WILSON
ANNEX
WILS
CLS
AISLE 39
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2725
.S8
1898
B
SUPERSTITION.
She wears a robe of pictured legends, broidered with woven lies.
A LECTURE
BY
ROBERT G. INGERSOLL.
NEW YORK.
C. P. FARRELL, PUBLISHER,
1898.
Twin Cities Campus

THE
REGENTS
UNIVERSITY OF
MINNESOTA
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1898,
BY ROBERT G. INGERSOLL,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C.
THE ECKI ER PRESS
35 FUI TON ST.
NEW YORK.
:
SUPERSTITION.
TWILS, CLS
5207457
I.
WHAT IS SUPERSTITION?
To believe in spite of evidence or without evidence.
To account for one mystery by another.
To believe that the world is governed by chance or
caprice.
To disregard the true relation between cause and
effect.
To put thought, intention and design back of
nature.
To believe that mind created and controls matter.
To believe in force apart from substance, or in sub-
stance apart from force.
To believe in miracles, spells and charms, in
dreams and prophecies.
To believe in the supernatural.
The foundation of superstition is ignorance, the
superstructure is faith and the dome is a vain hope.
SUPERSTITION.
Superstition is the child of ignorance and the mother
of misery.
In nearly every brain is found some cloud of
superstition
A woman drops a cloth with which she is washing
dishes, and she exclaims: "That means company.
Most people will admit that there is no possible
connection between dropping the cloth and the com-
ing of visitors. The falling cloth could not have
put the visit desire in the minds of people not
present, and how could the cloth produce the desire
to visit the particular person who dropped it? There
is no possible connection between the dropping of
the cloth and the anticipated effects.
A man catches a glimpse of the new moon over his
left shoulder, and he says: "This is bad luck."
To see the moon over the right or left shoulder, or
not to see it, could not by any possibility affect the
moon, neither could it change the effect or influence
of the moon on any earthly thing. Certainly the
left-shoulder glance could in no way affect the nature
of things. All the facts in nature would remain the
same as though the glance had been over the right
shoulder. We see no connection between the left-
shoulder glance and any possible evil effects upon the
one who saw the moon in this way.
SUPERSTITION.
5
R
A girl counts the leaves of a flower, and she says:
"One, he comes; two, he tarries; three, he courts;
four, he marries; five, he goes away."
Of course the flower did not grow, and the number
of its leaves was not determined with reference to the
courtship or marriage of this girl, neither could there
have been any intelligence that guided her hand
when she selected that particular flower. So, count-
ing the seeds in an apple cannot in any way deter-
mine whether the future of an individual is to be
happy or miserable.
Thousands of persons believe in lucky and unlucky
days, numbers, signs and jewels.
Many people regard Friday as an unlucky day-as
a bad day to commence a journey, to marry, to make
any investment. The only reason given is that
Friday is an unlucky day.
Starting across the sea on Friday could have no
possible effect upon the winds, or waves, or tides, any
more than starting on any other day, and the only
possible reason for thinking Friday unlucky is the
assertion that it is so.
So it is thought by many that it is dangerous for
thirteen people to dine together. Now, if thirteen is
a dangerous number, twenty-six ought to be twice as
dangerous, and fifty-two four times as terrible.
6
SUPERSTITION.
It is said that one of the thirteen will die in a year.
Now, there is no possible relation between the num-
ber and the digestion of each, between the number
and the individual diseases. If fourteen dine together
there is greater probability, if we take into account
only the number, of a death within the year, than
there would be if only thirteen were at the table.
Overturning the salt is very unlucky, but spilling
the vinegar makes no difference.
Why salt should be revengeful and vinegar for-
giving has never been told.
If the first person who enters a theatre is cross-
eyed, the audience will be small and the "run" a
failure.
How the peculiarity of the eyes of the first one
who enters, changes the intention of a community,
or how the intentions of a community cause the
cross-eyed man to go early, has never been satisfac-
torily explained. Between this so-called cause and
the so-called effect there is, so far as we can see, no
possible relation.
To wear an opal is bad luck, but rubies bring
health. How these stones affect the future, how
they destroy causes and defeat effects, no one pretends
to know.
So, there are thousands of lucky and unlucky
SUPERSTITION.
7
things, warnings, omens and prophecies, but all
sensible, sane and reasoning human beings know
that every one is an absurd and idiotic superstition.
Let us take another step:
For many centuries it was believed that eclipses of
the sun and moon were prophetic of pestilence or
famine, and that comets foretold the death of kings,
or the destruction of nations, the coming of war or
plague. All strange appearances in the heavens-
the Northern Lights, circles about the moon, sun
dogs, falling stars-filled our intelligent ancestors
with terror. They fell upon their knees-did their
best with sacrifice and prayer to avoid the threatened
disaster. Their faces were ashen with fear as they
closed their eyes and cried to the heavens for help.
The clergy, who were as familiar with God then as
the orthodox preachers are now, knew exactly the
meaning of eclipses and sun dogs and Northern
Lights; knew that God's patience was nearly ex-
hausted; that he was then whetting the sword of his
wrath, and that the people could save themselves
only by obeying the priests, by counting their beads
and doubling their subscriptions.
Earthquakes and cyclones filled the coffers of the
church. In the midst of disasters the miser, with
trembling hands, opened his purse. In the gloom of
8.
SUPERSTITION.
eclipses thieves and robbers divided their booty with
God, and poor, honest, ignorant girls, remembering
that they had forgotten to say a prayer, gave their
little earnings to soften the heart of God.
Now we know that all these signs and wonders in
the heavens have nothing to do with the fate of
kings, nations or individuals; that they had no more
reference to human beings than to colonies of ants,
hives of bees or the eggs of insects. We now know
that the signs and eclipses, the comets, and the falling
stars, would have been just the same if not a human
being had been upon the earth. We know now that
eclipses come at certain times and that their coming
can be exactly foretold.
A little while ago the belief was general that there
were certain healing virtues in inanimate things, in
the bones of holy men and women, in the rags that
had been torn from the foul clothing of still fouler
saints, in hairs from martyrs, in bits of wood and
rusty nails from the true cross, in the teeth and fin-
ger nails of pious men, and in a thousand other
sacred things.
The diseased were cured by kissing a box in
which was kept some bone, or rag, or bit of wood,
some holy hairs, provided the kiss was preceded or
followed by a gift—a something for the church.
SUPERSTITION.
9
In some mysterious way the virtue in the bone, or
rag, or piece of wood, crept or flowed from the box,
took possession of the sick who had the necessary
faith, and in the name of God drove out the devils
who were the real disease.
This belief in the efficacy of bones or rags and
holy hair was born of another belief-the belief that
all diseases were produced by evil spirits. The insane
were supposed to be possessed by devils. Epilepsy
and hysteria were produced by the imps of Satan.
In short, every human affliction was the work of the
malicious emissaries of the god of hell. This belief
was almost universal, and even in our time the sacred
bones are believed in by millions of people.
But to-day no intelligent man believes in the exist-
ence of devils-no intelligent man believes that evil
spirits cause disease-consequently, no intelligent
person believes that holy bones or rags, sacred hairs
or pieces of wood, can drive disease out, or in any way
bring back to the pallid cheek the rose of health.
Intelligent people now know that the bone of a saint
has in it no greater virtue than the bone of any ani-
mal. That a rag from a wandering beggar is just as
good as one from a saint, and that the hair of a horse
will cure disease just as quickly and surely as the
hair of a martyr. We now know that all the sacred
ΙΟ
SUPERSTITION.
!
relics are religious rubbish; that those who use them
are for the most part dishonest, and that those who
rely on them are almost idiotic.
This belief in amulets and charms, in ghosts and
devils, is superstition, pure and simple.
Our ancestors did not regard these relics as medi-
cine, having a curative power, but the idea was that
evil spirits stood in dread of holy things-that they
fled from the bone of a saint, that they feared a piece
of the true cross, and that when holy water was
sprinkled on a man they immediately left the prem-
ises. So, these devils hated and dreaded the sound
of holy bells, the light of sacred tapers, and, above
all, the ever-blessed cross.
In those days the priests were fishers for money,
and they used these relics for bait.
SUPERSTITION.
II
II.
Let us take another step:
This belief in the Devil and evil spirits laid the
foundation for another belief: Witchcraft.
It was believed that the devil had certain things to
give in exchange for a soul. The old man, bowed
and broken, could get back his youth-the rounded
form, the brown hair, the leaping heart of life's
morning-if he would sign and seal away his soul.
So, it was thought that the malicious could by charm
and spell obtain revenge, that the poor could be
enriched, and that the ambitious could rise to place
and power. All the good things of this life were at
the disposal of the Devil. For those who resisted the
temptations of the Evil One, rewards were waiting in
another world, but the Devil rewarded here in this
life. No one has imagination enough to paint the
agonies that were endured by reason of this belief in
witchcraft. Think of the families destroyed, of the
fathers and mothers cast in prison, tortured and
burned, of the firesides darkened, of the children
murdered, of the old, the poor and helpless that were
stretched on racks mangled and flayed!
Think of the days when superstition and fear were
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SUPERSTITION.
in every house, in every mind, when accusation was
conviction, when assertion of innocence was regarded
as a confession of guilt, and when Christendom was
insane!
Now we know that all of these horrors were the
result of superstition. Now we know that ignorance
was the mother of all the agonies endured. Now we
know that witches never lived, that human beings
never bargained with any devil, and that our pious
savage ancestors were mistaken.
Let us take another step:
Our fathers believed in miracles, in signs and
wonders, eclipses and comets, in the virtues of bones,
and in the powers attributed to evil spirits. All these
belonged to the miraculous. The world was supposed
to be full of magic; the spirits were sleight-of-hand
performers necromancers.
necromancers. There were no natural
causes behind events. A devil wished, and it hap-
pened. One who had sold his soul to Satan made a
few motions, uttered some strange words, and the
event was present. Natural causes were not believed
in. Delusion and illusion, the monstrous and mirac-
ulous, ruled the world. The foundation was gone-
reason had abdicated. Credulity gave tongues and
wings to lies, while the dumb and limping facts were
left behind—were disregarded and remained untold.
SUPERSTITION.
13
WHAT IS A MIRACLE?
An act performed by a master of nature without
reference to the facts in nature. This is the only
honest definition of a miracle.
If a man could make a perfect circle, the diameter
of which was exactly one-half the circumference, that
would be a miracle in geometry. If a man could
make twice four, nine, that would be a miracle in
mathematics. If a man could make a stone, falling
in the air, pass through a space of ten feet the first
second, twenty-five feet the second second, and five
feet the third second, that would be a miracle in
physics. If a man could put together hydrogen,
oxygen and nitrogen and produce pure gold, that
would be a miracle in chemistry. If a minister were
to prove his creed, that would be a theological miracle.
If Congress by law would make fifty cents worth of
silver worth a dollar, that would be a financial
miracle. To make a square triangle would be a most
wonderful miracle. To cause a mirror to reflect the
faces of persons who stand behind it, instead of those
who stand in front, would be a miracle. To make
echo answer a question would be a miracle. In other
words, to do anything contrary to or without regard
to the facts in nature is to perform a miracle.
14
SUPERSTITION.
!
Now we are convinced of what is called the "uni-
formity of nature." We believe that all things
act and are acted upon in accordance with their
nature; that under like conditions the results will
always be substantially the same; that like ever has
and ever will produce like. We now believe that
events have natural parents and that none die
childless.
Miracles are not simply impossible, but they are
unthinkable by any man capable of thinking.
Now, an intelligent man cannot believe that a
miracle ever was, or ever will be, performed.
Ignorance is the soil in which belief in miracles
grows.
SUPERSTITION.
15
III.
Let us take another step:
While our ancestors filled the darkness with evil
spirits, enemies of mankind, they also believed in the
existence of good spirits. These good spirits sus-
tained the same relation to God that the evil ones
did to the Devil. These good spirits protected the
faithful from the temptations and snares of the Evil
One. They took care of those who carried amulets
and charms, of those who repeated prayers and
counted beads, of those who fasted and performed
ceremonies. These good spirits would turn aside the
sword and arrow from the breast of the faithful.
They made poison harmless, they protected the credu-
lous, and in a thousand ways defended and rescued
the true believer. They drove doubts from the
minds of the pious, sowed the seeds of credulity and
faith, saved saints from the wiles of women, painted
the glories of heaven for those who fasted and prayed,
made it possible for the really good to dispense with
the pleasures of sense and to hate the Devil.
These angels watched over infants who had been
baptized, over persons who had made holy vows, over
priests and nuns and wandering beggars who believed.
16
SUPERSTITION.
These spirits were of various kinds: Some had
once been men or women, some had never lived in this
world, and some had been angels from the commence-
ment. Nobody pretended to know exactly what they
were, or exactly how they looked, or in what way
they went from place to place, or how they affected
or controlled the minds of men.
It was believed that the king of all these evil
spirits was the Devil, and that the king of all the
good spirits was God. It was also believed that God
was in fact the king of all, and that the Devil himself
was one of the children of this God. This God and
this Devil were at war, each trying to secure the souls
of men.
God offered the rewards of eternal joy and
threatened eternal pain. The Devil baited his traps
with present pleasure, with the gratification of the
senses, with the ecstacies of love, and laughed at the
joys of heaven and the pangs of hell. With malicious
hand he sowed the seeds of doubt-induced men to
investigate, to reason, to call for evidence, to rely
upon themselves; planted in their hearts the love of
liberty, assisted them to break their chains, to escape
from their prisons and besought them to think.
In this way he corrupted the children of men.
Our fathers believed that they could by prayer, by
sacrifice, by fasting, by performing certain cere-
SUPERSTITION.
17
monies, gain the assistance of this God and of these
good spirits. They were not quite logical. They
did not believe that the Devil was the author of all
evil. They thought that flood and famine, plague
and cyclone, earthquake and war, were sometimes
sent by God as punishment for unbelief. They fell
upon their knees and with white lips, prayed the good
God to stay his hand. They humbled themselves,
confessed their sins, and filled the heavens with their
vows and cries. With priests and prayers they tried
to stay the plague. They kissed the relics, fell at
shrines, besought the Virgin and the saints, but the
prayers all died in the heartless air, and the plague
swept on to its natural end. Our poor fathers knew
nothing of any science. Back of all events they
put spirits, good or bad, angels or demons, gods or
devils. To them nothing had what we call a natural
cause. Everything was the work of spirits. All
was done by the supernatural, and everything was
done by evil spirits that they could do to ruin, punish,
mislead and damn the children of men. This world
was a field of battle, and here the hosts of heaven
and hell waged war.
SUPERSTITION.
19
IV.
Now, no man in whose brain the torch of reason
burns, no man who investigates, who really thinks,
who is capable of weighing evidence, believes in
signs, in lucky or unlucky days, in lucky or unlucky
numbers. He knows that Fridays and Thursdays
are alike; that thirteen is no more deadly than
twelve. He knows that opals affect the wearer the
same as rubies, diamonds or common glass. He
knows that the matrimonial chances of a maiden are
not increased or decreased by the number of leaves
of a flower or seeds in an apple. He knows that a
glance at the moon over the left shoulder is as
healthful and lucky as one over the right. He does
not care whether the first comer to a theatre is cross-
eyed or hump-backed, bow-legged, or as well-propor-
tioned as Apollo. He knows that a strange cat could
be denied asylum without bringing any misfortune
to the family. He knows that an owl does not hoot
in the full of the moon because a distinguished man
is about to die. He knows that comets and eclipses
would come if all the folks were dead. He is not
frightened by sun dogs, or the Morning of the North
when the glittering lances pierce the shield of night.
20
SUPERSTITION.
He knows that all these things occur without the
slightest reference to the human race. He feels cer-
tain that floods would destroy and cyclones rend and
earthquakes devour; that the stars would shine; that
day and night would still pursue each other around
the world; that flowers would give their perfume to
the air, and light would paint the seven-hued arch
upon the dusky bosom of the cloud if every human
being was unconscious dust.
A man of thought and sense does not believe in
the existence of the Devil. He feels certain that
imps, goblins, demons and evil spirits exist only in
the imagination of the ignorant and frightened. He
knows how these malevolent myths were made. He
knows the part they have played in all religions.
He knows that for many centuries a belief in these
devils, these evil spirits, was substantially universal.
He knows that the priest believed as firmly as the
peasant. In those days the best educated and the
most ignorant were equal dupes. Kings and courtiers,
ladies and clowns, soldiers and artists, slaves and
convicts, believed as firmly in the Devil as they did
in God.
Back of this belief there is no evidence, and there
never has been. This belief did not rest on any fact.
It was supported by mistakes, exaggerations and
SUPERSTITION.
21
lies. The mistakes were natural, the exaggerations
were mostly unconscious and the lies were generally
honest. Back of these mistakes, these exaggera-
tions, these lies, was the love of the marvelous.
Wonder listened with greedy ears, with wide eyes,
and ignorance with open mouth.
The man of sense knows the history of this belief,
and he knows, also, that for many centuries its truth
was established by the Holy Bible. He knows that
the Old Testament is filled with allusions to the
Devil, to evil spirits, and that the New Testament is
the same. He knows that Christ himself was a be-
liever in the Devil, in evil spirits, and that his princi-
pal business was casting out devils from the bodies
of men and women. He knows that Christ himself,
according to the New Testament, was not only
tempted by the Devil, but was carried by his Satanic
Highness to the top of the temple. If the New
Testament is the inspired word of God, then I admit
that these devils, these imps, do actually exist and
that they do take possession of human beings.
To deny the existence of these evil spirits, to deny
the existence of the Devil, is to deny the truth of the
New Testament. To deny the existence of these
imps of darkness is to contradict the words of Jesus
Christ. If these devils do not exist, if they do not
22
SUPERSTITION.
cause disease, if they do not tempt and mislead their
victims, then Christ was an ignorant, superstitious
man, insane, an impostor, or the New Testament is
not a true record of what he said and what he pre-
tended to do. If we give up the belief in devils, we
must give up the inspiration of the Old and New
Testament. We must give up the divinity of Christ.
