noble man of wealth 
 were lauded by the hypocritical servants of god as the 
 saviors of the country, because they had prevented the 
 threatened rebellion, the shedding of human blood, 
 and the destruction of sacred property. And all this 
 could have been done with thirty pieces of silver! 
 What a pity there was such a waste of gold ! 
 
 "Once more the law had conquered and the rich man 
 felt elevated in his own opinion. The people's power 
 lay prostrate and ruined, and dull indifiference took 
 hold of the popular mind. But the fire of discontent 
 
U7 
 continued to smolder beneath the ragged garments of 
 the disinherited. They had not yet lost all hope, and 
 very soon the spark of liberty again blazed brightly 
 to heaven. Now it was time to protect the accumu- 
 lated wealth; by unjust laws. Old measures were 
 made more stringent, and new means found to hold 
 the working people powerless. The lines were drawn 
 closer within which the disinherited were allowed 
 to move, while the industrial reins were gathered up 
 tighter. 
 
 "The result of the existing order was the constric- 
 tion of popular liberty within artificial bounds. From 
 this limitation arose all that was called misery, sin, 
 and crime. Whoever wanted to live naturally collided 
 with the law, and whoever collided with it was crushed. 
 There being no equal relation of rights, it followed 
 that duties must differ also. And that is what they 
 called justice. 
 
 "In an unjust conspiracy with the ruling powers, 
 the rich thus sneered at the same law which con- 
 demned the poor. All the sources of livelihood were 
 within the iron grasp of a few, and the workman be- 
 gan to be superfluous. The machine which he in- 
 vented supplanted his work tenfold, and was cheaper. 
 Thousands begged for work, but the hypocritical mono- 
 polist had none for them. The distress among the 
 people became general. Begging grew apace, the 
 poorhouses received fresh additions, and the hospitals 
 were overcrowded. But woe to him that tried to 
 help himself, for he committed a crime and went to 
 jail ! Those whose will-power was unable to bear the 
 misery committed suicide and left behind half-starved 
 
ii8 
 
 wives and children for whom the benevolent state pro- 
 vided shelter and graves. 
 
 "And while all this happened, the protected monop- 
 olist sat in his palace on soft cushions and indulged in 
 nameless vices. He defrauded the state, despoiled the 
 people and scoffed at god. Still he managed to keep 
 up appearances and take his bright light from under 
 the bushel. Being barren of justice, he filled out this 
 void of his nature with the virtues of the pharisees and 
 scribes. In this spirit the monopolist scattered his 
 wealth with an open hand. He built churches, gave 
 to the poor, assisted reform movements, and even 
 danced for charity. His kindness was on every tongue 
 and his name headed every list for the alleviation of 
 misery. 
 
 "The bribed servant of the people, the corrupt scien- 
 tist in the professor's chair, and the hypocritical priest 
 of god were full of his praise. They lived by him and 
 enriched themselves with his wealth. But the people 
 accepted his crumbs gratefully because they were com- 
 pelled to. His humanity could not be contained 
 within his own country, it reached to the remotest cor- 
 ners of Mars, where, with his money wrung from the 
 people, missions were established to convert poor, be- 
 nighted heathcHs and cannibals. For these low crea- 
 tures also must know the god of civilization and be- 
 come themselves civilized men. With tears in his 
 eyes he read the reports about these godless ones, and 
 in a choking voice inquired what was needed to ele- 
 vate them. Nothing but money. And this he sub- 
 scribed, and became pleasing to god in the eyes of the 
 pharisees and scribes. 
 
119 
 
 "Thus he freely helped all he could to draw the mote 
 from the eye of his fellow-men, never thinking of the 
 beam in his own. 
 
 "But he was not a follower of the good master, for he 
 could not give up his riches. Nor did the disciples of 
 god demand it. And yet they pretended to serve the 
 master. As the righteousness of wealth was derived 
 from the teachings of the priests, so did the hypocrisy 
 of the rich necessitate the slavery and dependency of 
 all who came within reach of their power. 
 
 "A race of servile dissemblers was the result, and 
 all of them revolved around the rich man and his wealth 
 as the wheel around the axle. What he commanded 
 must be done. For him laws were made and perjury 
 was committed, as brother would betray brother in his 
 behalf. Thus his influence extended to everything 
 and everybody. Woe to the scientist who rose against 
 him ! Woe to the priest who dared tell the truth ! Woe 
 to the people if they failed to acknowledge the benefits 
 of wealth! The judgment of god upon the wicked ones! 
 They were denied benevolence and placed outside the 
 pale of "wealth's favor; and they were persecuted and 
 outlawed, for they had blasphemed the anointed of the 
 lord. And all the slavish hirelings cried Amen ! 
 
 "Thus the corruption of wealth was transmitted to a 
 large part of the people, the more they became de- 
 pendent upon the rich element. It came to pass that 
 he was laughed at who even spoke of honesty. How 
 could one run counter to the prevailing fashion? The 
 state, the business world, the servants of god, and 
 many scientists, all were more or less diseased with the 
 plague of the age. At times, the people would rouse 
 
120 
 
 themselves and try to remedy the evil, and then it hap- 
 pened that the judge who sentenced the dishonest offic- 
 ial was the same that had previously sought to bribe 
 him in order to obtain office. In this manner the 
 guilty conscience often punished the man who suffered 
 from the prevailing disease. 
 
 "But here and there voices were raised even among 
 the rich against the evils of the day. The more the 
 sources of production and livelihood came to be united 
 in the hands of a few, the smaller became the number 
 of those who earned anything. Men of science un- 
 covered the injustice and frauds of monopoly, fearless 
 priests took sides with the people; honest statesmen 
 pointed warningly to the future. Then the people be- 
 gan to breathe once more and thought of liberty. 
 
 "As was ever the fate of noble men, so it happened at 
 that time to the champions of the disinherited. The 
 pious man who alone had the right to sell oil expelled 
 the teacher of the young from his chair. The church 
 disciplined the disobedient priest who had dared at- 
 tack vested rights and the sanctity of the prevailing 
 principles of property. The people were iticited by 
 foul words of slander against the honest statesman 
 who dared be their champion. But the masses re- 
 mained true to their teachers. A new powerful party 
 spread over the whole land and made itself felt in the 
 halls of legislation. Confirmed sinners against the 
 liberties of the people were called to account, and fresh, 
 purer blood was sent through the languid veins of the 
 body politic. 
 
