CHAPTER LIII.—THE THREE PLANS OF SALVATION.
Yes, we shall make more progress in learning our duties, in learning "what we must do in order to be saved," if we would look about us and forward, and endeavor to read the great Bible or book of nature illuminated by the rules of science, in which there are no contradictions, no confusion, and where we may learn of, and, in our finite measure, grow into and partake of the attributes of the Infinite Father, instead of looking backward and searching amongst the jarring contradictious, the creeds, dogmas, myths, and traditions of the past, covered as they are with the mold and dust of ages.
"Without the shedding of blood there can be no remission for sin." The doctrine of this text constitutes the basis of all the plans of salvation which various ages and nations have founded on dead Gods and living devils. Nearly every religious nation known to history cherished the belief that God is an irritable, irascible, and vindictive being, subject to fits or paroxysms of anger; and, when in this furious and unbalanced and ungovernable state of mind, he frequently poured out his vengeance upon his disobedient children, often subjecting them to the most terrible penalties in this life, and then threatened them with a still worse doom in the next. To avert this direful calamity,—at least so far as it appertained to the life beyond the grave,—most religious nations invented schemes which came to be known as systems or plans of salvation. The original model seems to have been furnished by the Hindoos, and borrowed from them by the Egyptians, and thence transmitted to the Persians and Grecians, and was finally incorporated into the Christian system, and now constitutes what is known as "the Christian plan of salvation." Each system was composed of three cardinal principles: 1. The primeval innocency and moral perfection of man. 2. His temptation and downfall into a state of moral depravity. 3. His restoration to the divine favor by the voluntary sacrifice and atoning offering of a God (one of the three members of the trinity). These three cardinal doctrines constitute what Christians denominate "the great and glorious plan of salvation," and on which a thousand volumes have been written, and ten thousand sermons are preached every year. As it professes to point out the road, and the only road, to heaven, it merits a somewhat critical examination. We will therefore analyze and examine its several principles, to see whether it has a true moral basis, or is in strict accordance with the principles of natural justice. The first proposition assumes that man primordially occupied the highest plane of moral perfection, and that all his animal propensities were held in strict abeyance to his moral convictions, and that he consequently led a morally pure, perfect, and holy life. The first and most important query to which this proposition or assumption gives rise is, Can it be shown to be true? Can it be sustained by either the principles of natural or moral science, or by the facts of history comprised in man's practical life? Now, it so happens that facts have been accumulating for thousands of years, gathered from almost every department of science and history, to prove and demonstrate that the proposition is entirety untenable,—that it is not true. Geology alone demonstrates its falsity. It has written its negative verdict upon a thousand rocks beneath our feet.
These rocks contain the fossiliferous and organic remains of the early and primitive inhabitants of the earth, and indicate the order of man's moral and intellectual development; for as each successive layer or stratum of fossiliferous rocks, in which the organic remains of man are found, marks a distinct period in his history, and the growth of his moral and intellectual brain is found in all cases to correspond to the age and growth of these strata, the question is thus settled and demonstrate! by the facts of geological science. As, the older the rocks, the more remote period they mark in man's history; and, the more remote the period to which it is thus traced, the lower the position in the scale of moral and intellectual development his organic remains prove him to have occupied. The question is thus reduced to a scientific problem, which admits of no disproof or refutation. It is, then, a settled scientific truth, that, the further we trace the past history of man by the footprints of geological science, the nearer he approaches to the condition of an animal,—when he was almost totally devoid of intellectual perceptions and moral feelings, and was consequently a victim to his lusts and animal propensities. Where, then, was his moral purity and perfection, or his angelic holiness? The doctrine is thus shown to be false and fabulous. All the skulls of the primitive races that have been found by geological research show that man, in his first rude type, had scarcely any moral brain; and the history of the race at that period shows that he possessed a correspondingly low, weak, defective moral character, so much so that he could scarcely be considered a moral, accountable being. To talk, then, of his occupying a high moral plane at that early period, is to contradict every principle of science and every page of history. His animal propensities and selfish feelings must have held complete sway over the whole empire of mind for thousands, if not for millions, of years; so that his moral status was but little above that of the brute. The facts of science and history to prove this proposition are abundant; but, as we are compelled to constantly observe the most rigid rules of brevity, we can only find space for one or two proof-illustrations. Human skulls have been found embedded in the rocks of Gibraltar with retreating foreheads, prognathous jaws, and frontal bones an inch thick, and the receptacles for both the moral and intellectual brain very small,—all of which denote very weak moral and intellectual minds, and a preponderance of the animal feelings; and geologists have decided that sixty-five thousand years must have elapsed since those bones and skulls were deposited in those rocks. Hundreds of similar facts have been gathered by geologists, and might be cited: but this one case is amply sufficient, and furnishes as conclusive proof as a thousand could do that the primitive inhabitants of the earth were on a low mental status, and that they were greatly inferior in morals and intellect to the least-developed minds of the present age; and consequently man's course has been upward, and not downward. There has been no falling, but a gradual rising, in both the moral and intellectual scale. It shows that man was at the very foot of the ladder at the commencement of his moral and intellectual career,—that he was flat on his back in the ditch; and, consequently, there was no lower place to fall to. The first proposition, then, is shown to be false,—that man originally occupied a high moral position, and that he was in a state of moral purity and perfection.