To deny the existence of evil spirits is to utterly de-
stroy the foundation of Christianity. There is no
half-way ground. Compromise is impossible. If all
the accounts in the New Testament of casting out
devils are false, what part of the Blessed Book is
true?
As a matter of fact, the success of the Devil in the
Garden of Eden made the coming of Christ a neces-
sity, laid the foundation for the Atonement, crucified
the Saviour and gave us the Trinity.
If the Devil does not exist, the Christian creeds
all crumble, and the superstructure known as
"Christianity," built by the fathers, by popes, by
priests and theologians-built with mistakes and
falsehoods, with miracles and wonders, with blood
and flame, with lies and legends borrowed from the
savage world, becomes a shapeless ruin.
If we give up the belief in devils and evil spirits,
we are compelled to say that a witch never lived. No
SUPERSTITION.
23
sensible human being now believes in witchcraft.
We know that it was a delusion. We now know that
thousands and thousands of innocent men, women
and children were tortured and burned for having
been found guilty of an impossible crime, and we
also know, if our minds have not been deformed by
faith, that all the books in which the existence of
witches is taught were written by ignorant and super-
stitious men. We also know that the Old Testament
asserted the existence of witches. According to that
Holy Book, Jehovah was a believer in witchcraft, and
said to his chosen people: "Thou shalt not suffer a
witch to live."
This one commandment-this simple line-demon-
strates that Jehovah was not only not God, but that
he was a poor, ignorant, superstitious savage. This
one line proves beyond all possible doubt that the
Old Testament was written by men, by barbarians.
John Wesley was right when he said that to give
up a belief in witchcraft was to give up the Bible.
Give up the Devil, and what can you do with the
Book of Job? How will you account for the lying
spirits that Jehovah sent to mislead Ahab?
Ministers who admit that witchcraft is a supersti-
tion will read the story of the Witch of Endor-will
read it in a solemn, reverential voice-with a theo
24
SUPERSTITION.
logical voice and will have the impudence to say
that they believe it.
It would be delightful to know that angels hover
in the air; that they guard the innocent, protect the
good; that they bend over the cradles and give
health and happy dreams to pallid babes; that they
fill dungeons with the light of their presence and
give hope to the imprisoned; that they follow the
fallen, the erring, the outcasts, the friendless, and
win them back to virtue, love and joy. But we have
no more evidence of the existence of good spirits than
of bad. The angels that visited Abraham and the
mother of Samson are as unreal as the ghosts and
goblins of the Middle Ages. The angel that stopped
the donkey of Balaam, the one who walked in the
furnace flames with Meshech, Shadrack and Abed-
nego, the one who slew the Assyrians and the one
who in a dream removed the suspicions of Joseph,
were all created by the imagination of the credulous,
by the lovers of the marvelous, and they have been
handed down from dotage to infancy, from ignorance to
ignorance, through all the years. Except in Catholic
countries, no winged citizen of the celestial realm has
visited the world for hundreds of years. Only those
who are blind to facts can see these beautiful creat-
ures, and only those who reach conclusions without the
SUPERSTITION.
25
assistance of evidence can believe in their existence.
It is told that the great Angelo, in decorating a
church, painted some angels wearing sandals. A
cardinal looking at the picture said to the artist:
"Whoever saw angels with sandals?" Angelo an-
swered with another question: "Whoever saw an
angel barefooted?"
The existence of angels has never been estab-
lished. Of course, we know that millions and mill-
ions have believed in seraphim and cherubim; have
believed that the angel Gabriel contended with the
devil for the body of Moses; that angels shut the
mouths of the lions for the protection of Daniel; that
angels ministered unto Christ, and that countless
angels will accompany the Saviour when he comes
to take possession of the world. And we know that
all these millions believe through blind, unreasoning
faith, holding all evidence and all facts in theological
contempt.
But the angels come no more. They bring no
balm to any wounded heart. Long ago they folded
their pinions and faded from the earth and air.
These winged guardians no longer protect the inno-
cent; no longer cheer the suffering; no longer
whisper words of comfort to the helpless. They
have become dreams-vanished visions.
SUPERSTITIÓN.
27
V.
In the dear old religious days the earth was flat-—
a little dishing, if anything-and just above it was
Jehovah's house, and just below it was where the
Devil lived. God and his angels inhabited the third
story, the Devil and his imps the basement, and the
human race the second floor.
Then they knew where heaven was. They could
almost hear the harps and halleluiahs. They knew
where hell was, and they could almost hear the groans
and smell the sulphurous fumes. They regarded the
volcanoes as chimneys. They were perfectly acquaint-
ed with the celestial, the terrestrial and the infernal.
They were quite familiar with the New Jerusalem,
with its golden streets and gates of pearl. Then the
translation of Enoch seemed reasonable enough, and
no one doubted that before the Flood the sons of God
came down and made love to the daughters of men.
The theologians thought that the builders of Babel
would have succeeded if God had not come down and
caused them to forget the meaning of words.
In those blessed days the priests knew all about
heaven and hell. They knew that God governed the
world by hope and fear, by promise and threat, by
28
SUPERSTITION.
reward and punishment. The reward was to be
eternal and so was the punishment. It was not
God's plan to develop the human brain, so that man
would perceive and comprehend the right and avoid
the wrong.
He taught ignorance nothing but
obedience, and for obedience he offered eternal joy.
He loved the submissive-the kneelers and crawlers.
He hated the doubters, the investigators, the thinkers,
the philosophers. For them he created the eternal
prison where he could feed forever the hunger of his
hate. He loved the credulous-those who believed
without evidence-and for them he prepared a home
in the realm of fadeless light. He delighted in the
company of the questionless.
But where is this heaven, and where is this hell?
We now know that heaven is not just above the
clouds and that hell is not just below the earth. The
telescope has done away with the ancient heaven, and
the revolving world has quenched the flames of the
ancient hell. These theological countries, these
imagined worlds, have disappeared. No one knows,
and no one pretends to know, where heaven is; and
no one knows, and no one pretends to know, the
locality of hell. Now the theologians say that hell
and heaven are not places, but states of mind-con-
ditions.
SUPERSTITION.
29
•
The belief in gods and devils has been substan-
tially universal. Back of the good, man placed a
god; back of the evil, a devil; back of health, sun-
shine and harvest was a good deity; back of disease,
misfortune and death he placed a malicious fiend.
Is there any evidence that gods and devils exist?
The evidence of the existence of a god and of a devil
is substantially the same. Both of these deities are
inferences; each one is a perhaps. They have not
been seen-they are invisible—and they have not
ventured within the horizon of the senses. The old
lady who said there must be a devil, else how could
they make pictures that looked exactly like him,
reasoned like a trained theologian-like a doctor of
divinity.
Now, no intelligent man believes in the existence
of a devil-no longer fears the leering fiend. Most
people who think have given up a personal God, a
creative deity. They now talk about the "Un-
known," the "Infinite Energy," but they put Jeho-
vah with Jupiter. They regard them both as broken
dolls from the cursery of the past.
The men or women who ask for evidence—who
desire to know the truth-care nothing for signs;
nothing for what are called wonders; nothing for
lucky or unlucky jewels, days or numbers; nothing
30
SUPERSTITION.
for charms or amulets; nothing for comets or eclipses,
and have no belief in good or evil spirits, in gods or
devils. They place no reliance on general or special
providence—on any power that rescues, protects and
saves the good or punishes the vile and vicious.
They do not believe that in the whole history of
mankind a prayer has been answered. They think
that all the sacrifices have been wasted, and that all
the incense has ascended in vain. They do not be-
lieve that the world was created and prepared for
man any more than it was created and prepared for
insects. They do not think it probable that whales
were invented to supply the Eskimo with blubber, or
that flames were created to attract and destroy moths.
On every
hand there seems to be evidence of design-
design for the accomplishment of good, design for
the accomplishment of evil. On every side are the
benevolent and malicious-something toiling to pre-
serve, something laboring to destroy. Everything
surrounded by friends and enemies-by the love that
protects, by the hate that kills. Design is as apparent
in decay, as growth; in failure, as success; in grief,
as joy. Nature with one hand building, with one
hand tearing down, armed with sword and shield-
slaying and protecting, and protecting but to slay.
All life journeying towards death, and all death
SUPERSTITION.
31
hastening back to life. Everywhere waste and
economy, care and negligence.
We watch the flow and ebb of life and death-the
great drama that forever holds the stage, where players
act their parts and disappear; the great drama in
which all must act-ignorant and learned, idiotic and
insane-without rehearsal and without the slightest
knowledge of a part, or of any plot or purpose in the
play. The scene shifts; some actors disappear and
others come, and again the scene shifts; mystery
everywhere. We try to explain, and the explanation
of one fact contradicts another. Behind each veil
removed, another. All things equal in wonder. One
drop of water as wonderful as all the seas; one grain
of sand as all the world; one moth with painted
wings as all the things that live; one egg from which
warmth, in darkness, woos to life an organized and
breathing form-a form with sinews, bones and
nerves, with blood and brain, with instincts, passions,
thoughts and wants-as all the stars that wheel in
space.
The smallest seed that, wrapped in soil, has dreams
of April rains and days of June, withholds its secret
from the wisest men. The wisdom of the world
cannot explain one blade of grass, the faintest motion
of the smallest leaf. And yet theologians, popes,
32
SUPERSTITION.
priests, parsons, who speechless stand before the
wonder of the smallest thing that is, know all about
the origin of worlds, know when the beginning was,
when the end will be, know all about the God who
with a wish created all, know what his plan and
purpose was, the means he uses and the end he seeks.
To them all mysteries have been revealed, except the
mystery of things that touch the senses of a living
man.
But honest men do not pretend to know; they are
candid and sincere; they love the truth; they admit
their ignorance, and they say, "We do not know."
After all, why should we worship our ignorance,
why should we kneel to the Unknown, why should
we prostrate ourselves before a guess?
If God exists, how do we know that he is good,
that he cares for us? The Christians say that their
God has existed from eternity; that he forever has
been, and forever will be, infinite, wise and good.
Could this God have avoided being God? Could he
have avoided being good? Was he wise and good
without his wish or will?
Being from eternity, he was not produced. He
was back of all cause. What he is, he was, and will
be, unchanged, unchangeable. He had nothing to
do with the making or developing of his character.
SUPERSTITION.
33
Nothing to do with the development of his mind.
What he was, he is. He has made no progress.
What he is, he will be, there can be no change.
Why then, I ask, should we praise him? He could
not have been different from what he was and is.
Why should we pray to him, he cannot change?
And yet Christians implore their God not to do
wrong.
The meanest thing charged against the Devil is
that he leads the children of men into temptation,
and yet, in the Lord's Prayer, God is insultingly
asked not to imitate the king of fiends.
"Lead us not into temptation."
Why should God demand praise? He is as he
was. He has never learned anything; has never
practiced any self-denial; was never tempted, never
touched by fear or hope, and never had a want.
Why should he demand our praise?
Does anyone know that this God exists; that he
ever heard or answered any prayer? Is it known
that he governs the world; that he interferes in the
affairs of men; that he protects the good or punishes
the wicked? Can evidence of this be found in the
history of mankind? If God governs the world,
why should we credit him for the good and not
charge him with the evil? To justify this God we
34
SUPERSTITION.
must say that good is good and that evil is also good.
If all is done by this God we should make no dis-
tinction between his actions-between the actions of
the infinitely wise, powerful and good. If we thank
him for sunshine and harvest we should also thank
him for plague and famine. If we thank him for
liberty, the slave should raise his chained hands in
worship and thank God that he toils unpaid with the
lash upon his naked back. If we thank him for
victory we should thank him for defeat.
Only a few days ago our President, by proclama-
tion, thanked God for giving us the victory at
Santiago. He did not thank him for sending the
yellow fever. To be consistent the President should
have thanked him equally for both.
The truth is that good and evil spirits-gods and
devils-are beyond the realm of experience; beyond
the horizon of our senses; beyond the limits of our
thoughts; beyond imagination's utmost flight.
Man should think; he should use all his
senses; he should examine; he should reason. The
man who cannot think is less than man; the man
who will not think is traitor to himself; the man
who fears to think is superstition's slave.
SUPERSTITION.
35
VI.
What harm does superstition do? What harm in
believing in fables, in legends?
To believe in signs and wonders, in amulets,
charms and miracles, in gods and devils, in heavens
and hells, makes the brain an insane ward, the world
a madhouse, takes all certainty from the mind, makes
experience a snare, destroys the kinship of effect
and cause-the unity of nature-and makes man
a trembling serf and slave. With this belief a knowl-
edge of nature sheds no light upon the path to be
pursued. Nature becomes a puppet of the unseen
powers. The fairy, called the supernatural, touches
with her wand a fact, it disappears. Causes are
barren of effects, and effects are independent of all
natural causes. Caprice is king. The foundation is
gone. The great dome rests on air. There is no
constancy, in qualities, relations or results.
abdicates and superstition wears her crown.
The heart hardens and the brain softens.
Reason
The energies of man are wasted in a vain effort to
secure the protection of the supernatural. Credulity,
ceremony, worship, sacrifice and prayer take the place
of honest work, of investigation, of intellectual effort,
36
SUPERSTITION.
of observation, of experience. Progress becomes im-
possible.
Superstition is, always has been, and forever will
be, the enemy of liberty.
Superstition created all the gods and angels, all
the devils and ghosts, all the witches, demons and
goblins, gave us all the augurs, soothsayers and
prophets, filled the heavens with signs and wonders,
broke the chain of cause and effect, and wrote the
history of man in miracles and lies. Superstition
made all the popes, cardinals, bishops and priests, all
the monks and nuns, the begging friars and the
filthy saints, all the preachers and exhorters, all the
"called" and "set apart." Superstition made men
fall upon their knees before beasts and stones, caused
them to worship snakes and trees and insane phan-
toms of the air, beguiled them of their gold and toil,
and made them shed their children's blood and give
their babes to flames. Superstition built the cathe-
drals and temples, all the altars, mosques and
churches, filled the world with amulets and charms,
with images and idols, with sacred bones and holy
hairs, with martyrs' blood and rags, with bits of
wood that frighten devils from the breasts of men.
Superstition invented and used the instruments of tor-
ture, flayed men and women alive, loaded millions with
SUPERSTITION.
37
chains and destroyed hundreds of thousands with fire.
Superstition mistook insanity for inspiration and the
ravings of maniacs for prophesy, for the wisdom of
God. Superstition imprisoned the virtuous, tortured
the thoughtful, killed the heroic, put chains on the
body, manacles on the brain, and utterly destroyed
the liberty of speech. Superstition gave us all the
prayers and ceremonies; taught all the kneelings,
genuflections and prostrations; taught men to hate
themselves, to despise pleasure, to scar their flesh,
to grovel in the dust, to desert their wives and chil-
dren, to shun their fellow men, and to spend their
lives in useless pain and prayer. Superstition taught
that human love is degrading, low and vile; taught
that monks are purer than fathers, that nuns are
holier than mothers, that faith is superior to fact,
that credulity leads to heaven, that doubt is the road
to hell, that belief is better than knowledge, and that
to ask for evidence is to insult God. Superstition is,
always has been, and forever will be, the foe of prog-
ress, the enemy of education and the assassin of
freedom. It sacrifices the known to the unknown,
the present to the future, this actual world to the
shadowy next. It has given us a selfish heaven, and
a hell of infinite revenge; it has filled the world with
hatred, war and crime, with the malice of meekness
38
SUPERSTITION.
and the arrogance of humility. Superstition is the
only enemy of science in all the world.
men.
Nations, races, have been destroyed by this monster.
For nearly two thousand years the infallible agent of
God has lived in Italy. That country has been
covered with nunneries, monasteries, cathedrals and
temples-filled with all varieties of priests and holy
For centuries Italy was enriched with the gold
of the faithful. All roads led to Rome, and these
roads were filled with pilgrims bearing gifts, and yet
Italy, in spite of all the prayers, steadily pursued the
downward path, died and was buried, and would at
this moment be in her grave had it not been for
Cavour, Mazzini and Garibaldi. For her poverty,
her misery, she is indebted to the holy Catholic
Church, to the infallible agents of God. For the life
she has she is indebted to the enemies of superstition.
A few years ago Italy was great enough to build a
monument to Giordana Bruno-Bruno, the victim of
the "Triumphant Beast;"-Bruno, the sublimest of
her sons.
Spain was at one time owner of half the earth, and
held within her greedy hands the gold and silver of
the world. At that time all nations were in the
darkness of superstition. At that time the world
was governed by priests. Spain clung to her.
SUPERSTITION.
39
?
creed. Some nations began to think, but Spain
continued to believe. In some countries, priests
lost power, but not in Spain. The power behind
her throne was the cowled monk. In some coun-
tries men began to interest themselves in science,
but not in Spain. Spain told her beads and con-
tinued to pray to the Virgin. Spain was busy
saving her soul. In her zeal she destroyed
herself. She relied on the supernatural; not on
knowledge, but superstition. Her prayers were
never answered. The saints were dead. They
could not help, and the Blessed Virgin did not hear.
Some countries were in the dawn of a new day, but
Spain gladly remained in the night. With fire and
sword she exterminated the men who thought. Her
greatest festival was the Auto da Fe.
grew great while Spain grew small.
her power waned, but her faith increased. One by
one her colonies were lost, but she kept her creed.
She gave her gold to superstition, her brain to
priests, but she faithfully counted her beads. Only
a few days ago, relying on her God and his priests,
on charms and amulets, on holy water and pieces of
the true cross, she waged war against the great Re-
public. Bishops blessed her armies and sprinkled
holy water on her ships, and yet her armies were de-
Other nations
Day by day
40
SUPERSTITION.
feated and captured, her ships battered, beached and
burned, and in her helplessness she sued for peace.
But she has her creed; her superstition is not lost.
Poor Spain, wrecked by faith, the victim of religion !
Portugal, slowly dying, growing poorer every day,
still clings to the faith. Her prayers are never an-
swered, but she makes them still. Austria is nearly
gone, a victim of superstition. Germany is travel-
ing towards the night. God placed her Kaiser on
the throne. The people must obey. Philosophers
and scientists fall upon their knees and become the
puppets of the divinely crowned.