 "Even the alien high-priest whined from afar that 
 the monopoly of capital in the means of production had 
 
121 
 
 caused the misery of the age, by imposing upon the 
 people a yoke Httle short of slavery. As on previous 
 occasions, he was shrewd enough this time also to 
 serve two masters simultaneously, to catch two birds 
 in one net, and yet remain riiaster of both. For after 
 discovering that sin was the prime cause of all misery, 
 it was easy for him to maintain that religion was capa- 
 ble of providing a perfect remedy from within. Thus 
 he left it to everybody to seek salvation after his own 
 fashion. 
 
 "But he knew the people better than the rich men 
 of the land, for several of his predecessors had felt its 
 power, and he shuddered when he read the bloody his- 
 tory of his church. It was the part of wisdom to dis- 
 play a friendly disposition toward the people. 
 
 "Responsive to the influence of noble men, the peo- 
 ple awoke from their dull brooding and presented their 
 just demands to the powers of the land. Honesty in 
 the administration of public affairs, the abolition of all 
 monopolies, equal taxation, the prohibition of dishon- 
 est speculation, and a sufficiency of honest money like 
 the fathers were wont to have, those were the modest 
 desires of the oppressed people. No honest state would 
 have denied them. But whereas money had a ficti- 
 tious fixed value, all other property had depreciated 
 one-half. A minority, insignificant in numbers, pos- 
 sessed all the valuable gold, while the great body of 
 the people was heavily in debt. And now the debtor 
 wanted to turn the tables! Unheard-of audacity! 
 That was nothing less than theft! It was a bare-faced 
 attempt to depreciate gold and pay the debts with in- 
 ferior money! Who could have expected such a thing 
 
122 
 
 of a civilized, honest people? Usurers, speculators 
 and other rich sharpers folded their hands in holy hor- 
 ror. 'Yon will drive capital from your midst and de- 
 fraud your benefactors,' such was the cry of the mo- 
 nopoHsts in all parts of Mars. The press of the land 
 vied in lies and misrepresentations of the true state of 
 affairs; and the gold of the rich man, the corruption 
 of ofHcials, and the ignorance of the people did the rest. 
 Conventional honesty carried the day and tried to 
 make the country happy by additional taxation. But 
 even now the evil work had grown beyond the control 
 of those men. The people grew poorer, the monopo- 
 list richer. True to their traditions, the disciples of 
 god fought on the side of the leeches as in former ages. 
 However, the victory was in reality a defeat, for the 
 eyes of the people were opened and they no longer be- 
 lieved tl>e prevaricators. The heaviest gmis of the 
 gold power had been fired, and still the poverty of 
 the people grew apace. 
 
 "A desire became general that the state take posses- 
 sion of all the sources of production and regulate 
 them in the interest of the people, and that any pro- 
 posed laws be submitted to them for final approval. 
 The situation became more precarious for the monop- 
 lists day by day, and many thought the end was at 
 hand. But the resources of wealth were not yet ex- 
 hausted. And so monopoly hit upon a ruse by which 
 it was thought to divert the reflections of the discon- 
 tented from their own condition. 
 
 "To the south of this country a people that had de- 
 generated under the misrule of the old priests had 
 wealthy possessions. The natives had grown weary of 
 
123 
 
 the tyranny of their tormentors and rose in a war of in- 
 dependence. Ahuost incredible were the authenticated 
 reports of the cruelty and injustice of the rulers of 
 these men. Starvation and disease had carried ofif 
 many thousands of them, and the weapon of the mur- 
 derer was busy among the living. Was it not an im- 
 perative demand of humanity that a free people help 
 them to liberty? First, they were to be supplied 
 with provisions and afterward freed from their unde- 
 sirable rulers. Finally, they were to govern them- 
 selves. The people were captivated by this plan, and 
 in thinking of the sufferings of others, they forgot their 
 own misery. The beat of the drum was heard through 
 the land, weapons clanked and flashed, and amid the 
 blessings of the hypocrites the youth of the land went 
 to war for humanity and the rights of man. All ficti- 
 tious values trembled and quaked in the mother coun- 
 try until the first news of victory flashed over the wire. 
 Verily, capital is timid. 
 
 "The thunder of artillery was still rolling, the small 
 fire of the rifles still rattling, when the rich at home 
 began to concoct plans for the successful spoliation 
 and plundering of the new acquisitions. Humanity 
 was thrown to the winds, and the unfortunates who 
 had been huddled together in narrow inclosures were 
 suffered to starve. 
 
 "No one cared for them, no one gave them any 
 further thought, since native greed overshadowed all. 
 Not content with this accomplishment, they starved 
 their own youths who had offered their lives for the 
 state. Like shades returned from the realm of death, 
 the survivors came back, only to fall victims to disease. 
 
J24 
 
 They, too, were martyrs of humanity. Everything 
 was hushed up as well as might be, and the youths 
 with the ghastly eyes were glorified as conquerors. 
 The disciples of god spoke feelingly from their pulpits 
 about an all-wise providence and the manifest destiny 
 of this mighty people, the statesman shouted himself 
 hoarse about projects of expansion, the scholar shook 
 his head and was scoffed at, while the people looked on 
 in dumb indifiference and buried their dead. The poor 
 man alone bore the loss, and, at last, paid the enormous 
 bill. The war of liberation became a war of conquest 
 which consumed millions and brought naught but 
 misery in its train. Thus, even the much lauded idea 
 of humanity only contributed to accelerate the gradual 
 decay of the existing order. 
 
 "A hundred years had gone by since the mother 
 country brought itself to acknowledge that the former 
 rich colony was irretrievably lost. The people had at- 
 tempted to govern themselves and jumped from the 
 frying-pan into the fire. Their government was come 
 to be the pliable tool of a dangerous money despotism, 
 which compelled all with a hand of iron into the com- 
 pass of its power. But as the bow when bent too far 
 will break, so it happened with the gold power. The 
 patience of the people had been put to a test which was 
 too severe, and the rebound came sooner than was 
 looked for. 
 