The second proposition—that of man's fall and moral degeneracy—is likewise shown to be false by the same facts; for, if he was never in a state of moral purity and perfection, then it is evident he never could have fallen from such a state. It would be superfluous, then, to attempt to show that man never fell, after having shown that he never occupied a high moral position to fall from. He could only fall in the sense the Scotchman did, who stated he fell up a well sixty feet in a bucket. It is settled, then, geologically, scientifically, and demonstrably, that man never fell in a moral sense.
We will now proceed to present what is presumed and assumed to be the scriptural exposition of man's original condition and fall.
We are told in the first chapter of Genesis, that, when God had completed the work of creation, he pronounced it all, not only good, but "very good," which indicates a state of perfection; but it appears the words were hardly out of his mouth till a very bad being, called a serpent, came crawling into the garden on his back, to furnish practical evidence that Moses' God was mistaken in having pronounced every thing so very "good." We have to assume that he came into the garden of paradise on his back, because the reverse mode of traveling was not adopted until after the fall; that is, till after he was doomed to that mode of travel as a punishment for having tempted and beguiled Mother Eve to try her new molars and incisors on some fruit (supposed to be pippins) hanging on a tree, which, it appears, underwent the rapid process of blossoming, and bearing fruit that ripened in a few hours after it was planted. And thus the serpent, although a senseless reptile, committed the first sin,—the first violation of moral law. The first question that naturally arises here is, Why was not the fence around the garden of paradise made snake-proof, so as to keep his snakeship out? Or shall we presume the gate was left open, and that he entered in that way? This, however, would indicate a blundering carelessness on the part of Jehovah, which we dare not assume. Another question arising here is, Why was not the angel with the flaming sword, which, we are told, was placed over the door or gateway to guard it from intruders,—why was he not placed there sooner? Why was he not placed there before the fall, instead of after, so as to bruise the serpent's head, or behead him, on his attempting to enter? To place a guard over the gate after the Devil had entered, and caused the effectual downfall and ruin of the human race, and thus perpetrated all the mischief he could, looks very much like "locking the stable-door after the horse is stolen." And the query also arises here, Are we not compelled to conclude that Moses' God was a little short-sighted, and rather hasty in his conclusion that every thing was so "very good" when the serpent proved to be so very bad? The only way to escape this dilemma is to assume that God did not make him, and that consequently he was not included in the original invoice of goods and chattels which were pronounced "very good;" but, in adopting this expedient, we only leap "from the frying-pan into the fire:" for the assumption does not do away with the difficulty, because it is declared that God made every thing that was made.
Hence it is evident that, if he were made at all, the God of Moses made him; and, if he were not made, then it follows that he is a self-created or self-existent being, and invested with all the attributes, powers, and prerogatives of God Almighty himself. And thus we would place two omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent beings on the throne of the universe; which is not only a moral contradiction, but a moral impossibility. We will assume, then, for the sake of the argument, that God did create the Devil,—an assumption, however, which brings us into still greater difficulty. Christ says, by way of illustrating human character, that "a tree is known by its fruit. A good tree can not bring forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." In this case God the Creator is the tree, and the Devil the fruit; and one is good, and the other evil. Here, then, is a good tree bearing evil fruit, which seems to furnish the most positive proof that Christ's moral axiom, "A good tree can not bear evil fruit," is false. There is evidently something wrong somewhere in this moral picture. Either Christ was mistaken, or the Christian world is wrong in assuming the existence of this omnipotent and independent being of an opposite character. It presents us with a moral paradox which no theologian in Christendom has yet been able to solve. We are compelled to assume that both beings are good, or both evil, and that they co-operate and act in harmony; or that a good God made a wicked Devil,—i.e., "a good tree brought forth evil fruit;" or else we must reject the Christian system of salvation, and assume the existence of but one invisible and Almighty Being, who orders every thing for the best. The absurdity we have just noticed is but one of many, both of a moral and of a scientific nature, equally senseless and foolish, which we find involved in the Christian plan of salvation. We will notice a few others. According to Christian theology and Christian logic, all evil or sin that is committed is prompted by an evil tempter. Scientists and Harmonialists account for such actions by tracing them to the abnormal or perverted action of natural faculties, powers, and propensities, which, in their healthy state, are productive of good alone, and not evil; and thus making them the product of the mind itself in its unhealthy condition. But Christian theologians tell us it is a separate, evil genius operating in the "inner man" which does all the mischief, and prompts the possessor to the commission of sin. But this assumption gives rise to endless difficulties, some of which we will state in the form of questions. We would ask, then, in the first place, if all sin or evil is prompted by an evil tempter, how came the original tempter himself to fall victim to sin? Who put him up to it, seeing there was no tempter in existence but himself? In such a dilemma, we must either assume that Divine Goodness was his tempter, or that he tempted himself. To