SUPERSTITION.
41
VII.
The believers in the supernatural, in a power su-
perior to nature, in God, have what they call "inspired
books." These books contain the absolute truth.
They must be believed. He who denies them will
be punished with eternal pain. These books are not
addressed to human reason. They are above reason.
They care nothing for what a man calls "facts." Facts
that do not agree with these books are mistakes.
These books are independent of human experience,
of human reason.
Our inspired books constitute what we call the
"Bible." The man who reads this inspired book, look-
ing for contradictions, mistakes and interpolations,
imperils the salvation of his soul. While he reads
he has no right to think, no right to reason. To
believe is his only duty.
Millions of men have wasted their lives in the
study of this book-in trying to harmonize contra-
dictions and to explain the obscure and seemingly
absurd. In doing this they have justified nearly
every crime and every cruelty. In its follies they have
found the profoundest wisdom. Hundreds of creeds
have been constructed from its inspired passages.
42
SUPERSTITION.
Probably no two of its readers have agreed as to its
meaning. Thousands have studied Hebrew and Greek
that they might read the Old and New Testament in
the languages in which they were written. The more
they studied, the more they differed. By the same
book they proved that nearly everybody is to be lost,
and that all are to be saved; that slavery is a divine
institution, and that all men should be free; that
polygamy is right, and that no man should have more
than one wife; that the powers that be are ordained
of God, and that the people have a right to overturn
and destroy the powers that be; that all the actions
of men were predestined-preordained from eternity,
and yet that man is free; that all the heathen will be
lost; that all the heathen will be saved; that all men
who live according to the light of nature will be
damned for their pains; that you must be baptized
by sprinkling; that you must be baptized by immer-
sion; that there is no salvation without baptism;
that baptism is useless; that you must believe in the
Trinity; that it is sufficient to believe in God; that
you must believe that a Hebrew peasant was God;
that at the same time he was half man, that he was
of the blood of David through his supposed father
Joseph, who was not his father, and that it is not
necessary to believe that Christ was God; that you
SUPERSTITION.
43
must believe that the Holy Ghost proceeded; that
it makes no difference whether you do or not; that
you must keep the Sabbath holy; that Christ
taught nothing of the kind; that Christ established
a church; that he established no church; that the
dead are to be raised; that there is to be no resurrec-
tion; that Christ is coming again; that he has made
his last visit; that Christ went to hell and preached
to the spirits in prison; that he did nothing of the
kind; that all the Jews are going to perdition; that
they are all going to heaven; that all the miracles
described in the Bible were performed; that some of
them were not, because they are foolish, childish and
idiotic; that all the Bible is inspired; that some of
the books are not inspired; that there is to be a gen-
eral judgment, when the sheep and goats are to be
divided; that there never will be any general judg-
ment; that the sacramental bread and wine are
changed into the flesh and blood of God and the
Trinity; that they are not changed; that God has
no flesh or blood; that there is a place called “pur-
gatory;" that there is no such place; that unbaptized
infants will be lost; that they will be saved; that we
must believe the Apostles' Creed; that the apostles
made no creed; that the Holy Ghost was the father
of Christ; that Joseph was his father; that the Holy
44
SUPERSTITION.
Ghost had the form of a dove; that there is no Holy
Ghost; that heretics should be killed; that you must
not resist evil; that you should murder unbelievers;
that you must love your enemies; that you should
take no thought for the morrow, but should be dili-
gent in business; that you should lend to all who
ask, and that one who does not provide for his own
household is worse than an infidel.
In defense of all these creeds, all these contra-
dictions, thousands of volumes have been written,
millions of sermons have been preached, countless
swords reddened with blood, and thousands and
thousands of nights made lurid with the faggot's
flames.
Hundreds and hundreds of commentators have
obscured and darkened the meaning of the plainest
texts, spiritualized dates, names, numbers and even
genealogies. They have degraded the poetic, changed
parables to history, and imagery to stupid and im-
possible facts. They have wrestled with rhapsody
and prophecy, with visions and dreams, with illu-
sions and delusions, with myths and miracles, with
the blunders of ignorance, the ravings of insanity
and the ecstacy of hysterics. Millions of priests and
preachers have added to the mysteries of the inspired
book by explanation, by showing the wisdom of
SUPERSTITION.
45
foolishness, the foolishness of wisdom, the mercy of
cruelty and the probability of the impossible.
The theologians made the Bible a master and the
people its slaves.
With this book they destroyed
intellectual veracity, the natural manliness of man.
With this book they banished pity from the heart,
subverted all ideas of justice and fairness, imprisoned
the soul in the dungeon of fear and made honest
doubt a crime.
Think of what the world has suffered from fear.
Think of the millions who were driven to insanity.
Think of the fearful nights-nights filled with phan-
toms, with flying, crawling monsters, with hissing
serpents that slowly uncoiled, with vague and form-
less horrors, with burning and malicious eyes.
Think of the fear of death, of infinite wrath, of
everlasting. revenge in the prisons of fire, of an
eternity, of thirst, of endless regret, of the sobs and
sighs, the shrieks and groans of eternal pain!
Think of the hearts hardened, of the hearts.
broken, of the cruelties inflicted, of the agonies
endured, of the lives darkened.
The inspired Bible has been and is the greatest
curse of Christendom, and will so remain as long as
it is held to be inspired.
SUPERSTITION.
47
VIII.
Our God was made by men, sculptured by sav-
ages who did the best they could. They made our
God somewhat like themselves, and gave to him
their passions, their ideas of right and wrong.
As man advanced he slowly changed his God-
took a little ferocity from his heart, and put the light
of kindness in his eyes. As man progressed he ob-
tained a wider view, extended the intellectual horizon,
and again he changed his God, making him as
nearly perfect as he could, and yet this God was pat-
terned after those who made him. As man became
civilized, as he became merciful, he began to love
justice, and as his mind expanded his ideal became
purer, nobler, and so his God became more merciful,
more loving.
In our day Jehovah has been outgrown. He is no
longer the perfect. Now theologians talk, not about
Jehovah, but about a God of love, call him the
Eternal Father and the perpetual friend and provi-
dence of man. But, while they talk about this God
of love, cyclones wreck and rend, the earthquake de-
vours, the flood destroys, the red bolt leaping from
the cloud still crashes the life out of men, and plague
48
SUPERSTITION.
and fever still are tireless reapers in the harvest
fields of death.
They tell us now that all is good; that evil is
but blessing in disguise, that pain makes strong and
virtuous men-makes character-while pleasure en-
feebles and degrades. If this be so, the souls in hell
should grow to greatness, while those in heaven
should shrink and shrivel.
We
But we know that good is good. We know that
good is not evil, and that evil is not good. We know
that light is not darkness, and that darkness is not
light. But we do not feel that good and evil were
planned and caused by a supernatural God.
regard them both as necessities. We neither thank
nor curse. We know that some evil can be avoided
and that the good can be increased. We know that
this can be done by increasing knowledge, by devel-
oping the brain.
As Christians have changed their God, so they
have accordingly changed their Bible. The impossi-
ble and absurd, the cruel and the infamous, have
been mostly thrown aside, and thousands are now
engaged in trying to save the inspired word. Of
course, the orthodox still cling to every word, and
still insist that every line is true. They are literal-
ists. To them the Bible means exactly what it says.
SUPERSTITION.
49
They want no explanation. They care nothing for
commentators. Contradictions cannot disturb their
faith.
They deny that any contradictions exist.
They loyally stand by the sacred text, and they give
it the narrowest possible interpretation. They are
like the janitor of an apartment house who refused
to rent a flat to a gentleman because he said he had
children. "But," said the gentleman, "my children
are both married and live in Iowa." "That makes no
difference," said the janitor, "I am not allowed to rent
a flat to any man who has children."
All the orthodox churches are obstructions on the
highway of progress. Every orthodox creed is a chain,
a dungeon. Every believer in the "inspired book "
is a slave who drives reason from her throne, and in
her stead crowns fear.
Reason is the light, the sun, of the brain. It is
the compass of the mind, the ever-constant Northern
Star, the mountain peak that lifts itself above all
clouds.
SUPERSTITION.
IX.
There were centuries of darkness when religion
had control of Christendom. Superstition was almost
universal. Not one in twenty thousand could read
or write. During these centuries the people lived
with their back to the sunrise, and pursued their way
toward the dens of ignorance and faith. There was
no progress, no invention, no discovery. On every
hand cruelty and worship, persecution and prayer.
The priests were the enemies of thought, of investi-
gation. They were the shepherds, and the people
were their sheep and it was their business to guard
the flock from the wolves of thought and doubt. This
world was of no importance compared with the next.
This life was to be spent in preparing for the life to
come. The gold and labor of men were wasted in
building cathedrals and in supporting the pious and
the useless. During these Dark Ages of Christianity,
as I said before, nothing was invented, nothing was
discovered, calculated to increase the well-being of
men. The energies of Christendom were wasted in
the vain effort to obtain assistance from the super-
natural.
For centuries the business of Christians was to
52
SUPERSTITION.
wrest from the followers of Mohammed the empty
sepulcher of Christ. Upon the altar of this folly
millions of lives were sacrificed, and yet the soldiers
of the impostor were victorious, and the wretches who
carried the banner of Christ were scattered like leaves
before the storm.
There was, I believe, one invention during these
ages. It is said that, in the Thirteenth Century,
Roger Bacon, a Franciscan monk, invented gun-
powder, but this invention was without a fellow.
Yet we cannot give Christianity the credit, because
Bacon was an infidel, and was great enough to say
that in all things reason must be the standard. He
was persecuted and imprisoned, as most sensible men
were in those blessed days. The Church was tri-
umphant. The sceptre and mitre were in her hands,
and yet her success was the result of force and
fraud, and it carried within itself the seeds of its
defeat. The Church attempted the impossible. It
endeavored to make the world of one belief; to force
all minds to a common form, and utterly destroy the
individuality of man. To accomplish this it em-
ployed every art and artifice that cunning could
suggest. It inflicted every cruelty by every means
that malice could invent.
But, in spite of all, a few men began to think.
SUPERSTITION.
53
They became interested in the affairs of this world-
in the great panorama of nature. They began to seek
for causes, for the explanations of phenomena. They
were not satisfied with the assertions of the Church.
These thinkers withdrew their gaze from the skies
and looked at their own surroundings. They were
unspiritual enough to desire comfort here. They
became sensible and secular, worldly and wise.
What was the result? They began to invent, to
discover, to find the relation between facts, the
conditions of happiness and the means that would
increase the well-being of their fellow men.
Movable types were invented, paper was borrowed
from the Moors, books appeared, and it became possi-
ble to save the intellectual wealth so that each gener-
ation could hand it to the next. History began to
take the place of legend and rumor. The telescope
was invented. The orbits of the stars were traced,
and men became citizens of the universe. The steam
engine was constructed, and now steam, the great
slave, does the work of hundreds of millions of men.
The Black Art, the impossible, was abandoned, and
chemistry, the useful, took its place. Astrology
became astronomy. Kepler discovered the three
great laws, one of the greatest triumphs of human
genius, and our constellation became a poem, a sym-
54
SUPERSTITION.
phony. Newton gave us the mathematical expres-
sion of the attraction of gravitation. Harvey dis-
covered the circulation of the blood. He gave us the
fact, and Draper gave us the reason. Steamships
conquered the seas and railways covered the land.
Houses and streets were lighted with gas. Through
the invention of matches fire became the companion
of man. The art of photography became known;
the sun became an artist. Telegraphs and cables
were invented. The lightning became a carrier of
thought, and the nations became neighbors. Anæs-
thetics were discovered and pain was lost in sleep.
Surgery became a science. The telephone was in-
vented the telephone that carries and deposits in
listening ears the waves of words. The phonograph,
that catches and retains in marks and dots and gives
again the echoes of our speech.
Then came electric light that fills the night with
day, and all the wonderful machines that use the
subtle force-the same force that leaps from the
summer cloud to ravage and destroy.
The Spectrum Analysis that tells us of the sub-
stance of the sun; the Röntgen rays that change
the opaque to the transparent. The great thinkers
demonstrated the indestructibility of force and
matter-demonstrated that the indestructible could
SUPERSTITION.
55
not have been created. The geologist, in rocks and
deposits and mountains and continents, read a little
of the story of the world-of its changes, of the
glacial epoch-the story of vegetable and animal life.
The biologists, through the fossil forms of life,
established the antiquity of man and demonstrated
the worthlessness of Holy Writ. Then came evolu-
tion, the survival of the fittest and natural selection.
Thousands of mysteries were explained and science
wrested the scepter from superstition. The cell
theory was advanced, and embryology was studied;
the microscope discovered germs of disease and
taught us how to stay the plague. These great
theories and discoveries, together with countless in-
ventions, are the children of intellectual liberty.
SUPERSTITION.
57
X.
After all we know but little. In the darkness of
life there are a few gleams of light. Possibly the
dropping of a dishcloth prophesies the coming of
company, but we have no evidence. Possibly it is
dangerous for thirteen to dine together, but we have
no evidence. Possibly a maiden's matrimonial
chances are determined by the number of seeds in an
apple, or by the number of leaves on a flower, but we
have no evidence. Possibly certain stones give good
luck to the wearer, while the wearing of others brings
loss and death. Possibly a glimpse of the new
moon over the left shoulder brings misfortune.
Possibly there are curative virtues in old bones,
in sacred rags and holy hairs, in images and
bits of wood, in rusty nails and dried blood, but the
trouble is we have no evidence. Possibly comets,
eclipses and shooting stars foretell the death of
kings, the destruction of nations or the coming of
plague. Possibly devils take possession of the
bodies and minds of men. Possibly witches, with
the Devil's help, control the winds, breed storms on
sea and land, fill summer's lap with frosts and snow,
and work with charm and spell against the public
58
SUPERSTITION.
weal, but of this we have no evidence. It may be
that all the miracles described in the Old and New
Testament were performed; that the pallid flesh of
the dead felt once more the thrill of life; that
the corpse arose and felt upon his smiling lips the
kiss of wife and child. Possibly water was turned
into wine, loaves and fishes increased, and possibly
devils were expelled from men and women; possibly
fishes were found with money in their mouths; pos-
sibly clay and spittle brought back the light to sight-
less eyes, and possibly words cured disease and made
the leper clean, but of this we have no evidence.
Possibly iron floated, rivers divided, waters burst
from dry bones, birds carried food to prophets and
angels flourished drawn swords, but of this we have
no evidence.
Possibly Jehovah employed lying spirits to deceive
a king, and all the wonders of the savage world may
have happened, but the trouble is there is no proof.
So there may be a Devil, almost infinite in cunning
and power, and he may have a countless number of
imps whose only business is to sow the seeds of evil
and to vex, mislead, capture and imprison in eternal
flames the souls of men. All this, so far as we know,
is possible. All we know is that we have no evidence
except the assertions of ignorant priests.
SUPERSTITION.
$9
Possibly there is a place called "hell," where all the
devils live a hell whose flames are waiting for all the
men who think and have the courage to express their
thoughts, for all who fail to credit priests and sacred
books, for all who walk the path that reason lights,
for all the good and brave who lack credulity and
faith-but of this, I am happy to say, there is no proof.
And so there may be a place called "heaven," the
home of God, where angels float and fly and play on
harps and hear with joy the groans and shrieks of
the lost in hell, but of this there is no evidence.
It all rests on dreams and visions of the insane.
There may be a power superior to nature, a power
that governs and directs all things, but the existence
of this power has not been established.
In the presence of the mysteries of life and thought,
of force and substance, of growth and decay, of birth
and death, of joy and pain, of the sufferings of the
good, the triumphs of wrong, the intelligent honest
man is compelled to say: "I do not know."
But we do know how gods and devils, heavens and
hells, have been made. We know the history of in-
spired books-the origin of religions. We know
how the seeds of superstition were planted and what
made them grow. We know that all superstitions,
all creeds, all follies and mistakes, all crimes and
60
SUPERSTITION.
cruelties, all virtues, vices, hopes and fears, all dis-
coveries and inventions, have been naturally pro-
duced. By the light of reason we divide the useful
from the hurtful, the false from the true.
We know the past-the paths that man has trav-
eled his mistakes, his triumphs. We know a few
facts, a few fragments, and the imagination, the
artist of the mind, with these facts, these fragments,
rebuilds the past, and on the canvas of the future
deftly paints the things to be.
We believe in the natural, in the unbroken and
unbreakable succession of causes and effects. We
deny the existence of the supernatural. We do not
believe in any God who can be pleased with incense,
with kneeling, with bell-ringing, psalm-singing, bead-
counting, fasting or prayer-in any God who can be
flattered by words of faith or fear.
We believe in the natural. We have no fear of
devils, ghosts or hells. We believe that Mahatmas,
astral bodies, materializations of spirits, crystal
gazing, seeing the future, telepathy, mind reading
and Christian Science are only cunning frauds, the
genuineness of which is established by the testimony
of incompetent, honest witnesses. We believe that
Cunning plates fraud with the gold of honesty, and
veneers vice with virtue.
SUPERSTITION.
61
We know that millions are seeking the impossible
-trying to secure the aid of the supernatural-to
solve the problem of life-to guess the riddle of
destiny, and to pluck from the future its secret. We
know that all their efforts are in vain.
We believe in the natural. We believe in home
and fireside-in wife and child and friend-in the
realities of this world. We have faith in facts-in
knowledge-in the development of the brain. We
throw away superstition and welcome science. We
banish the phantoms, the mistakes and lies and
cling to the truth. We do not enthrone the unknown
and crown our ignorance. We do not stand with our
backs to the sun and mistake our shadow for God.
We do not create a master and thankfully wear
his chains. We do not enslave ourselves. We want
no leaders—no followers. Our desire is that every
human being shall be true to himself, to his ideal,
unbribed by promises, careless of threats. We want
no tyrant on the earth or in the air.
We know that superstition has given us delusions
and illusions, dreams and visions, ceremonies and
cruelties, faith and fanaticism, beggars and bigots,
persecutions and prayers, theology and torture, piety
and poverty, saints and slaves, miracles and mum-
meries, disease and death.