 "The strong mihtary force created by the war of hu- 
 manity was looked to by the rich for an ally to keep 
 
125 
 
 down any rising in favor of liberty. A false sense of 
 security took hold of the rulers, and the sagacious 
 teachers of the people were left undisturbed. By hyp- 
 ocritical reform movements the masses were sought 
 to be kept divided and the festering sores on the social 
 body covered up. But it was forgotten that the sons 
 under arms sprang from the people and felt that their 
 rights and liberties lay bound upon the altar of greed. 
 So it came to pass that the very weapon which the rich 
 claimed for themselves turned out the salvation of the 
 state and assisted the people to claim their sacred 
 rights. 
 
 "The same declaration of independence which had 
 aided the fathers to win liberty, once more inspired the 
 enthusiasm of the people and achieved a decisive vic- 
 tory. The gold of the briber exerted its power in vain 
 upon the wholesome integrity of the leaders of the peo- 
 ple, and a holy, healthy atmosphere swept over the land 
 from ocean to ocean. The people took the reins of 
 government into their hands and entered upon the pos- 
 session of their own. It was the first time within the 
 memory of man that justice was allowed free scope. 
 The monopolists had thought to frustrate the popular 
 will with the aid of the army, but the military stood 
 loyally by the people and surrendered the arch-con- 
 spirators to the courts of justice. The leaders of the 
 government called the best men of the country to the 
 capital of the land to give the benefit of their wise 
 counsel, and they were charged to examine into the 
 causes of the existing evils and report to the represen- 
 tatives of the people for the purpose of enabling them 
 to provide suitable remedies. 
 
I2fi 
 
 "One of my ancestors was elected by the assembled 
 scholars and scientists to preside over these memora- 
 ble deliberations. For years he had by word and deed 
 condemned the ruling elements and enjoyed the con- 
 fidence of the people to the fullest extent. With keen 
 attention the people followed the course of the delib- 
 erations, while many monopolists hastily fled the coun- 
 try, fearing justice and foreseeing the results. Crash 
 now followed crash, and the dishonest values crumbled 
 into dust. Sad visaged speculators ran about the coun- 
 try like madmen, begging, praying and calling down 
 the vengeance of god upon the men of the people. 
 But their despair moved no one. Before the report of 
 the investigating commission was transmitted to the 
 representatives of the people, the sky had cleared. 
 The false had given room to the true, the credit hum- 
 bug evaporated into smoke, the dens of the robbers 
 were deserted. The old god was stricken dumb, and 
 his disciples, speechless with fear, were hiding from the 
 vengeance of the people. Many of them believed the 
 end of the world was at hand and threatened the people 
 with the direst punishment of their god. False proph- 
 ets of a false god! Nature lay in peace, and the sun 
 went on shedding his genial rays over the righteous 
 as well as the wicked. Not a breath of air stirred. So 
 the people remained tranquil and full of confidence. 
 
 It was a beautiful day in May of the year 7981, when 
 the report of the wise men was submitted to the repre- 
 sentatives of the people. In the legislative halls, as 
 well as in the remotest hamlets in the land, it created 
 the liveliest satisfaction. And inasmuch as this event 
 marks the beginning of our present moral freedom 
 
127 
 
 from artificial restrictions, the wording of this beau- 
 tiful document may perhaps be of use to you also. 
 It reads as follows: 
 
 "Fully alive to the woes of the time and with a view of 
 promoting the mutual welfare, at the direction of the leaders 
 of the people, we have searched the destructive torrent of 
 existing misery to its fountain-head, and hereby solemnly 
 declare the prevailing god-idea to be the prime cause of all 
 evil." 
 
 "For from the time when the spirit was made flesh to the 
 period when gold was made god upon Mars, its course is a 
 continuous chain of injustice, whereby it has degraded all 
 that is noble and lowered the image of the creator." 
 
 "By teaching fear of god, it set man at variance with the 
 eternal architect of the universe, and laid the foundation 
 of slavery.'' 
 
 "It is the false author of all phantoms and will-o'-the-wisps 
 that led mankind into the bottomless swamp of theology, 
 and suffered it to perish therein." 
 
 "It handed the hemlock to the philosopher, built the cham- 
 ber of torture, and lighted the fires around the stake. It 
 erected both hell and heaven." 
 
 "It created slaves in order to breed rulers, believers in order 
 to fetter the mind, and god in order to call the devil into 
 being.'' 
 
 "All its works sprang from vanity and greed, its disciples 
 disfigure the formations of the creator, and their teachings 
 make god himself an object of scorn and derision. Such 
 is the soil on which the present order of things throve. Our 
 fathers knew this when they based their independence upon 
 
128 
 
 the god of nature and his laws. What they then did we can 
 to-day but repeat and confirm.." 
 
 "When the state, founded upon the declaration of the free- 
 men, stripped itself of its own soil, it at once destroyed the 
 the three chief principles of every just social order, and laid 
 the foundation of all the injustice that followed." 
 
 "That was the beginning of our misery. Thenceforth 
 everything followed the prescribed paths of the god of the 
 church and of slavery, until nine-tenths of the people bore 
 all duties and burdens, while one-tenth enjoyed all rights 
 and privileges.'' 
 
 "In order, therefore, to create a just relation of things 
 and to promote the common welfare, we propose that the 
 god of nature, which alone is in harmony with the principles 
 of science, be taught the people. All measures enacted into 
 law, to be just, must agree with the eternal laws of nature." 
 
 "All lands shall be restored to the state, which shall rent 
 them out at fixed annual rentals to the citizens, in such man- 
 ner and degree as may be deemed consistent with the natural 
 equality of all individuals. Such rentals, however, shall in 
 no year exceed ten per cent, of the income of the lands, and 
 shall be payable in money or in kind." 
 
 "All industries, means of transportation, and those inven- 
 tions which have degenerated into agencies of extortion and 
 ruin shall be regulated or operated by the state in the in- 
 terest of the people." 
 
 "Coin shall be the lawful general medium of exchange for 
 all things, and its value shall be kept in a proper relation 
 with the acknowledged values of all other commodities. Only 
 when the welfare of the people requires, shall the value of 
 money as at first determined be readjusted." 
 