make him his own tempter would involve us in an egregious absurdity, equal to that of Guy Faux lifting himself by the straps of his boots; and to make God the tempter would relieve his Satanic Majesty of all responsibility in the case, and make God alone accountable for the sin, and also the author of sin. This, however, they do by other assumptions. Books enough have been written to form a library by orthodox writers in the attempt to rescue their God from the odium and responsibility' of being the author of sin; but, under their system of theology, he can not escape the stigma. No sensible construction of any orthodox system can save God from the authorship and responsibility of sin. They all teach that God created man, and man committed sin. This makes God the author of sin, either directly or indirectly, in spite of all the logic and lore that ever has been, or ever can be, made use of to escape the conclusion; for even if it could be successfully shown that God did not implant in man the desire or inclination to commit sin, and he derived this inclination from the Devil, it can not be denied that God is responsible for allowing the Devil to exist, or, if this could be denied, would still be responsible for leaving man so morally weak as to be overcome by the Devil. If he is infinite in goodness and infinite in power, as they teach, then, if he did not fortify man with sufficient moral strength to resist all temptation to sin, the act of sinning becomes his own. No logic and no sophistry can resist this conclusion. It is now a settled principle in moral ethics, that what any being does through an agent he does himself, and is as responsible for it as if he performed the act with his own hands de facto. If, then, God created the Devil, and he turned out to be the agent of evil or sin, it was only a roundabout and indirect mode of performing the act himself. This is a logical syllogism which defies the ingenuity of the orthodox world to overturn. The most plausible plea in the case is, that the Devil was originally a good being, but fell from grace. According to several Bibles, he is a fallen angel; but it is evident that he could not fall unless he possessed some inherent moral weakness that caused him to fall. A perfect being could not fall. It is, then, self-evident that inherent moral weakness was implanted in him by his Creator. This would make his Creator responsible for his moral weakness, which caused him to fall. And thus the question is settled logically, philosophically, and morally.
We will now proceed to examine the nature of the diabolical act which caused the downfall of the human race,—"the original sin," as it is called. We are told it consisted in eating some fruit which grew on a tree God himself had planted in the Garden of Eden, and forbidden to be used. Why it was interdicted from use is not explained in the Christian Bible; but it is rendered plain by the relation of the same story in other Bibles. In the Persian version it is stated that the tree bore the twelve apples of immortality, and that the Devil, in the shape of a monkey, guarded the tree, to prevent the genus homo from partaking of the fruit; as tradition had taught them, that, by so doing, man would become immortal like the Gods, and live forever. This the Gods deprecated, as they allowed no other beings to become equal to them, and hence had the tree guarded to save the immortal fruit. But the Christian Bible is entirely silent as to the purpose of planting the tree, or forbidding its fruit to be eaten. It cuts short many stories which we find more amplified and in fuller detail in older Bibles. No reflecting or unbiased mind can see any wisdom or any sense in permitting or causing a tree to bear fruit, and then decreeing that it shall all go to waste by interdicting it from being used, as Jehovah is represented as having done. Certainly no sensible God would act thus. And if Adam and Eve were "very good," as he himself declared them to be, must we not consider it an ungodly and a tantalizing act to place fruit within their reach, and then forbid them to touch or taste it? It looks more like the act of a fiend than that of a kind and loving father, who we would naturally suppose, would be so pleased with his newly made children that he would do every thing possible to please them and make them happy. If the fruit was an improper article of diet, it should have been placed out of sight, or rendered unpalatable, so that they should not desire to eat it. If Adam and Eve were very good beings, and God both infinitely good and infinitely wise, he could and should have placed them in a condition from which they could not fall, and in which they would have possessed no inclination to do any thing wrong. I can see no possible benefit to arise from surrounding them with temptations to commit an act that would ruin them eternally, and their posterity after them. The plea is sometimes urged that it was morally necessary for the original progenitors of the race to possess the power and liability to sin, in order to make them free agents. Free agents, indeed! That is certainly a novel kind of free agency, which not only makes a man free to commit an act which it is known will lead to his own destruction and the ruin of the entire human race, but implants in him the inclination to do it. This is free agency run mad.
We will illustrate the principle. A mother sees her little child approaching an open well, and turns heedlessly away, and lets the child rush into the jaws of death; and, when reproved for the act, she raises the plea, "Oh, I did not want to interfere with its free agency!" Here is the Christian logic of free agency put in practice. God is represented as setting traps around the human family, knowing they will be caught; and this is called moral freedom or free agency. The rat enjoys the same kind of moral freedom when he creeps beneath the deadfall in quest of food, and takes the chance of misplacing the triggers. There is no free agency in any rational sense in furnishing a man with a rope to hang himself, knowing that it would be used for that purpose; and this the orthodox God has done for the whole human family, so that we are all now suspended on the gallows of total depravity and moral death.