62
SUPERSTITION.
We know that science has given us all we have of
value. Science is the only civilizer. It has freed the
slave, clothed the naked, fed the hungry, lengthened
life, given us homes and hearths, pictures and books,
ships and railways, telegraphs and cables, engines
that tirelessly turn the countless wheels, and it has
destroyed the monsters, the phantoms, the winged
horrors that filled the savage brain.
Science is the real redeemer. It will put honesty
above hypocrisy; mental veracity above all belief.
It will teach the religion of usefulness. It will
destroy bigotry in all its forms. It will put thought-
ful doubt above thoughtless faith. It will give us
philosophers, thinkers and savants, instead of priests,
theologians and saints. It will abolish poverty and
crime, and greater, grander, nobler than all else, it
will make the whole world free.
Q
A NEW EDITION.
I
JUST PUBLISHED T
A Short History of the Bible:
Being an account of the formation and development of the Canon, by
BRONSON C. KEELER.
Price, Cloth, 75 cents. Paper, 50 cents. Postage paid.
This Book should be read by every Clergyman, Layman, Scholar and Liberal.
Everybody knows that the contents of the Bible were voted upon by different
councils of the church; that books were included in the early centuries which
are no longer regarded as a part of the sacred scriptures; that many of the
books now in the Bible were for centuries not a part of it; and that bishops, and
synods, and councils labored long to agree upon what books should be con-
sidered canonical and what should not be. But the general knowledge has been
indefinite. Few people are aware, for example, that the book of Revelation
was for 1500 years rejected by the Eastern branch of the Christian church, and
was voted into the Bible by that branch at a council held in Jerusalem in 1672.
The aim of Mr. Keeler's book is to go over this entire ground from the beginning
of the Christian era to the present time, and to furnish all the facts concerning
the formation and development of the Bible canon, giving briefly but succinctly
the views of each bishop and the action of every council having any influence
on the contents of the sacred volume. Mr. Keeler does not deal in opinions. He
simply states facts, and gives a reference for each fact to the early Christian
farhers and other recognized authorities; and it is believed that his book
thows much light on a hitherto obscured department of religious history.
"I have read Mr. Keeler's book with great pleasure and profit. He gives, in
my opinion, a clear and intelligent account of the growth of the bible. He
shows why books were received as inspired, and why they were rejected. He
does not deal in opinions, but in facts; and for the correctness of his facts, he
refers to the highest authorities. He has shown exactly who the Christian
fathers were, and the weight that their evidence is entitled to. The first cen-
turies of Christianity are filled with shadow; most histories of that period
simply tell us what did not happen, and even the statements of what did not
happen are contradictory. The falsehoods do not agree. Mr. Keeler must have
spent a great deal of time in the examination of a vast number of volumes, and
the amount of information contained in his book could not be collected in years.
Every minister, every college professor, and every man who really wishes to
know something about the origin and growth of the bible, should read this
book."-R. G. INGERSOLL.
TO C. P. FARRELL, Esq.-Often have I wished that some writer, who had a
learned head and a lucid pen, would give us a brief yet comprehensive account
of the Books of the Bible' -how we came by them when the world first got
them and what were the qualities, characters and pretensions of those who
first imposed them upon credulous and superstitious believers. Often have I
wished that if such a book were written, some publisher, having the ear of the
Free Thought world, would issue it. Great was my surprise and pleasure when
I saw at Washington, Bronson Keeler's "Short History of the Rible" we have,
and the marvellous number of suppressed Scriptures-all Christian, all curi-
ous, all instructive-most of them wiser, all equally authentic, and all believed
to be equally divine by those who had better means of judging them than we
have. All who are Christian-all who think they ought to be--and all who
are not should read Mr. Keeler's "Short," masterly and wise book.-GEORGE
ACOB HOLYOAKE, London, England.
The New York Sun, (Sunday, Oct. 9, 1881, in a review occupving four and one-
quarter columns): "On what questionable ground some writings were admitted
and others excluded from the Christian scriptures is briefly and effectively set
forth in a monograph entitled 'A Short History of the Bible,' by Bronson C.
Keeler. The writer of this striking essay has not drawn his materials from the
German rationalists, but bases his assertions on the statements of Christian his-
torians and commentators, especially on the writings of the Christian fathers
and the ecclesiastical history of Eusebius, and, among modern works, on
Milman's History of Latin Christianity,' and the disquisitions of Wescott,
Davidson, Lange and Schaff. We trust that no one who has been led by the
appearance of the revised version to ponder the origin and history of the sacred
writings will fail to examine for himself Mr. Keeler's admirable monograph.”
Address C. P. FARRELL, Publisher, New York.
ARGUMENT
BY
ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
IN THE
TRIAL OF C. B. REYNOLD'S
66
FOR
Blasphemy,"
AT MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY.
Stenographically reported, and revised by the Author.
Handsome 8vo, 86 pp., beautiful type, fine paper,
Price, cloth, 50 cts.; paper cover, 25 cts.
In this Argument MR. INGERSOLL again shows his great
forensic powers.
All his heart and brain are in it.
It is one
of his greatest productions. It is in his chosen field of intel-
lectual combat, and we see him as the splendid champion of
human liberty and the rights of man. His love of freedom and
justice, hatred of tyranny and chains, sympathy for the op-
pressed, misguided and enthralled, his courage and candor,
have in this Argument full scope of expression, and he makes
grand use of the opportunity. Such a flood of light-of
eloquence, legal learning, logic, pathos. poetry and patriotism
is not often poured out in a Court of Justice.
The many calls for this Argument in complete and accurate
shape have led to this publication, as revised by MR. INGer-
SOLL himself. All other publications are the merest fictions-
reprints from meagre and misleading newspaper references.
Lawyers and advocates will find this the model of an address
to a jury; statesmen and politicians a clear exposition of Con-
stitutional rights and powers; and intelligent, patriotic and free
men and women everywhere, a Magna Charta of their rights.
A Grand Book: as interesting and entertaining as any novel!
INGERSOLL'S
Interviews on Talmage
These Interviews were called out in answer to a series of
theological discourses by Mr. Talmage. Three of them were
originally given to a reporter of the daily press, but were after-
wards revised and enlarged and three others added. The three
newspaper reports being immediately pirated by so-called enter-
prising but unprincipled publishers, were put upon the market in
flimsy paper covers and heralded as the genuine "Ingersoll In-
terviews." It is sufficient to say that in no other shape than the
present complete volume are these "Interviews" to be had in
their accurate and authorized entirety.
As to the subject-matter it is essentially polemical, although
not bitterly so. The foolish as well as serious phases of theo-
logical ignorance and assumption are exposed to merited ridicule,
and the weapons of good-natured wit and sarcasm are employed
to laugh and shame religious superstition and arrogance out of
court. In the "Talmagian Catechism" especially, which sums
up the six interviews, are shafts of wit and satire as keen and
polished as ever sped from human brain. They go straight to the
mark, and remind one of Voltaire's pointed though not poisoned
arrows aimed at the priestly pretensions of his day. In the
graver and more serious statements and arguments, the facts and
figures are splendidly marshalled and bear down with resistless.
form upon the theological foe, breaking his ranks and scattering
his forces like chaff before a gale.
There is not in literature another such book. It is a free-
thought library in itself, and especially timely just now when
bibles and creeds are being overhauled and "revision and divis-
ion are in the air." No collection of Mr. Ingersoll's books is
complete that does not include this in some respects his most
remarkable work.
·
A handsome 8°, 443 pages, gilt top, beveled edges, good paper,
bold type, $200. From same plates, plain cloth, $1.25. Paper,
50c. Sent post-paid upon receipt of price.
C. P. FARRELL, PUBLISHER, New York.
A NEW BOOK. JUST OUTI
Essays and Criticisms,
IN ONE VOLUME.
A Series of articles from the North American Review,
-BY-
ROBERT G. INGERSOLL.
CONTENTS.
Why Am I an Agnostic? Parts I and II.
Professor Huxley and Agnosticism.
Ernest Renan.
T
Count Tolstoi and “The Kreutzer Sonata.”
HESE interesting papers appeared at intervals in the
North American Review several years ago, and have
for a long time been out of print and impossible to get. The
republication in book form at a popular price is in response to
innumerable requests from all parts of the country. These
papers if in print in their original form would cost any one
$2.50. They are now published in an octavo volume, from
new type, on good paper, at the very low price of 50 cts. in
cloth; 25 cts. in paper.
Sent postpaid to any address in America, Canada or Europe.
Address: C. P. FARRELL, Publisher,
NEW YORK, N. Y,
(OVER.)
New Books by Col. R. G. Ingersoll.
A new lecture.
SUPERSTITION!
***
Price, paper, 25 cents.
A THANKSGIVING SERMON,
-ALSO-
A TRIBUTE TO HENRY WARD BEECHER.
In one handsome book. Price, paper, 25 cts.
WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC?
Entirely rewritten and greatly enlarged. Never before published.
Price, paper, 25 cents.
ROME OR REASON?
BY
Cardinal Manning and Robert G. Ingersoll.
TO WHICH IS ADDED
IS DIVORCE WRONG?
Price, cloth, 50 cents; paper, 25 cents.
HOW TO REFORM MANKIND!
Delivered for the Militant Church, at the Columbia Theatre, Chi-
cago, Ills., Sunday, April 12th, 1898.
Heavy paper, large type, with portrait. Price, 25 cts.
A New Lithograph Portrait
-OF-
COL. ROBERT G. INGERSOLL.
Life size head and bust; tinted back ground. Just the thing for
framing. A perfect likness. Every admirer of this great man should
have one hanging on his wall. Price, postpaid, 50 cents.
ADDRESS, C. P. FARRELL, PUBLISHER,
NEW YORK.
(Over.)
Robert G. Ingersoll's Works.
ONLY AUTHORIZED EDITIONS.
Gods and other Lectures. Comprising the Gods, Humboldt, Thomas
Paine, Individuality, Heretics and Heresies. Paper 50c.; cloth, $1.00.
Ghosts and other Lectures. Including The Ghosts, Liberty of Man
Woman, and Child; The Declaration of Independence, About Farming in
Illinois, Speech nominating James G. Blaine for Presidency in 1876, The Grant
Banquet, A Tribute to Rev. Alex. Clark, The Past Rises before Me Like a Dream,
and A Tribute to Ebon C. Ingersoll. Paper, 50c.; cloth, $1.00.
Some Mistakes of Moses. 270 pages, paper, 50c.; cloth, $1.00.
Interviews on Talmage. Being Six Interviews with the Famous
Orator on Six Sermons by the Rev. T. DeWitt Talinage of Brooklyn, to which
is added a Talmagian Catechism. Paper, 50c.; cloth, $1.25.
Blasphemy. Argument by R. G. Ingersoll in the Trial of C. B. Reynolds, at
Morristown, N. J. Paper, 25c.; cloth, 50c.
What Must We Do to Be Saved? Analyzes the so-called gospels of
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and devotes a chapter each to the Catholics,
Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, Evangelical Alliance, and answers
the question of the Christians as to what he proposes instead of Christianity
-the religion of sword and flame. Paper, 25 cents.
The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. Just out. A Locture.
Paper, 25 cts.
Prose-Poems and Selections. Sixth edition, enlarged and re
vised. A handsome quarto, containing 383 pages. This is, beyond question, the
cheapest and most elegant volume in Liberal literature. Its mechanical finish
is worthy of its intrinsic excellence. No expense has been spared to make it the
thing of beauty it is. The type is large and clear, the paper heavy, highly calen.
dered, and richly tinted, the presswork faultless, and the binding as perfect an
the best materials and skill can make it.
As to the contents, it is enough to say that they include all of the choicest utterance,
of the greatest writer on the topics treated that has ever lived.
Those who have not the good fortune to own all of Mr. Ingersoll's published works,
will have in this book of selections many bright samples of his lofty thought, his
matchless eloquence, his wonderful imagery, and his epigrammatic and poetic
power. The collection includes all of the "Tributes" that have become famous
in literature-notably those to his brother E. C. Ingersoll, Lincoln, Grant,
Beecher, Conklin, Courtlandt M. Palmer, Mary Fiske, Elizur Wright: his peer-
less monographs on "The Vision of War," Love. Liberty, Art and Morality,
Science, Nature, The Imagination, Decoration Day Oration, What is Poetry,
Music of Wagner, Origin and Destiny, "Leaves of Grass," and on the great
heroes of intellectual Liberty. Besides these there are innumerable gems taken
here and there from the orations, speeches, arguments, toasts, lectures, letters,
interviews, and day by day conversations of the author.
The book is designed for, and will be accepted by, admiring friends as a rare per-
sonal souvenir. To help it serve this purpose, a fine steel portrait, with auto-
graph fac-simile, has been prepared especially for it. In the more elegant styles
of binding it is eminently suited for presentation purposes, for any season or
occasion.
PRICES.-In cloth, beveled boards, gilt edges, $2.50; in half morocco, gilt edges, $5;
in half calf, mottled edges, library style, $4.50; in full Turkey morocco, gilt
exquisitely fine, $7.50; in full tree calf, highest possible finish. $9. Cheap ed $1.50.
Ingersoll's Lectures in one volume. Contents: The Gods;
Humboldt; Individuality; Thomas Paine; Heretics and Heresies; The Ghosts;
The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child; The Centennial Oration, or Declara-
tion of Independence. July 4, 1876; What I Know About Farming in Illinois;
Speech at Cincinnati in 1876, nominating James G. Blaine for the Presidency;
The Past Rises Before Me, or Vision of War, an extract from a Speech made at
the Soldiers' and Sailors' Reunion at Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 21, 1876; A Tribute
to Ebon C. Ingersoll; The Grant Banquet; Crimes Against Criminals; Tribute
to the Rev. Alexander Clarke; Some Mistakes of Moses; What Must We Do to
be Saved? Six Interviews with Robert G. Ingersoll on Six Sermons by the Rev.
T. De Witt Talmage, D. D; to which is added a Talmagian Catechism, and
Four Prefaces, which contain some of Mr. Ingersoll's wittiest and brightest gay.
ings.
This volume has the greatest popularity, is beautifully bound in half calf or half
morocco, mottled edges, 1,401 pages, good paper, large type, post 8vo. Price,
postpaid, $5.00.
Cloth, $3.5
ROBERT G. INGERSOLL'S WORKS.-Continued.
God in the Constitution. One of the best papers Colonel Ingersoll
ever wrote. In paper cover with likeness of author.` Price, 10 cents. Twelve
copies for $1.
Liberty in Literature. Testimonial to Walt Whitman. Let us put
wreaths on the brows of the living." An address delivered in Philadelphia,
Oct. 21, 1890, with Portrait of Whitman. Paper, 25 cents; cloth, 50 cents.
Also contains the funeral oration..
Thomas Paine's Vindication. A Reply to the New York Observer's
Attack upon the Author-hero of the Revolution, by R. G. Ingersoll. Paper, 15 c.
Limitations of Toleration. A Discussion between Col. R. G. Ingersoll,
Hon. Frederick R. Coudert, and Ex-Governor Stewart L. Woodford. Paper,
10 cents.
Orthodoxy. A Lecture. Paper, 10 cents.
Civil Rights Speech. With Speech of Hon. Fred'k Douglass. Paper,
10 cents.
Ingersoll and the Brooklyn Divines. How the Church meets
the Demands of the Hour. Paper, 25 cts.
A Lay Sermon. On the Labor Question. Paper, 5 cents.
Crimes Against Criminals. Delivered before the New York State
Bar Association, at Albany, N. Y., Jan. 21, 1890. Paper, 10 cents.
Life. A Prose-Poem. In color, on board, beveled, gilt edges, 16 x12, (for
mantel, wall or easel,) 75 cents. Illustrated.
Lithograph of R. G. Ingersoll. 22x 28 inch., heavy plate paper, 50 c.
Photographs of Col. Ingersoll, 18 x 24, $5.00. Imperial, 7½ x 13, $1.50.
Cabinet, 25 cts. Ingersoll and granddaughter Eva III., (a home picture,) 35 cts.
About the Holy Bible. Just out. A new Lecture About the Holy
Bible. Price, paper, 25 cents.
Shakespeare. Ingersoll's Great Lecture on Shakespeare, with a rare and
handsome half-tone picture of the Kesselstadt Death Mask. Paper, 25 cts.
Lecture on Abraham Lincoln. Just out. With a handsome, new
portrait. Price, paper, 25 cents.
The Great Ingersoll Controversy. Containing the Famous
Christmas Sermon, by Colonel R. G. Ingersoll the indignant protests thereby
evoked from ministers of various denominations, and Col. Ingersoll's replies
to the same. A work of tremendous interest to every thinking man and woman.
Price, paper, 25 cts.
Is Suicide a Sin? "Something Brand New!" Ingersoll's startling,
brilliant and thrillingly eloquent letters, which created such a sensation when
published in the New York World, together with the replies of famous clergymen
and writers, a verdict from a jury of eminent men of New York, Curious Facts
About Suicides, celebrated essays and opinions of noted men, and an astonish-
ing and original chapter, Great Suicides of History! Price, paper, 25 cts.
An Open Letter to Indianapolis Clergymen. By Colonel
R. G. Ingersoll. To which is added "The Genesis of Life," by W. H. Lamaster.
Paper, 25 cents.
Col. Ingersoll's Note to the Publio.
WASHINGTON, D. C., July 10, 1889.
I wish to notify the public that all books and pamphlets purporting to contain my lec
tures, and not containing the imprint of Mr. C. P. FARRELL as publisher, are spurious,
grossly inaccurate, filled with mistakes, horribly printed, and outrageously unjust to me,
The publishers of all such are simply literary thieves and pirates, and are obtaining money
from the public under false pretences. These wretches have published one lecture under
four titles, and several others under two or three. I take this course to warn the public
that these publications are fraudulent; the only correct editions being those published by
Mr. C. P. FARRELL.
C. P. FARRELL,
R. G. INGERSOLL.
New York.

LIBRARY OF
IBERAL
TR
THESE WORKS ARE NOT FOR A DAY, BUT FOR ALL TIME.