129 
 
 "Speculation in non-existing values or products shall be 
 strictly prohibited." 
 
 "All existing debts are based more or less upon injustice, 
 and they shall therefore be adjusted to conform to present 
 values, or canceled, as the case may require." 
 
 "The limits of individual possession and wealth shall be 
 fixed by law.'' 
 
 "The education of the young is the proper care of the 
 state only, which is also charged with the welfare of all citi- 
 zens." 
 
 "The divine ordination of the priests as intermediaries, or 
 otherwise, is a lie, and their office is hereby abolished." 
 
 "All crimes rest in the nature of him who commits them, 
 as the nature of the individual, in turn, is conditioned by the 
 existing social order. This class shall be given over to the 
 care of science, until, by natural selection, a higher race shall 
 have been created and degeneration eradicated. The taking 
 of liberty, or life, shall be ordered only if the commission of 
 learned men created for that purpose shall pronounce the 
 individual in question incapable of moral advancement, or if 
 his body is a freak of nature.'-' 
 
 "Both sexes shall enjoy equal rights under the law." 
 
 "The state labor commission shall subject the capacities of 
 the individual citizen for the various industries and arts to 
 a thorough examination, and promote the same accordingly." 
 
 "Marriage, as now prescribed and practiced, is unjust and 
 shall be abolished. A certificate of mental and physical 
 soundness and agreement of both parties must be produced 
 before such a union may be concluded." 
 
130 
 
 "The liberty of the citizen shall not be encroached upon 
 in any way, except as herein indicated." 
 
 "The state shall constantly endeavor to elevate natural 
 morals. The adulteration of food and the manufacture of 
 injurious beverages shall be prohibited." 
 
 "There are no saints, and the beatification of a dead citi- 
 zen, simply because his moral nature enabled him to be su- 
 perior to others, shall be prohibited." 
 
 "All the expenditures of the state must be covered by the 
 revenues from the leased lands, and the industries, means of 
 transportation and inventions acquired and regulated by it 
 in the interest of the people." 
 
 "The surplus of the annual revenues shall be used to im- 
 prove the condition of the people and the land." 
 
 "In every period of fifty years the state shall undertake 
 a general equalization, suiting the existing wealth to the 
 achievements of said period." 
 
 "Any citizen who shall refuse to recognize the constitu- 
 tion based upon these principles shall be free to seek an- 
 other home, and, in case of refusal, shall be compelled to 
 do so." 
 
 "All nations that fail to recognize the justice of these prin- 
 ciples shall be excluded from intercourse with the people." 
 
 "In no other way will it be possible to elevate man uni- 
 formly, and to preserve the inalienable rights of life, lib- 
 erty, and the pursuit of happiness." 
 
 "The accomplishment of these ends we leave to the rep- 
 resentatives of the people." 
 
 In pursuance of the articles of the wise men, the rep- 
 resentatives of the people at once proceeded to pass 
 
131 
 
 laws, and the regenerated popular government became 
 an accomplished fact. There followed a wholesale 
 migration of the discontented. Thousands of the dis- 
 ciplined monopolists, priests and those who aped and 
 served them in all things left the country. 
 
 But the true wealth remained. Beyond the ocean 
 conspiracies were hatched looking to the overthrow of 
 the new republic. The combined wealth of the planet 
 for the first time stood united against the irresistible 
 strength of the people. Threats were unavailing, since 
 the power of the princes consisted in the armed force 
 of the people, to whom the echo of the new liberty had 
 a pleasing sound, and who now threatened to upset the 
 old order at home. So they must needs accept the 
 inevitable. The rule of gold was annihilated and a 
 new, glorious age dawned in the robust vigor of youth. 
 To the ennobling influence of science alone is due the 
 glory of having lighted the way by which man became 
 sod." 
 
132 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 How Man Was Made God. 
 
 You smile and think I am dreaming. I assure you 
 it happened just as I say. The people were filled to 
 nausea with empty promises, and riper for the change 
 than even the most ardent enthusiast was ready to be- 
 lieve. The prophetic spirit of a few had touched them 
 and prepared the way, and the naked truth caused no 
 dread. The monopolist and his injustice had united 
 all the sources of production, so the transition was 
 simple. That is what finally realized this ideal state. 
 
 That many objected is but natural. It had become 
 second nature for them to have sport with the people, 
 so they clung to the belief that the people were not in 
 earnest. Their disappointment was intense when they 
 found what power was at the disposal of the majority. 
 You can form a good idea of the conditions if I tell 
 you that half the people were insured against fire, 
 accident and even death. Private companies had been 
 reaping immense profits from these enterprises and 
 kept a majority of the insured in continual distress for 
 money. The new state continued these institutions 
 and further developed them, equalizing the interests of 
 all. The life of the milHonaire was weighed equally 
 with that of the laborer, and the surplus so obtained 
 was used for the benefit of the uninsured. The sav- 
 
133 
 
 ings of the people were not exposed to robbers in the 
 treasury of the state, and multipHed amazingly. 
 Neither the farmer nor the business man was any 
 longer victimized by the dishonest manipulations of 
 boomers, speculators or railroad kings, and the state 
 transported merchandise and products at cost price, 
 as it had formerly done letters. There was no over- 
 production, and prices were kept in balance. 
 
 No wonder that theft, murder, perjury and dis- 
 honesty disappeared. Sneaks, frauds and hypocrites 
 perished along with the institutions of private property. 
 By the removal of the cause the eiifects formerly pro- 
 duced by it also vanished, and many laws became 
 superfluous. The greatest care was devoted to the 
 rising generation, for it was here all the hopes for the 
 future centered. Since the old god had been aboHshed, 
 his servants also went out of sight, the churches w^re 
 deserted, or became lecture halls for the men of science. 
 The simple, equable doctrine of nature and its immut- 
 able, eternal laws performed wonders, for the older 
 people also were able to take part in the teachings, 
 their working hours occupying only a small part of 
 the day. Barely fifty years had elapsed, and the fruits 
 of the new order began to appear. The people became 
 stronger and healthier since the first care was devoted 
 to their physical needs. The degenerate products of the 
 old order were kept apart, and the state took loving 
 care of these unfortunate victims of a misdirected civ- 
 ilization, so that many who had despaired, recovered 
 their mental health in the environment of happiness. 
 There was an end of the care for one's daily bread. 
 
