Austin Holyoake

“ Yet we have no more authority for the one than the other, and no reason to believe one more than the other. Toward the end of the Sabbath (that is, Saturday evening) came Mary Magdalene, with the other Mary, to see the sepulchre where Jesus was laid, and another earthquake took place, and the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment like snow. He told the women that Jesus had risen, and asked them to see the place where the Lord lay. ”

“ Peter and Andrew have never seen Jesus before; he does not tell them who he is; he explains no principles to them by which to enlist their sympathies and awaken conviction—he merely says, "follow me, and I will make you fishers of men," and in prospect of that delightful occupation they abandon their home and calling to accompany a stranger on a doubtful mission, Whatever fish may have come to their net afterwards, they certainly could never have caught two greater flat-fish than themselves. A more striking instance of blind following is not to be found upon record. ”

“ What is the utility of our burial service, which goes upon the supposition that God will attend to our requests as touching the dead we are about to consign to the grave? Freethinkers and rational thinkers discard the whole ceremony as a mockery. When once dead, the particles which composed our bodies are dissolved, and pass into new combinations—we never live again. ”

“ What may be deemed of the nature of caricature in the following remarks the reader is requested to regard as merely the spontaneous utterance of one who is keenly alive to the ludicrous, and who is not awed by the belief that the Bible is an infallible volume. We find the New Testament, when read without the deceptive spectacles of faith as amusing, as extravagant, and as contradictory in many places as most books. ”

“ Jesus, the son of Mary, but not the son of Joseph, Mary's husband, was, according to his biographers, an illegitimate child—at least, his birth seems to have been brought about in a most illegitimate way. One Matthew, who pretends to know a great deal about this child, even before it was born, wishes his readers to infer that Jesus was descended in a direct line from that worthy man and favourite of God, King David, through exactly twenty-eight generations; that is, down to Joseph, who was not the father of Jesus at all. ”

“ And so that prophecy was fulfilled! To cure a disease is not to take it upon ourselves; if it were, the Royal College of Surgeons would soon become an institution of the past. You might love your neighbour as yourself, but to be expected to have the measles tor him, would cool the warmest friendship.
One style of cure Jesus had which may have been very efficacious, but it certainly was not delicate. Once a deaf man, who had an impediment in his speech, was brought to him to be healed. Jesus took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and spat and touched his tongue. ”

“ The Old and New Testaments teem with accounts of feasts and carouses by the chosen of the Lord, and the Lord himself, to such a degree, that Christianity has not inaptly been termed the religion of gourmands. Jesus frequently manifests great readiness and smartness in reply, which is either an answer to the question addressed to him, or a very clever evasion of it. When the Devil had got Jesus, he said to him, "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." The Devil evidently thought that to make something to eat would be the greatest temptation he could offer him. ”

“ Rénan says on this point—"To establish as a principle that we must recognise the legitimacy of a power by the inscription on its coins, to proclaim that the perfect man pays tribute with scorn, and without question, was to destroy Republicanism in the ancient form, and to favour all tyranny. ”

“ No two persons ever see in the painted portrait of a friend or relative, precisely the same expression; yet they may be equally honest. Now we claim to be regarded as truthful in the following portraiture, though Jesus appears to us a very different man to what he appeared to M. Renan. Some may say we are flippant, but that we cannot help, though we may regret it. We must express ourselves in our own way, and we most be excused if we laugh at what seems ludicrous or absurd. ”

“ He simply repeated other men's sayings, or elaborated the traditions and prophecies which were so prevalent among the Jews of his day. This kingdom of heaven did not mean something in another world somewhere in the clouds, but simply a new order of things here, and that more especially among the Jews. At times, it must be confessed, it is difficult to understand what it meant if not an improved mental state, and not a material kingdom at all. Jesus belonged to the working class, and his followers were of the lower orders, and he constantly preached against riches, which was very popular. ”

“ In the first place, it is grossly immoral not to resist evil; and in the second, all the world repudiates the doctrine of non-resistance under such circumstances. If any one smites us on the right cheek, do we not quickly turn and hit him on the left? It is a natural instinct, and to act otherwise is cowardice. Do the proceedings of our law courts furnish many instances of the adoption of this recommendation:—"And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also?" One half humanity would very soon be stripped by the other half. ”

“ How educated men can believe it, is a mystery which we trust the School Boards of the future will be able to unravel; at present we find it as insoluble as all the other sublime mysteries of Christianity, for we cannot believe that a University training necessarily makes men hypocrites, and we are loth to believe that on one most important subject it necessarily makes them imbecile. ”

“ Fanaticism was at the foundation, and delusion and ignorance very naturally result. Others followed Jesus, forsaking their nets and their parents, and they went about all Galilee, Jesus preaching and curing all sorts of disease and sickness—and curious indeed were some of his cures, such as are not mentioned in any modern pharmacopoeia. Having vanquished great Satan himself on three occasions, the minor devils had no chance with him, and woe betide all who came before him inhabiting human beings. ”