The Library of Liberal Classics, says a competent critic,
❝contains much that is imperishable in literature, because, in common with
the higher thoughts attributed to Confucius, to Buddha, to Marcus Aurelius,
to Spinoza and to Shakespeare, these Classics have an intrinsic excellence of
their own. They are good for all time and for all civilizations capable of un-
derstanding them, they appeal to all that is noblest and truest in humanity."
"There is no sleep so profound as the sleep of a dead book," says The Con-
servator. But books of sterling merit never die. They are always in demand,
and they become known as "Classics" in literature.
The books comprised in the Library of Liberal Classics are books of
this description. They have stood the test of time, and have not been found
wanting. Years have elapsed since they were written, and in the coming centuries
they will still survive. Like truth, they are indeed immortal! They were not
born to die. They are "Not for a day, but for all time,"—and no library can be
complete without them.
A
BRAHAM LINCOLN: The True Story of a Great Life.
Illustrated. By W. H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik. 2 vols. Cloth, $3.00
A Few Days in Athens. By Frances Wright. New Edition.
Everybody who knows the value of this book will read it. One of the
masterpieces of Freethought......
........Cloth, 75 cts.
Age of Reason. Being an investigation of True and Fabulous Theol-
ogy. A new and unabridged edition. For nearly one hundred years the
clergy have been vainly trying to answer this book.........Paper 25c.; cloth 50c.
Apocryphal New Testament. Being all the Gospels, Epistles,
and other pieces now extant, attributed in the first four centuries to Jesus
Christ, his Apostles, and their companions, and not included in the New
Testament by its compilers...
………..Cloth, $1.50
Astral Worship. By J. H. Hill, M.D. This book will be found to
be a valuable contribution to the current discussion of religious problems.
Proceeding on lines parallel to those followed by Robert Taylor in his Astro-
Theological Lectures, the author by the aid of numerous illustrations and an
elaborate planisphere, traces most of the myths which lie at the base of
Christianity to their origin in sun and star worship, or to the natural phe-
nomena which played so important a part in those systems. The astronom-
ical facts given possess great value aside from their relation to Christian
mythology. The illustrations are rare and curious, and the planisphere (a
representation of the celestial sphere upon a plane with adjustable circles)
will interest the most careless. Owing to the construction of its covers, to
which the planisphere is attached, the book is bound in one style only-
heavy boards. Price, $1.00.
Astro-Theological Lectures. Allegorical Meaning of the Bible.
Belief not the Safe Side; The Resurrection of Lazarus; The Unjust Stew-
ard; The Devil; The Rich Man and Lazarus; The Day of Temptation in the
Wilderness; Ahab, or the Lying Spirit; The Fall of Man; Noah; Abraham;
Sarah; Melchisedec; The Lord; Moses, The Twelve Patriarchs; Who is the
Lord? Exodus; Aaron; Miriam. By Rev. Robt. Taylor...........Cloth, $1.50
2
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
About the Holy Bible. By Robert G. Ingersoll. A new Lecture
recently delivered. A large and handsome pamphlet..
.25 cts.
BACON'S Christian Paradoxes, or the Characters of a
Believing Christian in Paradoxes and Seeming Contradictions. With Por-
trait. Preface by Peter Eckler.......
Bacon's Essays. 530 pp. Crown 8vo..
Library edition......
.....Paper. 10 cts.
Cloth, $1.50
Cloth gilt, $2.00
Büchner's Force and Matter, OR PRINCIPLES OF THE NATU-
RAL ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE. With a system of Morality based thereon.
A scientific work of great ability and merit. Post 8vo, 414 PP., with Portrait,
Cloth.......
$1.00
Man in the Past, Present, and Future. It de-
scribes Man as "a being not put upon the earth accidentally by an arbi-
trary act, but produced in harmony with the earth's nature, and belonging
to it as do the flowers and fruits to the tree which bears them."....Cloth, $1.00
Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions.
Being a comparison of the Old and New Testament Myths and Miracles with
those of Heathen Nations of Antiquity. Large 8vo, 614 PP......Cloth $2.50,
half morocco........
..$5.00
Prof. Max Muller says-" All truth is safe, and nothing else is safe; and he who keeps back
the truth, or withholds it from men, from motives of expediency, is either a coward or a
criminal, or both. He who knows only one religion, knows none."
Rev. M. J. Savage, (Boston.) says-" To me, the volume is worth twenty times its cost."
"The author of 'BIBLE MYTHS' has succeeded in showing that our bible is not the great
central fire, giving light to the world, but a collection of candles and tapers and sparks bor-
rowed by the chosen people' from those whom Jehovah, according to the Scriptures, had
left in the darkness of nature."-R. G. INGERSOLL.
Bulwer's History of a False Religion & Brougham's
ORIGIN OF EVIL. Preface by Peter Eckler........Paper, 25 cts. ; cloth, 50 cts.
CAND
ANDLE from under the Bushel (The). By William
Hart. Thirteen Hundred and Six Questions to the Clergy, and for the con-
sideration of Others. Mr. Hart, the author, while a sincere church-member,
obeyed the injunction to search the scriptures, which led to the propounding
of these queries, which no clergyman can answer rationally and remain a
Christian. 200 pp. 12mo..
Paper, 40 cts.
Christian Absurdities. John Peck. Pointing out the things which
the world calls absurd, but which the church once made Christian dogmas,
and which some Christians still believe. One of the sharpest_criticisms of
current theology in print. 80 pp. 12mo....
Paper, 20 cts.
Cobbett's, (Wm.) English Grammar. Edited by Robert
Waters. I vol., 12mo...
Cloth, $1.00
"Of all the books on English grammar that I have met with, Cobbett's seems to me the
best, and, indeed, the only one to be used with advantage in teaching English. His style is a
model of correctness, of learness, and of strength. He wrote English with unconscious
ease."- Richard Grant White.
་
"The best English grammar extant for self-instruction."- School Board Chronicle.
"As interesting as a story-book."- Hazlitt.
"The only amusing grammar in the world."-Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer.
"Written with vigor, energy, and courage, joined to a force of understanding, a degree of
logical power, and force of expression which has rarely been equalled."-Saturday Review.
Conventional Lies of our Civilization. Religious, Mon-
archical and Aristocratic, Political, Economic, Matrimonial and Miscella-
neous Lies. By Max Nordau. Cheap edition..
50 cts.
Complete Description of Thomas Paine's Works in Alpha-
phabetical Order.
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
3
Common Sense. A Revolutionary pamphlet addressed to the inhab-
itants of America in 1776, with an explanatory notice by an English author.
Paine's first and most important political work..
..Paper, 15 cts
Comte (Auguste), The Positive Philosophy of. Trans-
lated by Harriet Martineau. With portrait and fac-simile of Autograph.
One volume, royal 8vo, 838 pp. gilt top and side stamp..........Cloth, $4.00
"A work of profound science, and conspicuous for the highest attributes of intellectual
power."-Sir David Brewster.
"Comte is the Bacon of the nineteenth century. Like Bacon he fully sees the cause of our
intellectual anarchy, and also sees the cure. We have no hesitation in recording our con-
viction that the Positive Philosophy is the greatest work of our century."-Lewes's Biograph-
ical History of Philosophy.
"A work which I hold to be far the greatest yet produced in the Philosophy of the
sciences.”—Mill's System of Logic.
$1.50
Creed of Christendom. By W. R. Greg. Its Foundation con-
trasted with its Superstructure. Complete in 1 vol., 12mo, 399 PP........
"No Candid reader of the 'Creed of Christendom' can close the book with-
out the secret acknowledgment that it is a model of honest investigation and
clear exposition; that it is conceived in the true spirit of serious and faithful
research; and that whatever the author wants of being an ecclesiastical Chris-
tian, is plainly not essential to the noble guidance of life, and the devout ear-
nestness of the affections."—Westminster Review.
Crisis. 16 numbers. Written during the darkest hours of the American
Revolution "in the the times that tried men's souls." By Thomas Paine.
Paper, 25 cts......
.........cloth 50 cts.
Commentaries on Hebrew and Christian Mythol-
OGY. By Judge Parish B. Ladd, LL.B., of the San Francisco Bar. This
work is the result of six years close study of the two mythologies of Judaism
and Christianity. The author finds that the chief ingredients of the Chris-
tian religion are fraud on the part of the early fathers and ignorance on the
part of the people who accept it. The author begins with the origin of
divinities or gods, and traces the evolution of the Christian deity, Jehovah.
Then he takes up the priesthood and shows us how we came by our parsons.
Much space is devoted to the Hebrews and their prophets, some of the latter
being proved to be myths. The early Hebrew legends are rehearsed and
compared with their counterparts in other religions. Through the tangle of
comparative mythology the reader is brought to the time of Christ and the
other "crucified saviors." Then we have the apostles, the early Christians,
the church fathers, the ecumenical councils, and the other characters, writ-
ings, and proceedings that gave Christianity to the world, upon all of which
is placed the stamp of error or deliberate fraud. Paper, 75c.; silk cloth, $1.50
D'Holbach (Baron.) Letters to Eugenia against
RELIGIOUS PREJUDICE…………….
.. Cloth, $1.00
.$1.00
Good Sense. Natural vs. Supernatural....
The System of Nature; or, Laws of the Moral and Physical
World. By Baron D'Holbach. "One of the greatest books ever written.
It never was and never will be answered."-R. G. Ingersoll………………………………………......$2.00
Data of Ethics. By Herbert Spencer.....
.$1.25
Descent of Man (The.) By Charles Darwin.....Cloth, gilt top, 75 c.
On its appearance it aroused at once a storm of mingled wrath, wonder and admiration.
In elegance of style, charm of manner and deep knowledge of natural history, it stands
almost without a rival among scientific works,
Dickens' Sunday Under Three Heads. As it is; as Sab-
bath bills would make it; and as it might be made. By Charles Dickens.
Illustrated by Phiz. Portrait. Preface by Peter Eckler...Paper 25 c.; cloth, 50C.
Give us Mental Liberty and Intellectual Freedom rather
than Blind Faith in Obsolete Dogmas.j
4
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
Devil's Pulpit (The.) Astro-Theological Sermons. With a sketch of
the Author's life, containing sermons on the following subjects: The Star of
Bethlehem, John the Baptist, Raising the Devil, The Unjust Judge, Virgo
Paritura, St. Peter, Judas Iscariot Vindicated, St. Thomas, St. James, and
St. John, the Sons of Thunder, the Crucifixion of Christ, the Cup of Salva-
tion, Lectures on Free Masonry, the Holy Ghost, St. Philip, St. Matthew, The
Redeemer. By Rev. Robt. Taylor....
..Cloth, $1.50
Diegesis (The.) Being a Discovery of the Origin, Evidences, and early
History of Christianity, never yet before or elsewhere so fully and faithfully
set forth. By Rev. Robert Taylor. This work was written by Mr. Taylor
while serving a term in Oakham jail, England; where he was imprisoned
for blasphemy. It contains 440 pages. octavo, and is considered unanswera-
.......Cloth, $2.00
ble as to arguments or facts.
$2.00
Dupuis (C. F.) Origin of all Religious Worship. (Synopsis of the
Great Work), with Zodiac of Denderah. .8vo, 443 pp....
Dynamic Theory of Life and Mind. An attempt to show
that all Organic Beings are both Constructed and Operated by the Dynamic
Agencies of their respective Environments. By James B. Alexander. Over
400 illustrations, 87 chapters, 1,067 pages, and a 3-column index of 11 pages.
This work endeavors to embrace the field covered by thousands of books, such
as those of the "Humboldt Library of Science," the "International Scientific
Series," etc., by bringing together, in simple and direct form, with proper
correspondence between them, all of the known factors contributing toward
the origin and evolution of organic beings. Do you wish to be well in-
formed? Then read a chapter or verse daily from this Bible of Science!
It is entertaining as well as enlightening………….
.Cloth, $2.75
English Grammar. Cobbett's, (Wm.) Edited by Robert Waters.
..Cloth, $1.00
I vol., 12m0..
"Of all the books on English grammar that I have met with, Cobbett's seems to me the
best, and, indeed, the only one to be used with advantage in teaching English. His style is a
model of correctness, of clearness, and of strength. He wrote English with unconscious
ease."-Richard Grant White.
ic The best English grammar extant for self-instruction,"-School Board Chronicle.
"As interesting as a story-book."-Hazlitt.
"The only amusing grammar in the world.”—Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer.`
"Written with vigor, energy and courage, joined to a force of understanding, a degree of
logical power, and force of expression which has rarely been equalled."-Saturday Review.
Evolution of the Devil., By Henry Frank, the independent preach-
er of New York city. The most learned, accurate, scientific and philosophi-
cal analysis of His Satanic Majesty ever published. The book contains 66
pages, is beautifully bound, with likeness of author on title page......25 cts.
F
..
AITH and Reason. Account of the Christian and all Prominent
Religions Before and Since Christ. Ext. from Sacred Books of the East.
H. R. Stevens..
.$1.50
Fawcett's Agnosticism, AND OTHER ESSAYS, with a Pro-
logue by Robert G. Ingersoll. One volume, 12mo, 277 pp.....Cloth, 75 cts.
"Between the Christian and the Agnostic there is the difference of assertion and question
-between "There is a God" and "Is there a God?" The Agnostic has the arrogance to
admit his ignorance, while the Christian from the depths of humility impudently insists
that he knows.
"A few centuries ago the priests said to their followers: The other world is above you;
it is just beyond where you see. Afterwards the astronomer with his telescope looked
and asked the priests: Where is the world of which you speak? And the priests replied:
It has receded it is just beyond where you see.
"As long as there is "a beyond" there is room for the priests' world. Theology is the
geography of this beyond."-Extract from Ingersoll's Prologue to the above work.
Trust the Demonstrations of Science, reject the Revelations
of Ignorance.
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
5
Faith or Fact. By Henry M. Taber. With Preface by Col. Robert
G. Ingersoll. Crown 8vo, vellum cloth, gilt top, 347 pages. Price, $1.00
The author of Faith or Fact has drawn a life-like picture of modern Christianity
and has shown from the admissions of Christian writers, and from the testimony of
Christian ministers, what are the real aims, desires, and tendencies of the Chris-
tian church. His work which is indeed an arsenal of Facts, is a most effective an-
tidote to unreasoning Faith. It richly deserves the support of all intelligent
liberals, and should be in the hands of every honest inquirer.
"I have read this book with great pleasure," says Robert G. Ingersoll, "because
it is full of good sense, of accurate statement, of sound logic, of exalted thoughts
happily expressed, and for the further reason that it is against tyranny, supersti-
tion, bigotry, and every form of injustice, and in favor of every virtue."
"There are some books" says Elmina Drake Slenker in Free Thought Magazine,
November, 1897, "that are beyond simple praise, or mere words of commenda-
tion, and among them is Faith or Fact. It contains the sum and substance
of a large library of useful, entertaining, and instructive information. It is all so
systematically and well arranged that it answers for an encyclopedia of facts con-
cerning the old Christian mythology, and the evils, errors, miseries and mischiefs
that have grown, and are still growing, out of it. Impartial, candid, fair and
honest in its statements, it appeals alike to Christian, Heathen, and Infidel. It is
not the voice of one man giving us his theories, opinions and experiences, but the
carefully collected utterances of the best thinkers of the world. Every page is
pregnant with investigation, thought and study. The dispassionate investigator,
after studying this volume, feels an intense desire that everybody should read the
book and be induced to abandon the creeds and superstitions of childhood.
"It seems almost incredible that any one can read the article on "Eternal Pun-
ishment" and thereafter believe in an orthodox hell. On this subject the author
says: 'Of all the teachings of the Christian religion this is the most preposterous
and monstrous.' The writer gives nearly sixteen pages of quotations from noted
authors end speakers on this horrible doctrine.
"The articles on Prayer,'. 'Immortality,' 'Intolerance,' etc., etc., are each and
all most valuable productions. One would imagine a single reading of this beauti-
ful volume would suffice to destroy all the orthodox theology any intelligent, rea-
sonable person might entertain. I wish one hundred thousand copies of this book
could be sold, for, as Col. Ingersoll says:
"This book will do great good. It will furnish arguments and facts against the
supernatural and absurd. It will drive phantoms from the brain, fear from the
heart, and many who read these pages will be emancipated, enlightened and
ennobled."
"Faith or Fact, by Henry M. Taber, contains much that is valuable and interest-
ing; it is pervaded by a robust independence of thought, and sanctified by an
enlightened common sense. After all, the majority of people have not the slight-
est conception of what an appalling misfortune to the human race dogmatic
Christianity has been in the past, and would be again if the world were content to
relapse into intellectual slavery. Vigorous language on this subject is not only ex
cusable, but necessary.
"We may add that the Preface by Col. Ingersoll is unusually lengthy-which will,
in this instance, be an additional attraction to English readers-and that the
Colonel, generous as he always is, very warmly commends the volume, as being cal-
culated to materially assist the Rationalist evangel."-The Literary Guide, Lon-
don, Eng.
"Faith or Fact, by Henry M. Taber. We have read the volume with much pleas-
ure and profit; for the articles are written in a strong and easy style, and are of
the highest quality. Fact kills Faith; and this collection is one of facts and argu-
ments based on them, and not on assumed and unprovable premises.”—Malcom
Dean in Boston Investigator.
"Faith or Fact, a new book by Henry M. Taber, is a great work. It is a com-
pendium of facts, and facts are indeed stubborn things. The author has shown
real skill, as well as wonderful research and study, in the arrangement of these
facts, against which and in whose presence the old faiths shrink and shrivel into
dry, crumbling husks. From the splendid preface by Colonel Ingersoll to the last
page of the book, there is not a dull or uninteresting sentence." Susan H. Wixon.
"Faith or Fact, by Henry M. Taber. Mr. Taber is very much in earnest, but
while he occasionally indulges in scathing denunciation of Christianity, such as
speaking of the Bible as Christianity's untruthful and immoral text book," he
never descends to ridicule of any sort. He seems to be a seeker after truth and
wishes to find something that will take the place of Christianity, but (to give his
idea) which will be founded on scientific principles rather than the outcome of mere
superstition.