134 
 and each was intent upon elevating himself intellectu- 
 ally and morally. 
 
 "With the old disorder were buried all the numerous 
 evils to which the people had been subject, and the 
 human mind gained its full power in the body restored 
 to health and vigor. Since a proper balance was 
 established between mutual rights and duties, the sense 
 of justice was strongly developed and made severe 
 punishments unnecessary. Under such conditions a 
 new race grew up, which was destined to be a model 
 to other nations. 
 
 For the first time in ages the natural harmony be- 
 tween man and god was discovered^ and the sun 
 warmed a happy race of brothers, animated by com- 
 mon ideals, to whom fear of god was foreign. 
 
 For a long time those in power beyond the sea had 
 tried to stem the tide of the age, using every means to 
 destroy what had been gained. Even men of science 
 devoted their superior knowledge to the service of 
 slave culture. 
 
 What the monopolist had done in the new land the 
 princes of the old dominion did on a grand scale. To 
 grab lands and murder nations was their aim, hallowed 
 by divine approval. Thus did they seek to force salva- 
 tion and the spurious doctrine of the priests upon all 
 mankind. In this manner weaker races disappeared 
 before the onslaught of the higher civilization, human 
 sacrifices to the moloch of vilest greed. 
 
 The last high-priest of the fetish worshipers tried by 
 an hypocritical union of faith and science td sustain his 
 own power and the rule of kings, but the rotten, worm- 
 eaten element in vain opposed the powerful god of 
 
135 
 
 nature, who was making great headway among the 
 people. As the power and revenues of the priests and 
 kings depended upon the ignorance and credulity of the 
 half-men, they received their death warrant from the 
 unshackled mind. The parasites and maggots did 
 not thrive on the freshly fertilized soil, and vanished 
 from it. Then it was that the ideal state of the free 
 people found imitation there also, and for the first 
 time god's peace rested upon Mars. 
 
 Since the abolition of private ownership of public 
 utilities in the new land, the priest-made faith had 
 foundmuchdifificultyinmaintainingitselfevenin the old 
 dominion, since the principal sources of income were 
 shut ofif. The professional servants of god supported 
 themselves scantily by begging from place to place, 
 since they knew no useful art. 
 
 Even the high-priest was frequently obliged to sell 
 the sacred implements of the fetish temples in order 
 to keep up appearances. The profitable trade in bones 
 had ceased, and there was no sale for pardons and in- 
 dulgences. Neither did the blessings of the high- 
 priest produce any large amounts of money. Twice he 
 had pawned his threefold tiara in order to increase the 
 revenues and prevent the collapse. When it went to 
 the money-lender for the third time it was all over with 
 the old god. What science had left of him was torn 
 in shreds by the indignant people. And so there was 
 light here also. The dominion of spiritual tyranny 
 after a thousand years of power came to an end. The 
 magnificent church built with the proceeds of the 
 traffic in pardons, and the palace of the last high-priest, 
 passed into the possession of the people and were 
 given over to science and the god of nature, 
 
136 
 
 In the same halls whence the priesthood had been 
 wont to rule the destinies of nations, the noblest spirits 
 on Mars held their meetings, and taught the natural 
 history of creation. Wise men rummaged around in 
 the musty archives and what they ferreted out was 
 not calculated to edify the people. Documents were 
 discovered that exposed the conspiracy of long stand- 
 ing between the priests and unbelievers, for the sup- 
 pression of liberty and the preservation of private own- 
 ership of public utilities. Reports of emissaries, un- 
 masking the most hideous crimes against the people, 
 and laws which nullified all sacred precepts for a money 
 consideration, were found in amazing quantities. In a 
 secluded corner of the palace was discovered the un- 
 sulliedteachingsofthewise master, covered with spider 
 webs and eaten through by moths. This book as- 
 suredly was not the foundation on which the govern- 
 ment of the priests was built. Everything was found 
 among those who lived here except true religion. 
 
 Thousands of dignitaries had here sneered at deity 
 while eating up the savings of the nations. There 
 were devil's advocates, whose duty it was to drag out 
 suits for the beatification of persons, and to employ 
 the most contemptible tricks to smirch the character 
 of the candidates, in order to pile up large bills of 
 costs. Others there were whose business it was to 
 condemn books and write bulls of excommunication, 
 and even some whose sole occupation consisted in 
 falsifying documents to keep the faith in agreement 
 with science. Not a few were spies, who were charged 
 with smelling out secrets at the royal courts and in rich 
 
137 
 
 families, and all of them without exception lived by 
 the sins of others. 
 
 After arranging all the books, documents and imple- 
 ments, according to their age and importance, it was 
 unanimously resolved to make the magnificent church 
 a national museum and place the whining high-priest 
 in charge of it, which ofifice he gratefully accepted. 
 The devil's advocate was made custodian of the antiq- 
 uities and was directed to explain to visitors the sig- 
 nificance of the various objects. It was amusing to 
 listen to the cunning graybeard, when he told how 
 many suits he had managed to spin out indefinitely and 
 how much were the proceeds therefrom. He gen- 
 erally concluded his remarks with an expression of 
 regret that the last suit for the beatification of a high 
 dignitary in the new land was cut short by the procla- 
 mation of the people, which made it impossible to the 
 advocates of the candidate to send more money, with- 
 out which no one could be declared a saint. 
 
 The high-priest had become childish with age, and 
 could not be prevailed upon to part with an old pair of 
 slippers. They were readily left to him, when the devil's 
 advocate declared they were the same slippers that 
 had been kissed in fervent devotion by thousands of 
 the faithful. They reminded him of his bygone 
 power, and he had become much attached to them. 
 When he died, they, too, were placed in the museum. 
 Among his belongings was found a huge rusty key, 
 a shepherd's staff, and an old signet ring. The key did 
 not fit any lock in the capital city, but the shrewd 
 devil's advocate explained it was the key of heaven, 
 which had become rusty from disuse, since no one had 
 
io8 
 been admitted to heaven for a hundred years, hell hav- 
 ing been found more profitable. The shepherd's stafif 
 indicated the former occupation of the high-priest, who 
 once upon a time tended large flocks of sheep. At 
 this remark he winked one eye significantly. Alto- 
 gether he was a very talkative fellow, and what he did 
 not know did not amount to much. 
 
