The Creation of God by Jacob Hartmann (color ebook reader TXT) 📖

blessed Eucharist at Easter, or within the time appointed; 4. To confess our sins at least once a year; 5. To contribute to the support of our pastor; 6. Not to solemnize marriage at the forbidden times, nor to marry persons within the forbidden degrees of kindom or otherwise prohibited by the church nor clandestinely? The dirt and filth, the nauseating nastiness, of the cesspool of the “Moral Theology” of Peter Dens cannot be printed in the English language. Or perhaps Mr. Satolli will educate the children to mumble over and over the litany of the blessed Virgin, quoted in another chapter, and all the rest of the instructions in mortal sin, venial sin, precepts of the church, infidels and heretics, decalogue, grace, justification, merit, virtue of faith, articles of faith, apostolic creed, church visibility, marks, holiness, authority, infallibility, concerning ecclesiastical councils, supreme pontiff, signs of the cross, magic, miracles, sacrament, worship of relics, worship of images, resurrection, heaven, hell, perdition, purgatory, etc., etc.

Satolli and his confréres would rather have parish schools, to educate the young in their ecclesiastical stupidities, and draw the funds from the state treasury in order to sustain them. The Roman Catholic church, in its career as an educational medium, has not contributed one iota towards the progress and advancement of civilization. The opposition of its clergy has always been the severest and most bloody. Humanity “owes them no thanks for the culture and privileges it now enjoys. The church interferes and checks every step forward. The clergy are determined to keep the masses ignorant as long as it is possible. Greed, selfishness, rapacity, dominion, self-righteousness, and self-sanctification have ever been their chief characteristics. Every act and every transaction is justifiable so long as their ends and objects are gained. Satolli represents the pope’s big toe, that is ready to be firmly planted on the neck of our public school system, whenever the power of state or nation is secured. The wily priests with their Jesuitic craftiness never lose an opportunity. In a republic they are republicans, in a monarchy they are monarchists. They are anything and everything—but the church with all its abominations first. All else must be subservient to their will, to their power, to their use. They are intolerant, bigoted, and tyrannical all the time. Whether it be to prevent the Methodists from establishing a church in Austria, or to intrude their priestly interference in the public school methods in Waterford, Saratoga, it is the same impudent aggression that has characterized them for ages. They are bound to keep the people ignorant, superstitious, and slaves to their system, in spite of all the existing civilizing influences. What we want, and what we must have, is a public school system of education free from all sectarian bias, with neither catechism nor Bible-reading, neither prayers nor psalm-singing, but a thorough instruction in all matters of a nature directly beneficial in the conduct of this life.

The state of transition is rapidly forcing itself upon the minds of men. They can no longer be held in submission. They believe no more in the antiquated notions of four thousand years ago—though modified and decorated to suit modern times. Notwithstanding the ecclesiastical hedges, fences, walls, and draw-bridges that have been erected by priests’ sagacity and cunning in order to prevent encroachments on their theological fortifications, it is plain that there is a natural wearing and tearing of effete notions of the past. That the structure, erected on a false and fictitious foundation, has already given way, Protestants can testify. And as the Protestants have yielded to dissenters, etc., so must they all gradually crumble—before the battering-ram of scientific truth first, next before the advancing intelligence of the masses, and lastly before the press, which indiscriminately lays bare before the public every wrangle, every squabble, and every dissension occurring among the followers of Christ. Neither faith, grace, nor brotherly love, the holy kiss of Paul included, prevents these saintly gentlemen from exercising their greed, selfishness, and covetousness, as well as throwing dirt at one another. Father Corrigan vs. Cahenslyism and Wigger—they keep the pecuniary pot boiling. There is neither malice nor jealousy, but all is for the love of Christ. Dollars and cents? These pious brethren would scorn the idea. At Professor Smith’s trial for heresy the ladies of Mount Auburn church presented the heretic with a basket of flowers. When in old times we find heretics tried by the Roman Catholic church, Are heretics rightly punished with death? asks the priest. St. Thomas answers in the affirmative. Latimer and Ridley were treated to an excellent bonfire at Oxford, 1555, for being heretics. Nor did Cranmer receive white and pink roses in a bed of fern leaves and smilax. What a change! Professors Smith and Briggs are proud to be heretics. They are praised and complimented for being heretics, and no doubt will be well taken care of when these frivolous proceedings have terminated. Guilty or not guilty, they have gained notoriety enough to place them in an excellent position for the rest of their lives. I call that a high, very sensible, and very respectable sort of martyrdom. Both these gentlemen ought to be very grateful to science for having brought about such a change, that gives them the privilege of differing from their spiritual brethren and becoming respectable heretics with baskets of roses. O Civilization, how much have we to thank you for all this! It is so lovely to be a heretic, a blasphemer, and a martyr in this present generation! What a pity that Daniel’s Mene, mene, Tekel upharsin is not quite applicable to the present condition of Christianity. The great ecclesiastical bugbear of Christianity, backed by their God, their Son, Holy Ghost, Virgin Mary, saints, popes, Heaven and Hell, and their infinite methods of salvation, is nothing near so terrible as he used to be. That bugbear has been tamed, and is, comparatively speaking, gentle. His appetites and his passions have been subdued. Indeed Paul deserves no small credit for polishing the Mosaic God. It is only occasionally that Paul mentions his God’s wrath or severity, and very mildly too. Paul’s God comes near being esthetic. The Mosaic God is muscular and energetic. Paul’s God is mild and persuasive. The Mosaic God was a fighting god, conquering territory and molding a political nation. Paul’s God has quite another line of business, sin-forgiving and soul-saving. The Mosaic God was all alone engaged in business. Paul’s God is a firm—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The occupation of sin-forgiving and soul-saving is carried on with great ceremonials in our Christian kindergartens, accompanied with music, prayer, and psalm-singing. The sins are derived, directly or indirectly, from two organs in the main—to wit, digestive and sexual. Any man or woman that cannot perceive the truth of the above must be exceedingly obtuse. Does anyone believe that the teachings and preachings, with all the complementary paraphernalia and other numerous accessories, are necessary to save us or guard us against transgressions or sin? Supposing all the churches and buildings assigned to the worship of God or gods, and all the priests and preachers, disappeared from the surface of this terrestrial globe, would this planet come to a standstill, or the sun cease to shine? Would the elements entering into the composition of the numerous substances found on or within this earth change their relative proportion, construction, or chemical relation? We need not have the slightest apprehension. New systems of ideas have always displaced and replaced the old systems. As we advance from cycle to cycle, this is continuously taking place. The hand gave way to the stick, the stick to the spade, the spade to the hand-plow, the hand-plow to oxen, oxen to horses, horses to steam, etc. It is the natural progress from one step to another, in every branch of thought, learning, and industry. It is a higher education and a better comprehension of the human machinery, a knowledge of the proper functions of the nervous and muscular tissues, a keener insight into the necessities of life, a regulation and control of the organs of organic life, a riper judgment, and a more evenly balanced brain power. The churches with their ethics and refined methods of the present day, with their eloquent admonitions constantly repeated, cannot be regarded in any other light than as a theological kindergarten for a fashionable musical Sunday entertainment.