Mr. Taber is a free thinker and we cannot but admire the fearlessness with
which he attacks every evil and the logical manner in which he discusses the ques-
tion of the substitution of scientific principles for the dogmas of the Christian re-
ligion.”—Free Press. Detroit, Mich.

6
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
Force and Matter; OR, PRINCIPLES OF THE NATURAL
ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE, with a System of Morality based thereon.
By Prof. Ludwig Büchner, M.D. A scientific and rationalistic work of great
merit and ability. Translated from the 15th German Edition, revised and
enlarged by the author, and reprinted from the fourth English edition. One
vol., Crown 8vo, 414 pp., with portrait. Vellum cloth, $1.00; half calf, $2.00.
"Büchner's volume is so powerful an exposition of the thoroughgoing scienti-
fic theory of the universe that it may be confidently recommended to all who
wish to become acquainted with present-day Materialism. The earlier chapters,
dealing with the nature and indestructibility of force and matter, are suffi
ciently cogent to arouse curiosity, while the facts adduced to prove the infinity of
matter are so bewildering as to render greater than ever the difficulty of hold.
ing any theistic hypothesis. The unbiassed reader will sympathize with Buch-
ner's protest against the degrading conceptions of matter which are so common,
as well as against the inveterate habit of implying a severance which does not
exist between matter and force, nature and spirit, body and soul. Natural laws
are everywhere the same, the properties of matter are everywhere alike; no-
where do we find evidence of outside government or intervention. After
treating of the successive periods of the generation of the earth and the develop-
ment of life, Büchner gives us a highly interesting chapter on teleology, in which
the fitness of things in nature is explained from the point of view of science,
while the latter half of the book is occupied with an examination of man; the
various phenomena of mind, consciousness, and soul, and the probabilities of their
continued existence after death, being analyzed in a very able and trenchant
manner. The final chapter, on morality, treats the problem of human relations
on the evolutionary lines which Mr. Spencer has rendered familiar."-The
Literary Guide, London.
"Put
Father Tom and the Pope; or, a Night at the Vatican.
Written probably by Sir Samuel Ferguson. From Blackwood's Edingburgh
Magazine. This is a humorous account of a rolicksome visit to the Pope of
Rome by Father Tom, an Irish priest, armed with a super-abundance of Irish
wit, two imperial quart bottles of Irish "putteen," and an Irish recipe
"for conwhounding the same. "What's that ?" says the Pope.
in the sperits first," says his Riv'rence; "and then put in the sugar; and
remember, every dhrop of wather you put in after that, spoils the punch."
"Glory be to God!" says the Pope, not minding a word Father Tom was
saying. "Glory be to God!" says he, smacking his lips. "I never knewn
what dhrink was afore," says he. "It bates the Lachymalchrystal out ov
the face!" says he "it's Necthar itself, it is, so it is !" says he, wiping his
epistolical mouth wid the cuff ov his coat....... Paper, 25 cts.; cloth, 50 cts.
Four Hundred Years of Freethought. By Samuel P.
Putnam. The Most Magnificent Work Ever Published by the Freethought
Press. The object of this work is to present the Course of Freethought
throughout the Civilized World for the last Four Centuries, from the time
of Columbus and Bruno to the time of Ingersoll. It is a radical Historic
Record of the Greatest Developments of the Human Race. It reveals Free-
thought as an Intellectual, Moral, Literary, Social, Industrial and Political
Movement. It shows what Freethought is in itself and how manifold are its
influences, and with what hope and promise we can hail its future triumph.
Four Hundred Years of Freethought embraces the most Illustrious Pages
of Human History, adorned with the brightest Genius, radiant with the most
splendid Poetry, rich with the greatest Inventions and Discoveries, and en-
nobled with Freedom's most shining advance. Nothing can be more inter-
esting, more inspiring to the Pioneer Workers of to-day—to those who are
still in the van for Human Rights and Progress. The struggle is not ended
and what is already won must be carefully guarded. Eternal vigilance is the
price of liberty; and from the Past we must ever learn Great Lessons for the
Future. Only one style of binding-the best..
..$5.00
ARDENER (HELEN H.) Men, Women, and
.Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.00
GARDENER (HELEN H.)
Ghosts, Devils, Angels and Sun Gods. A series of essays
against Superstition. By E. C. Kenney..
...Paper, 25 cts.
1
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
7
Ghosts and Other Lectures: Liberty of Man, Woman and
Child; Declaration of Independence; Farming in Illinois; Grant Banquet;
Rev. Alex. Clark; etc. By R. G. Ingersoll...
By R. G. Ingersoll......Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.25
Gods and Other Lectures: Humboldt; Thomas Paine; Indi-
viduality; "Heretics and Heresies." By R. G. Ingersoll......Paper, 50 cts.
Cloth.
$1.00
•
*
Gibbon's History of Christianity. With Preface, Life of
Gibbon, and Notes by Peter Eckler; also variorum Notes by Guizot, Wenck,
Millman, etc. Portrait of Gibbon and many engravings of mythological
divinities. Crown 8vo, 864 pp……………….
.Cloth, $2.00; ha' calf, $4.00
Great Ingersoll Controversy. Containing an eloquent Christ-
mas Sermon by Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, and various protests by eminent
Christian divines. 213 PP...........
.Paper, 25 cts.
Goodloe's Birth of the Republic. Compiled from the Na-
tional and Colonial Histories and Historical Collections, from the American
Archives, from Memoirs and from the Journals and Proceedings of the
British Parliament. Containing the Resolutions, Declarations and Ad-
dresses adopted by the Continental Congress, the Provincial Congresses,
Conventions and Assemblies, of the County and Town Meetings, and the
Committees of Safety, in all the Colonies, from the year 1765 to 1776, to
which is added the Articles of Confederation, a history of the formation and
adoption of the Constitution, the election of President Washington, his In-
auguration, April 30, 1789, a copy of the Constitution, and Washington's
Inaugural Speech. 12m0, 400 pp..
Cloth, $1.00
HAECKEL (ERNST The History of Creation;
or, the Development of the Earth and its Inhabitants by the Action of
Natural Causes. A Popular Exposition of the Doctrine of Evolution in gen-
eral, and of that of Darwin, Goethe and Lamarck in particular. The
translation revised by Prof. E. Ray Lankester. Illustrated with Litho-
graphic Plates. In 2 vols., 12mo. Revised 1892.... ....Cloth, $5.00
The Evolution of Man. A Popular Exposition of the
Principal Points of Human Ontogeny and Phylogeny. 2 vols. 12mo. Cloth $5
Freedom in Science and Teaching. From the Ger-
man. With a Prefatory Note by T. H. Huxley. 12mo.........Cloth, $1.75
Haeckel (Ernest.) Visit to Ceylon. With Portrait, and Map
of India and Ceylon. "These letters constitute one of the most charming
books of travel ever published, quite worthy of being placed by the side of
Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle," Post 8vo, 348 PP……………………….
.Cloth, $1.00
Half Hours with some Celebrated Freethinkers.
Thomas Hobbs, Lord Bolin broke, Condorcet, Spinoza, Anthony Collins,
Des Cartes, M. de Voltaire, John Toland, Comte de Volney, Charles Blount,
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Helvetius, Frances Wright, Zeno, Epicurus, Matthew
Tindal, David Hume, Dr. Thomas Burnet, Thomas Paine, Baptiste de
Mirabaud, Baron de Holbach, Robert Taylor, Joseph Barker. By "Icono-
clast," Collins, and Watts..........
........Cloth, 75 cts
Hebrew Mythology (Science of the Bible). Showing that the Bible
treats of Natural Phenomena (Astronomical) Only. By Milton Woolley,
M.D. 8vo......
Cloth, $2.50
History of the First Council of Nice: A World's Christian
Convention, A. D., 325, with a life of Constantine. By Dean Dudley.
Price......
....Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.00
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Em-
PIRE. Gibbon. Five vols…….
This Library is the Pride of every Thinker.
Cloth, $4.00
8
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
4
History of Christianity. Comprising all that relates to the Christian
religion in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and,
also, a Vindication (never before published in this country) of "some pas-
sages in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters," by Edward Gibbon, Esq.
With a Preface, Life of the Author, and Notes by Peter Eckler; also,
Variorum Notes by Guizot, Wenck, Millman, "An English Churchman,"
and other scholars."This important work contains Gibbon's complete
Theological writings, separate from his historical and miscellaneous works,
showing when, where and how Christianity originated; who were its founders;
and what were the sentiments, character, manners, numbers and condition of
the primitive Christians." I vol., post 8vo, 864 pages, with Portrait of Gibbon.
and numerous Engravings of mythological divinities. 864 pp., crown 8vo.
Ex. vellum cloth, $2.00...
.Half calf, $3.00
History of the Christian Religion. By Judge C. B. Waite.
A very learned and valuable historical acquisition to the Liberal literature of
the day, containing 450 large octavo pages..
.Cloth, $2.25
Higgins' Horae Sabbaticae; Or an Attempt to Correct Cer-
tain Superstitious and Vulgar Errors Respecting the Sabbath. Preface by
Peter Eckler. Crown 8vo...........
...Paper 25 cts.; Cloth 50 cts.
.Cloth, $1.00
History of a False Religion (Bulwer), & Origin of
EVIL (BROUGHAM). Preface by Peter Eckler...Paper, 25 c.; cloth, 50 c.
Hypatia. By Charles Kingsley...
Hume's Essays. Including the Liberty of the Press; The Natural
History of Religion; Of Miracles; Of a Particular Providence; Of a Future
State; Of Superstition and Enthusiasm, etc., 589 pp., with index.....Cloth. $1.50
..
Hugo's Oration on Voltaire. Delivered at Paris, May 30, 1878.
the one hundredth anniversary of Voltaire's Death. Translated by James
Parton, author of the Life of Voltaire.
Paper, 10 cts.
NGERSOLL (ROB'T G.) Gods & other Lectures.
Comprising the Gods, Humboldt, Thomas Paine, Individuality, Heretics and
Heresies......
..Paper, 50c.; cloth, $1.00
Ghosts and other Lectures.. Including The Ghosts, Lib-
erty of Man, Woman, and Child; The Declaration of Independence, About
Farming in Illinois, Speech_nominating James G. Blaine for Presidency in
1876, The Grant Banquet, A Tribute to Rev. Alex. Clark, The Past Rises before
Me Like a Dream, and A Tribute to Ebon C. Ingersoll.... Paper, 50c.; cloth, $1.00
Some Mistakes of Moses. 270 pp.....Paper, 50c.; cloth, $1.00
Interviews on Talmage. Being Six Interviews with the
Famous Orator on Six Sermons by the Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage of Brooklyn,
to which is added a Talmagian Catechism..
...Paper, 50c.; cloth, $1.00
Thomas Paine's Vindication. A Reply to the New York
Observer's Attack upon the Author-hero of the Revolution, by R. G. Ingersoll.
Paper.........
.15 cts.
Limitations of Toleration. A Discussion between Col.
Robert G. Ingersoll, Hon. Frederick R. Coudert, and Ex-Governor Stewart L.
Woodford.......
.Paper, 10 cents.
Blasphemy. Argument by R. G. Ingersoll in the Trial of C. B.
Reynolds, at Morristown, N. J……...
Lecture on Abraham Lincoln.
handsome, new portrait.....
Paper, 25c.; cloth, 50c
Just out. With a
.Paper, 25 cents.
Voltaire: A Lecture. By Robert G. Ingersoll, with a Portrait of
the great French Philosopher and Poet, never before published.. Paper, 25 c.
The Library of Liberal Classics contains the Best Books
of the 20th Century.
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
9
Volume 1. Ingersoll's Lectures. New edition. Only
authorized. Large octavo, wide margins, good paper, large
type. Contents:
The Gods; Humboldt; Individuality; Thomas Paine; Heretics and Heresies;
The Ghosts; The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child; The Centennial Oration,
or Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1876. What I Know About Farming
in Illinois; Speech at Cincinnati in 1876, nominating James G. Blaine for the
Presidency; The Past Rises Before Me; or, Vision of War, an extract from a
Speech made at the Soldiers and Sailors Reunion at Indianapolis, Indiana,
Sept. 21, 1876; A Tribute to Ebon C. Ingersoll; The Grant Banquet; Crimes
Against Criminals; Tribute to the Rev. Alexander Clarke. Some Mistakes of
Moses; What Must We Do to be Saved? Blasphemy, Argument in the trial of
C. B. Reynolds. Six Interviews with Robert G. Ingersoll on Six Sermons by
the Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.; to which is added a Talmagian Catechism,
and four Prefaces, which contain some of Mr. Ingersoll's best and brightest
sayings.
Containing 1431 pages, bound în cloth, gold back and side stamps.
Price, post-paid, $3.50. Half morocco, $5. Full sheep, law style, $5
This is an entirely new edition and a handsomely proportioned book.
Volume II. Will follow soon, containing all of his latest lectures·
Ingersoll's Liberty in Literature. Testimonial to Walt
Whitman. "Let us put wreaths on the brows of the living" An address
delivered in Philadelphia, Oct. 21, 1890, with Portrait of Whitman. Also
contains the funeral oration.
..........Paper, 25 cents; cloth, 50 cents.
Ingersoll (R. G.) What Must we do to be Saved?
Analyzes the so-called gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and de-
votes a chapter each to the Catholics, Episcopalians, Metodists, Presbyte-
rians, Evangelical Alliance, and answers the question of the Christians as to
what he proposes instead of Christianity-the religion of sword and flame.
Paper...
.25 cents.
Civil Rights Speech. With Speech of Hon. Fred'k Douglass.
Paper.........
Ingersoll (R. G.) Orthodoxy. A Lecture......
.......10 cents.
A Lecture............Paper, 10 cents.
Prose-Poems and Selections. Fifth edition, enlarged
and revised. A handsome quarto, containing 406 pages. This is, beyond ques-
tion, the cheapest and most elegant volume in Liberal literature. Its mechan-
ical finish is worthy of its intrinsic excellence. No expense has been spared to
make it the thing of beauty it is. The type is large and clear, the paper heavy,
highly calendered, and richly tinted, the presswork faultless, and the binding
as perfect as the best materials and skill can make it.
As to the contents, it is eLough to say that they include all of the choicest utterances
of the greatest writer on the topics treated that has ever lived.
Those who have not the good fortune to own all of Mr. Ingersoll's published works,
will have in this book of selections many bright samples of his lofty thought, his
matchless eloquence, his wonderful imagery, and his epigrammatic and poetic
power. The collectión includes all of the "Tributes" that have become famous
in literature-notably those to his brother E. C. Ingersoll, Lincoln, Grant,
Beecher, Conklin, Courtlandt M. Palmer, Mary Fiske, Elizur Wright: his peer-
less monographs on "The Vision of War," Love, Liberty, Art and Morality,
Science, Nature, The Imagination, Decoration Day Oration, What is Poetry
Music of Wagner, Origin and Destiny, "Leaves of Grass," and on the great
heroes of intellectual Liberty. Besides these there are innumerable gems taken
here and there from the orations, speeches, arguments, toasts, lectures, letters
interviews, and day by day conversations of the author.
The book is designed for, and will be accepted by, admiring friends as a rare per-
sonal souvenir. To help it serve this purpose, a fine steel portrait, with auto-
graph fac-simile, has been prepared especially for it. In the more elegant styles
of binding it is eminently suited for presentation purposes, for any season or
occasion.
PRICES.-In cloth, beveled boards, gilt edges, $2.50; in half morocco, gilt edges, $5;
in half calf, mottled edges, library style, $4.50; in full Turkey morocco, gilt
exquisitely fine, $7.50; in full tree calf, highest possible finish. $9.
Cheaper edition from same plates.......
$1.50
The Teachers of Truth are the Benefactors of Mankind,
10
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
?
ROBERT G. INGERSOLL'S WORKS.-(Continued.)
Ingersoll-Gladstone Controversy on Christianity.
From the North American Review, Paper, 25 cts.
Crimes Against Criminals. Delivered before the New
York State Bar Association, at Albany, N. Y., Jan. 21, 1890………………………..Paper, 10 cts.
Lithograph of R. G. Ingersoll. 22 x 28 inch., heavy
plate paper...
.........50 cts.
Photographs of Col. Ingersoll. 18 x 24, $5.00. Impe-
rial, 7 x 13, $1.50. Cabinet, 25 cts. Ingersoll and granddaughter Eva III., (a
home picture,)..
.35 cts.
About the Holy Bible. Just out. A new Lecture Abou
the Holy Bible........
.Paper, 25 cents
Shakespeare. Ingersoll's Great Lecture on Shakespeare, with a
rare and handsome half-ton picture of the Kesselstadt Death Mask.. Paper, 25c.
The Great Ingersoll Controversy. Containing the
Famous Christmas Sermon, by Colonel R. G. Ingersoll, the indignant protests
thereby evoked from ministers of various denominations, and Col. Ingersoll's
replies to the same. A work of tremendous interest to every thinking man and
.Paper, 25 cts.
woman...
....
Is Suicide a Sin? "Something Brand New!" Ingersoll's
startling, brilliant and thrillingly eloquent letters, which created such a sen-
sation when published in the New York World, together with the replies of
famous clergymen and writers, a verdict from a jury of eminent men of New
York, Curious Facts About Suicides, celebrated essays and opinions of noted
men and an astonishing and original chapter, Great Suicides of History!
...25 cts.
Paper
||||
Liberty of Man, Woman, and Child. Just out.
A Lecture. Paper, 25 cts.
Patriotic Addresses. By Col. Robt. G. Ingersoll, RE-
UNION ADDRESS, at Elmwood, Ills., Sept. 5, 1895, and DECORA-
TION-DAY ORATÍON, in New York, May 30, 1882. Paper, 25 cts.
Which Way? A Lecture, by Robert G. Ingersoll. Paper, 25 cts.
Some Reasons Why. A Lecture, by R. G. Ingersoll. Pa. 25c
Myth and Miracle. A Lecture, by R. G. Ingersoll. Pa. 25C
The Foundations of Faith. By R. G. Ingersoll. Pa. 25c
The Field-Ingersoll Discussion. Faith or ag-
NOSTICISM. From the North American Review. Paper, 25 cts.