“ Jesus said they need not go, and told the disciples to give to the people to eat. They said, We have here but five loaves and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to me. And then looking up to heaven, he blessed and brake, and distributed to the multitude. Now out of this very small commissariat, about five thousand men, besides women and children, ate and were filled, and left twelve baskets full of fragments at the end of the feast. All we can deplore is, that the age of miracles is past. ”

“ The Bishop of Manchester, in a speech delivered by him in Oldham in August, 1870, is reported to have said that "he could defy anyone to try to caricature the work, the character, or the person of the Lord Jesus Christ." He no doubt felt confident in throwing out such a challenge, as the attempt would be considered so atrociously impious that few men could be found with courage enough to incur the odium of such an act. We confess that we have not the temerity to wound the sensitiveness of the devoutly religious. ”

“ After he had done all his preaching, and had thoroughly aroused the ire of the authorities and most of the people of Jerusalem against him, he began to fear that he would have to suffer for it, and he told his disciples so. After they had supped together in the house of one of the friends, they departed to the Mount of Olives outside the city, and Jesus said they would all be offended with him because of that night. Peter the loquacious declared, that though all men might be offended because of him, he would never be. ”

“ No one with any spirit or power of resistance would think of submitting to the compulsion of walking a mile with a person, much less of going two in the company of one whose society might be a nuisance. ”

“ He was baptised at thirty by John, who taught him rudeness of manners; and though a dove descended direct from heaven, and alighted on his head, he was immediately taken by the spirit into very dangerous places, was kept a remarkably long time without food, and was very strangely tempted by the Devil in person.
He became a great talker, dealt largely in mystical language, and gathered followers from the poorest, most ignorant, and most credulous of his countrymen. ”

“ If this is so, what becomes of the hope which believers in immortality have that in heaven they will be joined again to those they have lost on earth? This great consolation of the Christian is founded on a delusion. Jesus also supplemented his statement with this remarkable declaration, "But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living," What then is the use of Catholic prayers for the souls of those in Purgatory? ”

“ He is the one sublime character whose image fills the world, and before whom millions bow the head in reverent humility." Just so; that is where the delusion arises. Men have been taught that they must not think—that they must not doubt—that they must not examine the grounds of their faith—they must believe, and that the sin of unbelief is everlasting perdition. ”

“ But when they looked again the stone was away, and on entering the sepulchre they saw a young man dressed in white sitting inside, and no angel with a lightning face sitting outside. The women fled with terror, but told no man what they had seen; and it isa mystery to this day how that which was never told to any one is known to nearly all the world. Jesus did not meet the two Marys, but appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. She went and told the disciples about the resurrection, but they believed her not. ”

“ It is consoling to find the "salt of the earth" such consistent followers of their great Master. It is because they are the salt of the earth, that the world has got into such a precious pickle.
Bishops especially, and pluralists in particular, nurse in their hearts this saying: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth." No, poor men, they think too much about their heavenly Father! A few thousand! a year are quite sufficient for them. And Christian bankers and millionaires equally regard the injunction. ”

“ The fame of Jesus spread rapidly, and great multitudes flocked to hear him. One day he went up into a mountain, and addressed the people, but his discourse was of rather an extravagant description. As we understand matters in these days, what is the amount of truth contained in the following sentences?—
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ”

“ No persons have ever yet had the requisite amount of faith to remove mountains; and the less they try such credulity on fruit trees, the better for our orchards. Nobody does or can believe such insane talk. Jesus went to the temple again, and whilst he was preaching, the Chief Priests and elders came and asked him by what authority he did such things. ”

“ When Jesus learnt the execution of John the Baptist, he departed into a desert place, but the multitude heard of him, and followed him out of the cities. And when evening came, the disciples asked him to send the multitude away, that they might go into the villages and buy themselves victuals. We do not usually find villages in desert places ”

“ A system of religion, to be a moral guide to men, should be perfect in all its parts. It should not consist of a few precepts which might be followed under certain circumstances, the rest being made up of impossibilities and contradictions; but should be so comprehensive as to embrace all orders of men under all circumstances. ”

“ And a divine exemplar to mankind, if such a being can be imagined, should possess every human virtue in perfection, and be absolutely without fault. We are told daily and hourly that Jesus Christ possesses these transcendent qualities, and is worthy of the homage and admiration of the world. ”

“ Peter afterwards became the greatest fanatic of all the Disciples, and caused his Master some trouble through his excess of zeal. And this is the man to whom are entrusted the keys of heaven. No wonder the ignorant fanatics find a ready admission, whilst sensible people are excluded. ”

“ Well they might; and we fear that any man in these days who should do such things, would have many followers, in spite of all the preaching of all the teetotallers, who, strange to say, for the most part profess to be good Christians, notwithstanding that Christ, when he had the opportunity of rebuking wine bibbing, did not do so, but encouraged it by supplying the very beverage which teetotallers so vehemently condemn.
When Jesus came into the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? ”

“ There would be fewer believers if there were more inquirers. The advocates of Bible reading in Elementary Schools must feel that there is danger to the faith lurking in the future if that "precious book" is read and not "expounded." Dogmatic teaching is the stronghold of the religion of Christendom. ”