 "He put all the blame on the first high-priest and 
 said the system could maintain itself as long as it did 
 only by the aid of the ignorant people and their kings. 
 Himself and the highest dignitaries had for years been 
 zealous adherents of the god of nature and despised the 
 words of the master as degrading. And now science 
 compelled them all to do homage to those beautiful 
 teachings. The assembled scholars and scientists pro- 
 claimed the master to the people as the first and noblest 
 of god-men, and his doctrine as the only true one. The 
 sacred books and revelations of the priests were pro- 
 nounced to be falsified and placed in the various muse- 
 ums among the antiquities from the age of the half- 
 men, to which were also assigned all the other mongrel 
 achievements of this past age of culture. 
 
 "The most glorious day for new-born mankind 
 dawned on Mars when the implements of murder and 
 weapons of war of the old civilization were destroyed. 
 Since private ownership in public utilities and the old 
 god had fallen, they became superfluous. Bear in 
 mind that there were men in those days who took 
 pleasure in utilizing the achievements of science to kill 
 thousands of people in cold blood, and you will readily 
 understand how interesting these antiquities must be 
 
 to us. : , . 
 
139 
 
 "Among the antiquities are found real praying ma- 
 chines and straps with which people fancied they could 
 please the deity, side by side with corsets for lacing up 
 the body; little knives for paring the finger nails, and 
 others that served to mutilate manhood ; stuffed pillows 
 for flat-chested women, and wadding to upholster the 
 consumptive frames of men; golden vessels in which 
 paid priests humbugged the people to believe they 
 changed bread and wine into the body of god, beside 
 machines for slaughtering beasts and making sausages ; 
 wooden images that were considered to perform mir- 
 acles, and amulets to protect from death and the devil ; 
 cannons and knives with which men slaughtered one 
 another, and oil with which dying people were doused 
 to facilitate their passage to the life beyond ; frame gib- 
 bets on which men were legally murdered, and iron 
 cages in which criminals were kept; heavy steel chests 
 in which money and papers were protected from rust 
 and thieves, and rings that were worn in the ears. The 
 stocks and bonds from the boom time which preceded 
 our own age have the greatest fascination for our peo- 
 ple, for it was thought by means of them to have en- 
 slaved unborn generations. Then there are all the 
 nice judicial opinions and law books of the so-called 
 hair-splitters from the age of shysters. But it would 
 take me too long to enumerate all the ludicrous things. 
 The threefold tiara of the high-priest and the rusty 
 crown of the last king conclude the list of attractions 
 in the national museum. 
 
 "It defies description what unnaturalness the man of 
 that period, who looked with contempt upon his an- 
 cestors, had developed. He had become one-sided 
 
140 
 
 and was lost in specialties. Thus he thought to be 
 master of one art by forgetting all others. The one 
 knew nothing but how to make buttonholes, while 
 another boasted of his ability to turn justice into a lie. 
 Altogether there was a degree of confusion and ab- 
 surdity which is positively loathsome to us. The most 
 valuable art was to profit by over-reaching others. Its 
 object was attained if one became a millionaire. To 
 conceal one's thoughts and to lie with a straight face 
 was considered divine, and those who had mastered this 
 art were called diplomats. This degree of perfection 
 was attained only by the servants of the state and the 
 church, who were past masters in it, and were aped 
 with eagerness by all. 
 
 "The ancestors of these beings having preferred hu- 
 man flesh to all other food, and worn rings in the nose, 
 were held in due contempt by their descendants, who 
 ate only the flesh of unreasoning brutes, and wore 
 rings in the ears and on their fingers. 
 
 "This display of the achievements of this age spoke 
 more eloquently of the decline of those men than all 
 the philosophers living in their day had done. 
 
 "For the first time, it was possible to review the past, 
 which was spread out before the eye of man like a 
 boundless plain. The ruins of what had gone before 
 lay exposed to the purified mind, and the god-man 
 knew tliat the last form was but the link connecting 
 him with the past. He saw that in every period truth 
 had fought a mighty battle and was almost invariably 
 outdone by falsehood. Every shadow .that had ever 
 darkened the mind was cast by the creature of the 
 fancy which dominated the particular time and was 
 
141 
 
 considered as a material reality, to vanish as soon as 
 the image itself became untenable. The god of the 
 half-men, too, had grown up with them and ceased 
 to live when they died. 
 
 "The infinite in every period was estimated by finite 
 measures, and the ideas concerning its existence and 
 magnitude were conditioned by the duration and forms 
 of thought then prevailing. Both were but the tem- 
 porary products of mortal mind and gave way to the 
 conceptions of succeeding generations, until they cen- 
 tered and rested in the knowledge of truth. And yet 
 all was perfect in its own period and answered the re- 
 cjuirements of the time and of life itself. 
 
 "How could it be otherwise? When the spirit first 
 became flesh, the everlasting power disappeared in the 
 visible form and became its servant. The farther man 
 strayed from nature, the more evil he found, until at 
 last nothing but evil remained. Then he became the 
 miscreant, his god the avenger, himself the slave, and 
 god the master. From that point, along the path he 
 had entered, the most abominable contradictions were 
 developed into established science. And before he got 
 through, even the god he worshiped must wade in the 
 unfathomable mire of unreason. Then creation really 
 was a failure, and the father of the universe needed a 
 son to offer in atonement for his own bunghng work. 
 And yet he did not mend it. But man from that time 
 forward overrated his position and deemed himself 
 immortal. 
 
 "In that manner he lightened the self-imposed bttr- 
 den of slavery, fancying he would find in the life be- 
 yond the grave everything in plenty that he had lacked 
 
142 
 
 here below. In this occupation of rummaging through 
 nature in search of the supernatural, he became un- 
 natural himself. How he had degraded himself and the 
 eternal creator ! The normal mind shudders at the phan- 
 toms of the past and abhors the lie of the extramun- 
 dane god, since he knows that truth lies hidden only in 
 his own nature. 
 