The Christian Religion. From the North American Re-
view, by Robt. G. Ingersoll, and Judge Jeremiah S. Black, Pa. 25 cts.
How to Reform Mankind. A Lecture. Paper, 25 cts.
Essays and Criticisms. By Robert G. Ingersoll. Paper,
• •
50 cts.
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utation of his Clerical Enemies' Malicious Slanders; the Dishonest State-
ments Regarding Himself and his Family Authoritatively Denied, and the
Proof Given." 12mo, paper bound, colored cover, with fine half-tone likeness
of Colonel Ingersoll. Paper, 25 cts.
Why I am an Agnostic. Entirely rewritten and greatly enlarged.
Never before published. One of Ingersoll's grandest efforts. Paper, 25c.
Lecture on Lincoln. By R. G. Ingersoll. With Century portrait
of the martyr President. In fine pamphlet form.
Works that have Enlightened the World.
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
11
}
+
Ingersoll to the Clergy. His Answers to their Questions and
Criticisms. Replies to the Indianapolis Clergymen, Brooklyn Divines, and
the Unitarians. To which are added Col. Ingersoll's latest Address on
Thomas Paine, at Chickering Hall, New York, 1892. Col. Ingersoll's paper
on God in the Constitution. Paper, 25 cts.
แ
A Thanksgiving Sermon. By R. G. INGERSOLL. Also A TRIB-
UTE TO HENRY WARD BEECHER. "I thank," says Ingersoll,
the heroes, the apostles of reason, the disciples of truth, the soldiers of
freedom-the heroes who held high the holy torch and filled the world with
light." Price, 25 cts.
ACOLLIOT (L.) Bible in India. Hindoo Origin of Chris-
Junius' Letters. From Woodfall's London Edition……..
Josephus. The Complete Works…....
$2.00
$1.25
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Junius Unmasked. Paine the author of Letters of Junius and Decla-
ration of Independence. By W. H. Burr....
´EELER (B. C.) Short History of the Bible...
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Koran, The
$1.50
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..75 cts.
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inary Discourse by George Sale. With Maps and Plans. Demy, 8vo, gilt top..$2
$1.00
Roxburgh Style....
Life. A Prose-Poem. By Col. Robert G. Ingersoll.
This world-famous
monograph is without its peer in literature. It is a gem without a flaw.
The engraver's and printer's art have blended strength and beauty in their
work, faithfully producing the dual portrait, and entwining a wild-rose
border about it and the text, making altogether an exquisite work of art,
suitable for elegant frame, for parlor, easel or mantel. This elegant panel
is printed and lithographed in color, and signed in autograph fac-simile on
neavy card board, size 12½ x 16 inches. Price, 50 cts.
Life of Thomas Paine. By the editor of the National, with Preface
and Notes by Peter Eckler. Illustrated with views of the Old Paine Home-
stead and Paine Monument at New Rochelle; also, portraits of the most
prominent of Paine's friends in Europe and America. As "a man is known
by the company he keeps," these portraits of Paine's associates are in them-
selves a sufficient refutation of the wicked libels against Paine that have so
long disgraced sectarian literature. Crown 8vo...Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, 75 cts.
Liberty of Man, Woman and Child, with a beautiful
half-tone picture of Colonel Ingersoll and his two grandchildren, Eva and
Robert; also his famous Tribute to his Brother... .............Paper, 25 cts.
Lecture on Shakespeare.
By R. G. Ingersoll. The Lecture so
much admired by all lovers of Shapespeare. Handsome pamphlet……..25 cts.
Liberty in Literature. Testimonial to Walt Whitman, by Col.
Robert G. Ingersoll. Address delivered in Philadelphia October 21, 1890.
Also, Address by Col. Ingersoll at the Funeral of Walt Whitman, Camden,
.Paper, 25 cts. ; cloth, 50 cts.
N. J., March 30, 1892...
Lessons from the World of Matter and the World
of Man. By Theodore Parker. Selected from notes of unpublished sermons
Paper, 50 cts.; cloth, $1.25
by Rufus Leighton. 12mo, 430 pp...
Thoughts that Live in Words Sublime.
12
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.

NEW BOOKS?
NEW
Just Published. The
LIFE OF JESUS,
JESUS,

BY ERNEST RENAN.
400 pages. Beautifully Illustrated. Cloth, 75 cts.; paper, 50 cents.
IN PRESS. The
WISDOM OF LIFE
BÝ ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER.
With portrait of Schopenhauer.
Paper, 25 cents.
NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
"Schopenhauer is not simply a moralist writing in his study and applying
abstract principles to the conduct of thought and action, but is also in a large
measure a man of the world, with a firm grasp of the actual, and is therefore,
able to speak in a way which, to use Bacon's phrase, comes home to men's
business and bosoms. The essentially practical character of his Wisdom of
Life is evidenced by his frequent recourse to illustrations, and his singularly
apt use of them. Mr. Bailey Saunders' introductory essay adds much to the
value and interest of a singularly suggestive volume."-Manchester Examiner.
"The new lights which Mr. Saunders' translations give us into the character
of the great pessimist are of considerable value. The Wisdom of Life is well
worth reading and Mr. Saunders has done his work well."-Glasgow Herald.
In Preparation. The
IGNORANT PHILOSOPHER.
From the French of M. de Voltaire,
Portraits of Descartes and Spinoza.
Paper, 25 cts.
VOLTAIRE'S
LETTERS ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
With comments on the writings of the most eminent authors who have been
accused of attacking Christianity. Many portaits. Paper, 25 cents.
THE
PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY.
By Voltaire. (With superb portrait of the Empress Catherine.)
This admirable work is "humbly dedicated by the author to the most high
and puissant Princess, CATHERINE THE SECOND, Empress of all the Russias,
protrectress of the arts and sciences; by her genius entitled to judge of ancient
nations, as she is by her merit worthy to govern her own." Paper, 25 cts.
Eckler's Library of Liberal Classics contains the Best Books
of the 20th Century.
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
13
Life of Jesus, by ERNEST RENAN, with many valuable illustra-
tions. 400 pages, crown 8vo, paper, 50 cts.; cloth, gilt top, 75 cts.
Although educated as a Catholic priest, Renan, from study and observation,
became a philosopher. From his religious training he had learned to ad-
mire and respect the character and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, but his
good sense and reason led him to disbelive in the supernatural origin of the
"Son of Mary." His reasons for this disbelief-this want of faith-are as
follows, and are given in his own words:
"None of the miracles with which the old histories are filled took place under scientific
conditions. Observation, which has never once been falsified, teaches us that miracles
never happen but in times and countries in which they are believed, and before persons
disposed to believe them. No miracle ever occurred in the presence of men capable of
testing its miraculous character. Neither common people nor men of the world are able to
do this. It requires great precautions and long habits of scientific research. In our days
have we not seen almost all respectable people dupes of the grossest frauds or of puerile
illusions? Marvelous facts, attested by the whole population of small towns, have, thanks
to a severe scrutiny, been exploded. If it is proved that no contemporary miracle will bear
inquiry, is it not probable that the miracles of the past, which have all been performed in
popular gatherings, would equally present their share of illusion, if it were possible to
criticise them in detail?
It is not. then, in the name of this or that philosophy, but in the name of universal
experience, that we banish miracle from history. We do not say, 'Miracles are impossible.'
We say, 'Up to this time a miracle has never been proved.' If to-morrow a thaumaturgus
presents himself with credentials sufficiently important to be discussed, and announces
himself as able, say, to raise the dead; what should be done? A commission, composed of
physiologists, physicists, chemists, persons accustomed to historical criticism, would be
named. This commission would choose a corpse, would assure itself that the death was real,
would select the room in which the experiment should be made, would arrange the whole
system of precautions, so as to leave no chance of doubt. If, under such conditions, the
resurrection were effected, a probability almost equal to certainty would be established. As,
however, it ought to be possible always to repeat an experiment,-to do over again that
which has been done once; and as, in the order of miracle, there can be no question of ease
or difficulty, the thaumaturgus would be invited to reproduce his marvelous act under other
circumstances, upon other corpses, in another place. If the miracle succeeded each time,
two things would be proved: first, that supernatural events happen in the world; second,
that the power of producing them belongs, or is delegated to, certain persons. But who
does not see that no miracle ever took place under these conditions? but that always
hitherto the thaumaturgus has chosen the subject of the experiment, chosen the spot.
chosen the public; that, besides, the people themselves-most commonly in consequence of
the invincible want to see something divine in great events and great men-create the
marvelous legends afterwards? Until a new order of things prevails, we shall maintain
then, this principle of historical crititism-that a supernatural account cannot be admitted
as such, that it always implies credulity or imposture, that the duty of the historian is to
explain it, and seek to ascertain what share of truth, or of error, it may contain."
Of the different works which M. Renan has written upon the History of the
Origins of Christianity, his Life of Jesus has been received by the public with
the greatest favor. Many translations of this book have been made from the
original French edition, and many rival editions have been published in Europe
and America. Thousands upon thousands of copies have been disposed of, and
still the demand for the work has not ceased.
The present edition is reprinted from the thirteenth revised French edition,
and the interesting Preface and the valuable Appendix from that edition have
also been included. A portrait of Renan when a young man, and another from
a photograph taken at Paris in his old age, have been added; also, a portrait of
Renan's sister Henriette, a view of the house at Tréguier in Brittany where
Renan was born, views of the cloister, and cathedral at Tréguier, under whose
shadow the future author of the "Vie de Jésus" was brought up, a charming
view of the Bay of Ghazier in Syria, where the Life of Jesus was written, and
a view of Renan's quarters at Amschit, where Henriette Renan died.
As Renan greatly admired all that was natural in the Life of Jesus, and
determinedly abjured all that related to the supernatural and miraculous, we have
added a portrait of the child Jesus, his father Joseph, and his mother Mary.
This engraving is from a painting by the celebrated Italian artist Giuseppe
Maria Crespi, and represents Jesus assisting his father Joseph, at a carpenter's
work-bench, while his mother Mary, seated near them, is industriously and use-
fully engaged with thread and needle. This picture, while not romantic, may claim
to be more "natural" than the usual representations of the "Holy Family."
From the great number of imaginary portraits of the "Son of Man," invented
by the genius of Italian painters, we have selected that of Boccaccio Boccaccino
for reproduction, it being judged the most worthy from an artistic point of view.
The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci, will long be remembered by the
superstitious, who believe that the accident to Judas, and the crucifixion of Jesus
took place because there were 13 persons present on that memorable occasion.
The Descent from the Cross, by Luca Cambiaso, equals, if it does not surpass
in merit, the efforts of any of his rivals in the Italian school of painting.
{
14
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
MAN
AN IN THE PAST, PRESENT AND FU-
TURE. By Prof. Ludwig Büchner. It describes Man as "a being not
put upon the earth accidentally by an arbitrary act, but produced in harmony
with the earth's nature, and belonging to it as do the flowers and fruits to
the tree which bears them."
.. Cloth, $1.00
Mahomet, The Illustrious, BY GODFREY HIGGINS, Esq.
Perhaps no author has appeared who was better qualified for writing an
honest Life of Mahomet-the Illustrious-than Godfrey Higgins, Esq., the
author of the present work. His knowledge of the Oriental languages,
his careful and methodical examination of all known authorities-his evident
desire to state the exact truth, joined to the judicial character of his mind,
eminently fitted him for the task, and he has produced a work that will
prove of interest to both Mahometans and Christians. Preface by Peter
Eckler. Crown 8vo. paper, 25 cts.; cloth 50 cts.
·
Mahomet: His Birth, Character and Doctrine,
BY EDWARD GIBBON, Esq. Gibbon's account of the Arabian legislator
and prophet, is conceded to be historically correct in every particular, and
so grand and perfect in every detail as to be practically beyond the reach of
adverse criticism. Crown 8vo. paper, 25 cts.; cloth, 50 cts.
Martyrdom of Man (The.) By Winwood Reade. This book is a
very interestingly pictured synopsis of universal history, showing what the
race has undergone-its martyrdom-in its rise to its present plane. It
shows how war and religion have been oppressive factors in the struggle for
liberty, and the last chapter, of some 150 pages, describes his intellectual
struggle from the animal period of the earth to the present, adding an out-
line of what the author conceives would be a religion of reason and love.
Cloth.....
$1.00
Meslier's Superstition in All Ages. Jean Meslier was a
Roman Catholic Priest who, after a pastoral service of thirty years in
France, wholly abjured religious dogmas, and left this work as his fast Will
and Testament to his parishioners and to the world. Preface by Peter
Eckler. 339 Pp., portrait. Crown 8vo, paper, 50 c.; cloth, $1.00; half calf, $3.00
The same work in German....
.Paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.00
Mitchell (Richard M.) The Safe Side: A Theistic Refu-
tation of the Divinity of Christ. 475 pages...
....Cloth, $1.50
* * * "The Safe Side" is written from what may be described as the most
agnostic position possible within the range of Unitarian views. It presents
a great number of "nuts to crack," by those students of the scriptures and
the history of the church who have gone over the ground for themselves, and
are credited with the ability to pass judgment upon the arguments for and against
"the faith as once delivered to the saints."-Chicago "Tribune.”
man,
Man: Whence and Whither? By Richard B. Westbrook,
D.D., LL.D. The author has here presented in his peculiarly pungent style
about all that can be said for the existence of God and the future life of
while he practically disposes of many collateral questions. His assaults upon
Atheism and Orthodox Theology are equally robust. 226 pp....Cloth, $1.00
Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome. The work contains
Horatius, a Lay made about the year of the city CCCLX; The Battle of the
Lake Regillus, a Lay sung at the Feast of Castor and Pollux on the Ides of
Quintilis, in the year of the city CCCCLI; Virginia; fragments of a Lay sung
in the Forum on the day whereon Lucius Lextius Sextinus Lateranus and
Caius Licinius Calvus Stolo were elected Tribunes of the Commons the fifth
time, in the year of the city CCCLXXXII; The Prophecy of Capys; a Lay
sung at the Banquet in the Capitol, on the day whereon Manius Curius
Dentatus, a second time Consul, triumphed over King Pyrrhus and the
Tarentines, in the year of the city CCCCLXXIX; Ivry, a Song of the Hugue-
nots; The Armada, a fragment. A beautiful gift book, with portrait and
115 exquisite outline illustrations, (original and from the antique), drawn on
wood by George Scharf, Jr. 4to……….
…………..Cloth, extra gilt, $2.50
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
15
Works of Thomas Paine.
Common Sense. A Revolutionary pamphlet addressed to the inhab-
itants of America in 1776, with an explanatory notice by an English author.
Paine's first and most important political work. Paper 15 cts.
The Crisis. 16 numbers. Written during the darkest hours of the American
Revolution "in the the times that tried men's souls." Paper, 25c.; cloth 50c,
The Rights of Man. Being an answer to Burke's attack upon the
French Revolution. A work almost without a peer. Paper
Paper 5c.; cloth, 50c.
The Age of Reason. Being an investigation of True and Fabulous
Theology. A new and unabridged edition. For nearly one hundred years
the clergy have been vainly trying to answer this book. Paper 25c.; cloth 50c.
Paine's Religious and Theological Works complete.
Comprising the Age of Reason-An Investigation of True and Fabulous
Theology; An Examination of the Prophecies of the coming of Jesus
Christ; The Books of Mark, Luke and John; Contrary Doctrines in the
New Testament between Matthew and Mark; An Essay on Dreams;
Private Thoughts on a Future State; A Letter to the Hon. Thomas
Erskine; Religious Year of the Theophilanthropists; Precise History
of the Theophilanthropists; A Discourse Delivered to the Society of
Theophilanthropists at Paris; A Letter to Camille Jordan; Origin of Free-
masonry; The Names in the Book of Genesis; Extract from a Reply
to the Bishop of Llandaff; The Book of Job; Sabbath or Sunday; Future
State; Miracles; An Answer to a Friend on the Publication of the Age
of Reason: Letters to Samuel Adams and Andrew A. Dean; Remarks
on Robert Hall's Sermons; The word Religion; Cain and Abel; The
Tower of Babel; To Members of the Society styling itself the Missionary.
Society; Religion of Deism; The Sabbath Day of Connecticut; Ancient
History; Bishop Moore; John Mason; Books of the New Testament; Deism
and the Writings of Thomas Paine, etc. The work has also a fine Portrait of
Paine, as Deputy to the National Convention in France, and portraits of
Samuel Adams, Thomas Erskine, Camille Jordan, Richard Watson, and
other illustrations. One vol., post 8vo., 432 pages, paper 50 cts., cloth $1.00.
Paine's Principal Political Works. Containing Common
Sense; The Crisis, (16 numbers), Letter to the Abbé Raynal; Letter from
Thomas Paine to General Washington; Letter from General Washington to
Thomas Paine; Rights of Man, parts I and II.; Letter to the Abbé Siéyès.
With portrait and illustrations. In one volume, 655 pp., pa. 50 cts.; cloth $i.
Daine's Political Works complete. In two vols., containing
over 500 pp. each, post 8vo, cloth, with portrait and illustrations. $1.00 per vol.
Jolume I. contains: Common Sense and the Epistle to the Quakers; The
Crisis, (the 16 Numbers Complete); A Letter to the Abbé Raynal; Letter
from Paine to Washington; Letter from Washington to Paine; Dissertation
on Government, the Affairs of the Bank and Paper Money; Prospects on the
Rubicon; or, an Investigation into the Causes and Consequences of the Poli-
tics to be agitated at the next Meeting of Parliament; Public Good, being an
Examination into the claim of Virginia to the Western Territory, etc.
Volume II. contains: Rights of Man in two Parts, (Part I. being an Answer
to Burke's Attack on the French Revolution; Part II. contains Principle and
Practice); Letter to Abbé Siéyès; To the Authors of the Republican; Letter
Addressed to the Addressers on the Late Proclamation; Letters to Lord
Onslow; Dissertation on First Principles of Government; Letters to Mr.