 "The primitive fire worshipers probably never im- 
 agined that their successors would dahce themselves 
 into bestial delight at sight of a human sacrifice. And 
 yet this custom was practiced during the time of the 
 half-men on Mars to a ridiculous degree, for many ate 
 unleavened bread, imagining that it was the real body 
 of the son of god. Thus progress had not been at- 
 tained by crowding out nature's laws with a forced 
 culture. The climax of this retrogressive movement, 
 and at the same time its end, was reached when gold 
 was made god. The only possibility left after that 
 was to revert to nature as it was revealed by the light 
 of science, and this result was accomplished with the 
 aid of wise men. 
 
 "And yet it was but a step from the self-impregnation 
 of the worm to the origin of man; both were animated 
 by one thought: The preservation and propagation 
 of life. These impulses spring from their own natures, 
 and are justified only by their necessity. From the 
 sun worshipers to those who danced about the golden 
 calf, this is the air that permeates the universe. Upon 
 these impulses human society arose and the church 
 was built, and from them alone spring good and evil. 
 
 "They are the Alpha and Omega of our world and 
 lie in ourselves, and from them are all our rights and 
 
143 
 duties derived. If we are unfaithful to them, we harm 
 ourselves and injure others. Thus, from the time 
 when the spirit was made flesh down to the period 
 when gold was made god, we behold but a single life, 
 which reveled in its young days in the exuberant 
 strength of the sun worshipers, and in the slavish sub-' 
 serviency to gold passed into the childishness of old 
 age. This point marks the extreme of the degenera- 
 tion of man, and from the decay of this mass sprang 
 the new form. 
 
 ^ :{: * ^ * * * 
 
 "Since that time nature has rejuvenated the race of 
 men five times, and each creation surpasses the pre- 
 vious one, each figure has become greater and nobler. 
 Natural selection has borne fruit, and the god-man 
 sees with rejoicing that everything emanates from 
 himself and that he alone is the creator of his world. 
 He knows that the god of the half-men was but the 
 creature of their minds, and not the almighty architect 
 of the universe, as they believed. The higher knowl- 
 edge pronounced the death sentence of that god. 
 With him have fallen heaven and hell, angels and 
 devils, and all have been scattered like dust in the 
 liberated mind, where they had played at hide and 
 seek time out of mind. 
 
 "The old doctrine of faith has been replaced by that 
 of evolution, and what the minds of a few had known 
 for thousands of years and men of science had taught 
 despite the persecution of the priests, has become the 
 common property of all. In the lecture rooms of the 
 scientists reference to the six days' creation and the 
 
144 
 atonement of the son provokes smiles even from the 
 children. 
 
 "Formerly, creation was turned upside down, and 
 the result had been nothing but disaster. Now the 
 inner man acts upon external creation, and the har- 
 mony with nature thus obtained promotes all other 
 endeavors of a mind ever restless for advancement. 
 Whereas formerly the artificial structure of the whole 
 sought to force the individual being into accord with 
 it by destroying its naturalness, the free man now, 
 conversely, acts from within upon the generality of 
 beings, and thus in his own nature reaches the source 
 and climax of that morality for which his ancestors had 
 striven in vain. 
 
 "What made the change peculiarly difficult was the 
 degrading position of woman in the old civilization. 
 She had so completely stagnated in the slavery pre- 
 scribed by the science of divinity, that she was the last 
 to greet with joy the rising sun of liberty. As the 
 grain of wheat cannot grow without intimate contact 
 with the fructifying earth, so the slavery of woman 
 for thousands of years had prevented the birth and 
 growth of the god-man. When woman recognized the 
 new truth, then only was the work completed, and the 
 creative power of man could fall into ideal soil. 
 
 "The equal education of both sexes and their equal 
 rights before the law freed woman from the old yoke, 
 and only then was accomplished the development of 
 posterity to the full measure of perfection. The long 
 forgotten and forbidden law of maternal rights was 
 restored to its place, and upon its connection, on equal 
 
I4S 
 terms, with the paternal rights, the new order is 
 founded as on a firm support. 
 
 "The first and natural result of the equal position 
 of woman was to sound the knell of that ennervating 
 over-fetation, which in previous times had weakened 
 the body and stunted the mind. So it came to pass 
 that within the short span of a hundred years the 
 population decreased largely in number, while the 
 individual life became much stronger. What a per- 
 verted theology had sought in vain to accomplish by its 
 teachings for thousands of years was successfully at- 
 tained in an incredibly short time by natural selection. 
 
 "In the beings thus generated, the higher man saw 
 that a sound mind can thrive only in a sound body. So he 
 cared for the body. As excessive irrigation or drought 
 stunts plant and animal life, and even the cultivated tree 
 does not always bear equal fruit, so the new state had 
 taken care to separate bad excrescences from the good, 
 so that the latter might not be spoiled by the rotten- 
 ness of the former. Hence, the first aim was to place 
 the impulse of propagation in a proper relation to the 
 natural love of one being for another, by keeping the 
 two separate from each other. By this means children 
 of strength were bred, and the ills of earher hereditary 
 transmission turned into a blessing for the new human 
 race. 
 
 "The misery of the half-men had also given rise to 
 the feeling of pity. And yet both misery and pity were 
 only effects of the cruelty of the strong toward the 
 weak, and after the removal of the cause by the new 
 order, there was no longer any reason for either. At 
 present everyone complies wjth the natural 
 If) 
 
146 
 order of things, and never tries in vain to rescue the 
 individual Hfe from the all-powerful current as was 
 
 wont to be the case. 
 
 * si: * jK * * * 
 
 "The ideal state has passed into the flesh and blood 
 of the new race, and laws have become fewer in number 
 as false wants were discarded. The planet itself has 
 changed. The mighty icefields have expanded from the 
 poles toward the middle, and the climate is perceptibly 
 cooler. The number of inhabitants has dropped to 
 a hundred million, and all are living peacefully in the 
 middle country. Neither natural selection nor climatic 
 conditions admit over-fetation, and the race of god- 
 men is slowly nearing dissolution. But since their 
 number is less, the period of individual life has become 
 much extended, and the human mind is more vigorous 
 and clearer of perception. 
 