Secretary Dundas; Speech in the French National Convention; Reasons
for Sparing the Life of Louis Capet; Letter to the People of France; On the
Propriety of Bringing Louis XVI. to Trial; Speech in the National Conven-
tion on the Question, "Shall or shall not a Respite of the Sentence of Levis
XVI. take place?" To the People of France and the French Armies; Decline
and Fall of the English System of Finance; Agrarian Justice, etc.
Life of Thomas Paine. By the editor of the National, with Preface
t
and Notes by Peter Eckler. Illustrated with views of the Old Paine Home-
stead and Paine Monument at New Rochelle; also, portraits of the most
prominent of Paine's friends in Europe and America. As "a man is known
by the company he keeps," these portraits of Paine's associates are in them-
selves a sufficient refutation of the wicked libels against Paine that have so
long disgraced sectarian literature. Post 8vo, paper 50 cts.; cloth 75 cts.
Paine's Vindication. A Reply to the New York Observer's attack
upon the Author-hero of the Revolution, by R. G. Ingersoll. Paper, 15 cts.
16.
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.

LIBRARY OF
LIBERAL CLASSICS
POPULAR EDITIONS OF PAINE'S WRITINGS.
Age of Reason,
Common Sense,
Rights of Man,
Crisis,
66
Religious and Theological Works.
Principal Political Works, (1 vol.)
Complete
(2 vols.)
Poetical and Miscellaneous Works,
Life, by the Editor of the National,
Complete Life of Paine, by Thos, Cilo
RICKMAN & the Editor of the National. Ills.
PAPER OLOTE
25
50
15
25
25
50
50
1.00
50
1.00
¡
1
2.00
1.00
50
75
1.00
Students' Illustrated Edition of Paine's Works,
5 volumes, bound uniform, boxed, including,
Poetical and Miscellaneous Works. 1 vol. )
Religious and Theological
Complete Political
66
I vol.
2 vol.
$5.00
I vol.
Life, by Thomas Clio Rickman and
the Editor of the National…..………..
PETER ECKLER, 35 Fulton St., N. Y.
Only Works of Sterling Merit Published.
1
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
17
Paine's Complete Works.
THE STUDENT'S ILLUSTRATED EDITION.
COMPRISING
Paine's Religious and Theological Works, in (1 vol.)
Paine's Poetical and Miscellaneous Works, (1 vol.)
Paine's Political Works, (complete in 2 vols,) and also,
Paine's Life, by the editor of The National, and by Thomas
Clio Rickman; with Lord Erskine's speech in behalf of Paine,
Court of King's Bench, London, Eng., Dec. 18, 1792, (1 vol.)
Forming together, Five Handsome, Crown 8 vo. volumes, in a box. Bound
in brown vellum cloth, gilt leather titles, and sold at $5.00 for the entire set.
As is well known Paine's political and religious writings exerted an immense
influence in America, England and France during his life, and since his death
that beneficent influence has increased and extended throughout the civilized
world. A copy of this illustrated edition of his works (which for elegance, accuracy
and completeness is not excelled, if equalled, by editions sold at treble the price)
should be in the library of every patriot-of every lover of Truth, Justice and
Liberty.
Political Works of Thomas Paine, Complete. In two
vols., containing over 500 pp. each, with portrait and many illustrations.
Crown 8vo., brown vellum cloth, gilt leather titles, $1.00 per vol.
Vol. I. contains: Common Sense and the Epistle to the Quakers; The
Crisis, (the 16 Numbers Complete); A Letter to the Abbé Raynal; Letter
from Paine to Washington; Letter from Washington to Paine; Dissertation
on Government, the Affairs of the Bank and Paper Money; Prospects on the
Rubicon; or, an Investigation into the Causes and Consequences of the Poli-
tics to be agitated at the next Meeting of Parliament; Public Good, being an
Examination into the claim of Virginia to the Western Territory, etc.
Vol. II. contains: Rights of Man in two Parts, (Part I. being an Answer
to Burke's Attack on the French Revolution; Part II. contains Principle and
Practice); Letter to Abbé Siéyès; To the Authors of the Republican; Letter
Addressed to the Addressers on the Late Proclamation; Letters to Lord
Onslow; Dissertation on First Principles of Government; Letters to Mr.
Secretary Dundas; Speech in the French National Convention; Reasons
for Sparing the Life of Louis Capet; Letter to the People of France; On the
Propriety of Bringing Louis XVI. to Trial; Speech in the National Conven-
tion on the Question, "Shall or shall not a Respite of the Sentence of Louis
XVI. take place?" To the People of France and the French Armies; Decline
and Fall of the English System of Finance; Agrarian Justice, etc.
Theological and Religious Works of Thos. Paine
COMPLETE. Comprising the Age of Reason - an Investigation of True
and Fabulous Theology; An Examination of the Prophecies of the coming of
Jesus Christ; The Books of Mark, Luke and John; Contrary Doctrines in the
New Testament between Matthew and Mark; An Essay on Dreams;
Private Thoughts on a Future State; A Letter to the Hon. Thomas
Erskine; Religious Year of the Theophilanthropists; Precise History
of the Theophilanthropists; A Discourse Delivered to the Society of
Theophilanthropists at Paris; A Letter to Camille Jordan; Origin of Free-
masonry; The Names in the Book of Genesis; Extract from a Reply
to the Bishop of Llandaff; The Book of Job; Sabbath or Sunday; Future
State; Miracles; An Answer to a Friend on the Publication of the Age
of Reason; Letters to Samuel Adams and Andrew A. Dean; Remarks
on Robert Hall's Sermons; The word Religion; Cain and Abel; The
Tower of Babel; To Members of the Society styling itself the Missionary
Society; Religion of Deism; The Sabbath Day of Connecticut; Ancient
History; Bishop Moore; John Mason; Books of the New Testament; Deism
and the Writings of Thomas Paine, etc. The work has also a fine Portrait of
Paine, as Deputy to the National Convention in France, and portraits of
Samuel Adams, Thomas Erskine, Camille Jordan, Richard Watson, and
other illustrations. One vol., Crown 8vo., brown vellum cloth, gilt leather
title, 432 pages. Paper, 50 cts.; cloth, $1.00.
18
Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
Paine's Poetical and Miscellaneous Works com-
PLETE. Containing Introduction to the first number of the Pennsylvania
Magazine; The Snowdrop and Critic; The Pennsylvania Magazine;
Liberty Tree; The Death of General Wolfe; Burning of Bachelors' Hall,
1775; Contentment, or Confession; From the "Castle in the Air" to the
"Little Corner of the World;" What is Love? Lines Extempore, July,
1808; Patriotic Song; Sons of Columbia; Land of Love and Liberty
Address to Lord Howe; Korah, Dathan and Abiram; The Monk and the
Jew; Farmer Short's Dog, Porter; "Wise Men from the East;" A Long
Nosed Friend; Useful and Entertaining Hints; A Fable of Alexander the
Great; Cupid and Hymen; To Forgetfulness; Life and Death of Lord
Clive; Case of the Officers of Excise; Salary of the Officers of Excise;
Evils Arising from Poverty; Qualifications of Officers; Petition to the
Board of Excise; Letter to Dr. Goldsmith; To a Friend in Philadelphia;
On the Utility of Iron Bridges; On the Construction of Iron Bridges; To
the Congress of the United States; To a Friend; Anecdote of Lord Maims-
bury; To Thomas Clio Rickman; Preface to General Lee's Memoirs; To a
Gentleman at New York; The Yellow Fever; Letter to a Friend; Address
and Declaration; To Elihu Palmer; Thomas Paine at Seventy; Letters to
George Washington; Memorial of Thomas Paine to Mr. Monroe; Letters to
the Citizens of the United States; Of the Old and New Testament; Com-
munication; To the Editor of the Prospect; Religious Intelligence; Re-
marks by Mr. Paine; Address from Bordentown; To the English People
on the Invasion of England; To the French Inhabitants of Louisiana; To
the Citizens of Pennsylvania on the Proposal for a Convention; Of Consti-
tutions, Governments, and Charters; Remarks on the Political and Military
Affairs of Europe; Of the English Navy; Remarks on Gov. Lewis's Speech
to the Legislature at Albany; Of Gunboats; Ships of War, Gunboats, and
Fortifications; Remarks on Mr. Hale's_Resolutions at Albany; Letters to
Morgan Lewis on the Prosecution of Thomas Farmer; On the Question,
Will there be War? On Louisiana and Emmissaries; A Challenge to the
Federalists to Declare their Principles; Liberty of the Press; Of the Affairs
of England; To the People of New York; Reply to Cheetham; The Emis-
sary Cullen or Carpenter; Communication on Cullen; Federalists Beginning
to Reform; To a Friend of Peace; Reprimand to James Cheetham; Cheet-
ham and his Tory Paper; The Emissary Cheetham; To the Federal
Faction; Memorial to Congress; To Congress. One volume, Crown 8 vo.,
brown vellum cloth, gilt leather title, $1.00.
The Life of Thomas Paine, by the editor of the National, with
Preface and Notes by Peter Eckler. The work is Illustrated with views
of the Old Paine Homestead and Paine Monument at New Rochelle; with
a fine portrait of Paine, engraved by Mr. Sharp from the portrait painted
by Romney, which is endorsed by Mr. Rickman "as a true likeness;"
also, with a full page illustration of the handwriting and signature of Mr.
Paine, copied from a letter addressed to Rickman, dated New York, July
12, '06.
To the above is added Paine's Life by his intimate and life-long
friend THOMAS CLIO RICKMAN,-who respected and honored the
"Author-Hero of the Revolution" for his brilliant talents and unchanging
devotion to the cause of civil and religious liberty, and who loved
him for his sterling merits, his generous impulses, his unselfish character,
and noble conduct. It was at the home of Mr. Rickman, in Upper Mary-le-
Bone street, London, that Mr. Paine met and became acquainted with
Mary Woolstonecraft, John Horne Tooke, Dr. Priestley, Dr. Towers, Romney,
the painter, Sharp, the engraver, Col. Oswald, and other celebrated Eng-
lish reformers. Lord Erskine's speech in behalf of Paine, Court of King's
Bench, London, Eng., Dec. 18, 1792, has been added, to complete the subject.
The work is also enriched with authentic portraits of the most prominent of
Paine's friends and acquaintances in Europe and America, among whom are :
C. F. Volney; Thomas Clio Rickman; Oliver Goldsmith; Joel Barlow; Dr.
Joseph Priestley; Benjamin Franklin; Mary Woolstonecraft; John Horne
Tooke; Brissot; Condorcet; Madame Roland; James Monroe; Danton;
Marat; M. De La Fayette; Thomas Jefferson; Robespierre; George Wash-
ington, and Napoleon Bonaparte. A view is given of the Temple, (the
dismal fortress in which Louis XVI. was confined previous to his exe-
cution,) and also a view of the death scene of Marat, with a portrait of
Charlotte Corday, his executioner. A portrait is also given of Rouget de
Lisle, with a correct version in French of the Marseillaise Hymn, with the
musical notes of the same, which, as Lamartine tells us, "rustled like a flag
dipped in gore, still reeking in the battle plain: It made one tremble."
One volume, Crown 8 vo., brown vellum cloth, gilt leather title, $1.00.
NOTE-The Life of Paine, by the editor of the National, is also sold separately
from the above. Paper, 50c.
Paper, 50c. Cloth, 75c.

Catalogue of Liberal Classics.
Origin of Species, by Means of Natural Selection, or the Pre
of a Favored Race in the Struggle for Life. By Charles Darwin.
Cloth....
This book is the grandest achievement of modern scientific thought and resear
passed through many editions in English, has been translated into almost all the
of Europe, and has been the subject of more reviews, pamphlets and separate b
any other volume of the age. Most of the great scientists of the age fully support
tion. The thought of this book has become a part of the common inheritance of the race.
•
Paradoxes. By Max Nordau. "Excellent language, great clearness of
argument, by one of the frankest philosophical writers of the present day."
Chicago Tribune. 377 PP...
Paper, $1.00; cloth, $1.50
Profession of Faith of the Vicar of Savoy. By J. J.
Rousseau. Also, A SEARCH FOR TRUTH, by Olive Schreiner. Preface
by Peter Eckler. Post 8vo, 128 pages, with Portrait....Paper 25 c. ; cloth, 50 c.
ELIGIOUS
RE
ELIC
and Theological Works of Paine
Complete. One vol., post 8vo., 432 pp……………….Paper, 50 cts.; cloth, $1.00
Reign of the Stoics. Their History, Religion, Philosophy, Maxims
of Self-Control, Self-Culture, Benevolence, and Justice. By F. M. Holland.
Price....
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Philosophy of Disenchantment. By E. E. Saltus. 233 pages.
Cloth.
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Pocket Theology. By Voltaire. Brief, witty and sarcastic defini-
tions of theological terms.
Paper, 25 cts.
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demonstrations. The book will prove a priceless treasure to all enquiring
minds...
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Maxims and Reflections by Stanislaus, King of Poland. Also Maxims to live
by, and Traits of Moral Courage in every-day life. 12m0, 186 pages.
Cloth...
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From Nature,-I believe them true.
They argue no corrupted mind
In him the fault is in mankind !”—Swift.
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Some Mistakes of Moses. Free Schools, The Fall, Dampness,
Bacchus and Babel, Faith in Filth, Plagues, Inspired Slavery, Marriage,
War, Religious Liberty. By R. G. Ingersoll.... Paper, 50 cts.; cloth, $1.25
Safe Side. A Theistic Refutation of the Divinity of Christ. By Richard
Cloth, $1.50
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Short History of the Bible. Being a popular account of the
Formation and Development of the Canon. By Bronson C. Keeler. Con-
tents: The Hebrew Canon; The New Testament; The Early Controver-
sies; The Books at first not Considered Inspired; Were the Fathers
Competent; The Fathers quoted as Scripture Books which are now called
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Complete List of R. G. Ingersoll's Works, the Greatest Mind
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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
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(Manie.) A Discourse about God. Paper, 50 cts.
work is compiled with remarkable skill."-The Bookseller and Newsman.
A Discourse about Conduct. Paper......
• • ·
50 cts.
have before us the third part (the other parts not having reached us) of
intended "to demonstrate that the universe is a whirl of opposites, and
ese opposites are eternal." This section is devoted to "Theological and
logical Opposites," and seems to preach submission to an "impersonal
God," who is identified with the Law of Nature. "Representatives" of "Reli-
gious Filosophy, Theology, Buddhism, etc., take part in a discourse which
bears some distant resemblance to dialogue, and at one point becomes quite
dramatic-namely, where the Representative of Rational" Filosophy" pathe-
tically complains, "This is speculation," and the Representative of Speculative
"Filosophy" curtly rejoins, "Who said it was not?" Interspersed with this
semi-dialogue- which shows at least a certain breadth of thought, and is fruit-
ful of problems, if not of solutions-there are numerous more or less apposite
quotations from writers of every type and age. We are led from Dean Stanley
to Meng-tse, from Amos and Micah to "Lawyer Ingersoll," from Sir John Lub-
bock to Pythagoras and Homer, from Romans to Mrs. Annie Besant, from
Johnson to the cuneiform inscriptions, from Shakespeare to "the dwarfs of
Central Africa," from Goethe to Webster, from Strauss to St. Augustine, from
Gilbert (of operatic fame) to "Sister Em. of the Salvation Army," We may
well ask who has not obtained a voice in this microcosmic "whirl of opposites.".
The Literary Guide, London.
The following are in Press and will be published in the same neat style.
A Discourse about Immortality. By M. Sands. Paper 50c.
A Discourse about Religion. By Manie Sands. Paper, 50c.
A Discourse about the Law of Success and Fail-
URE OF THINGS. By Manie Sands.....
Paper, 50 cts.
A Discourse about Opposites in General. By Manie
Paper, 50 cts.
Sands....
Social Contract; Or PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL LAW. Also,
A Project for a Perpetual Peace. By J. J. Rousseau. I vol., post 8vo, with
Portrait. Preface by Peter Eckler. Paper, 50cts.; extra vellum cloth, 75 cts.
ALTUS' Anatomy of Negation. Intended to convey a
tableau of anti-Theism from Kapila to Leconte de Lisle. The anti-theistic
tendencies of England and America having been fully treated by other
writers.
The following subjects are fully discussed: 1. The Revolt of the Orient, Kapila
-The Buddha-Laou-tze. 2. The Negations of Antiquity, Theomachy-
Skepticism-Epicurism-Atheism. 3. The Convulsions of the Church, Galilee
-Rome. 4. The Dissent of the Seers, Spinoza-The Seven Sages of Potsdam
Holbach and his Guests. 5. The Protests of Yesterday, Akosmism-Pes
simism-Materialism-Positivism. 6. A Poet's Verdict, Romantics and Par-
nassians. Bibliography. 12m0, 218 pp. Cloth....
• •
.75 cts.
Many a skeptic," says the author of The Anatomy of Negation, "has filled his hours in
showing that things are not what they seem," but whatever indiscretions_these "many
skeptics" may have committed in the past, it is certain that the author of The Anatomy of
Negation has not fallen into a like error in the present, for he has shown us things not
only as they seem, but as they are, and his book is as interesting as it is instructive.
He has shown us that "man's belief in the supernatural antedates chronology. It was
unfathered and without a mother. It was spontaneous, natural, and unassisted by rev-
elation. It sprang into being with the first flight of fancy."
He has also shown us how much we are indebted to the early skeptics-to the pioneers in
freethought-for our present emancipation from the superstitions of the ages that have
passed-for our almost complete disenthralment from the myths, the mysteries, the
traditions, the legends, and the fables of antiquity,-and also for the auspicious promise
of mental freedom, of intellectual liberty, which is now dawning upon the world.
Sixteen Crucified Saviors: or, Christianity Before Christ. Con-
taining New, Startling and Extraordinary Revelations in Religious History
which Disclose the Oriental Origin of all the Doctrines, Principles, Precepts
and Miracles of the Christian New Testament, and Furnishes a Key for Un-
locking Many of its Sacred Mysteries, besides Comprising the History of
Sixteen Oriental Crucified Gods, etc. By Kersey Graves.......Cloth, $1.50
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