 "The age of iron has been followed by one of natural 
 reason and those whom you have before you were for- 
 tunate enough to see the light of day in this period. 
 As one mind dominates us all, so one language suffices 
 for communication, for thought lies bare and words 
 have become superfluous. For a long time agriculture 
 has been the common and principal occupation of the 
 inhabitants of Mars. The complicated machines that 
 the half-man constructed for the purpose of subjecting 
 the forces of nature have become useless, the mighty 
 edifices stand vacant, all the big cities are depopulated 
 and in ruins. Beautiful canals intersect the middle 
 zone, which is habftable, and the power of man has 
 made the planet a paradise. 
 
 "The nearer we came to the bosom of nature, the 
 
147 
 clearer and better was the structure of creation under- 
 stood by us. From the ant and the bee, the beaver 
 and the swallow, we learned much since we understand 
 the language of animals. Thus we live peaceably side 
 by side and admire the works of nature, how they arise 
 and decay to make room for new life. We worship 
 only knowledge, and allow no doubts to rise but what 
 we investigate their causes to the bottom. Each one 
 sees in each other man the creator equal to himself, 
 without detracting from his own dignity, since as god 
 and nature are a single unit from which all things 
 emanate, so also is the minutest part of creation ani- 
 mated fully by the spirit of the whole. Each thing is 
 perfect in itself and runs the course prescribed by na- 
 ture, until it is once more absorbed by the universal 
 mother. The vital force lies in ourselves and does not 
 die when the form falls apart, since both mind and 
 matter are immortal. We recognize our ancestors as 
 our immediate creators, and ourselves as those of our 
 children. The natural force which issues from the in- 
 fluence of the sun carries the power of conditioning 
 and modifying all life, just as the sun is bound to warm 
 whatever comes within his reach. Hence we are but 
 one of the numerous effects springing from the com- 
 mon cause and, therefore, subject to the same laws as 
 everything else. 
 
 "If there is a change in the whole, we also are 
 changed, for life, law and religion depend upon climate, 
 as our science very properly teaches. The preserva- 
 tion of life with us has become a very simple matter, 
 since natural selection prevails among us. Modera- 
 tion is our watchword in all things. We understand 
 
148 
 
 the body in all its entirety and maintain all parts in 
 balance. Disease is but the outgrowth of abnormal 
 conditions, which in turn are determined by heredity 
 and economic wants. Since we threw off the useless 
 burdens of the half-men, we are no longer amenable to 
 their laws. From equal religion, equal knowledge and 
 equal opportunities, only equal rights and duties can 
 issue, which each of us knows. 
 
 "In the temple of nature we have found the true 
 religion, and each individual is his own priest. As we 
 emanate from nature and cannot exist without it, so 
 we ultimately are dissolved in it. For we are at one 
 with it, and it is the bed in which we go to rest. Hence 
 we love it as our good mother, for it encompasses us, 
 and we cannot escape its embrace. Nor can the 
 creative power of the father of the worlds be con- 
 ceived without it. As one spirit animates all things 
 and dwells ever vitalizing in nature, so there is the 
 closest consanguinity of created effects, which we call 
 love. Herein we have solved all problems, have 
 moved mountains, traversed the sea of air, and meas- 
 ured distances. We signaled to you, but you under- 
 stood us not, because your minds still lie fettered in 
 the primitive god-idea. 
 
 "You still think you are the only intelligent beings, 
 and the whole expanse of nature outside of your tiny 
 Earth lies barren. Hearken, then, and wonder, worthy 
 man, for thousands of worlds harbored life ere this 
 little speck of the Earth took form in the everlasting 
 whirl of being. When your planet was still dancing 
 in the universe, a nebulous mass, there was on the 
 moon, which you deem so insignificant, a race of god- 
 
149 
 men, which perished as the first worm was born on 
 your Earth. Had it not been your turn, the moon 
 would continue to be habitable to this day. But your 
 Earth deprived her of the life-giving light of the sun, 
 when it began to share the breast of eternal nature, for 
 it was the stronger of the two. But this event helped 
 us to higher life, as it divided the excessive heat, and 
 the coolness was very grateful. But before long we 
 shall both perish, for a new form, a giant in stature, is 
 circling about our orbits, and the fate you guilelessly 
 brought on the moon we shall both suffer together. 
 
 "We inhabitants of Mars look forward to the event 
 with perfect equanimity, but you children of the Earth 
 will crawl into your holes in fear and terror, thinking 
 the phenomenon a punishment from your god. The 
 half-men were afraid even of the long-tailed stars that 
 frequently appeared within the range of their vision 
 and harmlessly went on their orbits. But do not fear, 
 the god of nature cannot leave his appointed paths any 
 more than you can, and the time is still far away. 
 
 "As the origin and preservation of the heavenly 
 bodies proceed according to eternal laws, so also is 
 their destruction conditioned in nature itself. One 
 to-day, another to-morrow, is the order. Life is not 
 a reward, nor is death a penalty, for both are necessary 
 and come upon us uncalled and unsought. But the 
 spirit is forever yearning to be reunited with its like, 
 and therein alone lies its perfection. 
 
 "While we remain among you it shall be our en- 
 deavor to plant the seed of the new life on this Earth. 
 We are glad that you are so close to nature. Learn, 
 therefore, to know it right well, and you will there find 
 
hidden the truth for which you are bHndly groping 
 to-day. For the laws of eternal justice consist in the 
 one paternal command of the creator, that man shall 
 pursue his own true and substantial happiness; thus 
 only will he live honestly, injure no one, and give to 
 each one his due. Then, down with your false books, 
 your unjust laws, the fences that cut up your land into 
 private patches, and there will be light here also! 
 
 "You ask how we came to visit your Earth. Simply 
 enough. We dreamed of a living link between our- 
 selves and the higher animals. It is you, though you 
 call yourselves men. Now our science is complete and 
 we may return home content. Above and about us 
 hovers the infinite deity of nature, and beneath us stands 
 the half-man already nibbling the fruit of the tree of 
 life. Teach your people: 'The kingdom of god lies 
 within yourselves,' and when they understand, then 
 will the eternal light break forth from the darkness, as 
 the rays of the sun from the bank of clouds. Look up- 
 ward to the stars, and your heart will beat responsive 
 to the god-men when you hear their call : 
 
 " 'Let there be Light!' "