Herbert Junius Hardwicke

“ Compared with these fables, how ennobling, grand and sublime is the theory of evolution. We behold the great and mysterious energy of universe operating in a manner calculated to inspire our minds with wonder, awe and admiration. The truly marvellous development of ourselves from a chaotic nebula of attenuated matter, through all the varied and manifold stages of existence, with their beautiful and useful properties, is indeed an overwhelmingly convincing evidence of the existence of an omniscient and omnipotent, although absolutely inscrutable author ”

“ The writer, historian, or pseudo-scientist who writes volumes of falsehoods for the purpose of propping up for a short time longer priestcraft and tyranny will assuredly fare well at the hands of these insinuating gentlemen of the cloth; but let the man who dares to write the honest, unvarnished truth beware! His fair name, his business, and his social and family ties will be undermined and destroyed in an incredibly short space of time. All honor, therefore, be given to those brave ones who have dared to stand before the world and speak out the truth in the cause of humanity! ”

“ Still we are ages away from the period we desire to arrive at; and even were we able to trace the human family back to that remote time when man could not be said to partake more of the character of the human than the ape species, still we should even then be unable to point to the precise moment when intellect shed its glorious rays upon the race, making bright, clear, and beautiful what before was dark, misty, and unmeaning. ”

“ Meanwhile let us apply ourselves boldly to the uprooting of the old Upas tree of religious faith—that pernicious development of the god-idea that has been the constant blight of all ages, stifling reason by fostering blind faith and gross credulity, robbing the race of all that is noble, manly, and honest, by the propagation of those canker worms, hypocrisy and cant, and retarding the temporal salvation of man by the substitution of the vain and foolish theory of future rewards and punishments. ”

“ Why make this abrupt break in the chain of sequence? Does it not annihilate completely the whole theory of evolution? It is not more wonderful that life should be evolved from inanimate nature than that man should be evolved from a structureless bioplasm. The continuity of evolution once broken, why may it not be broken again and again?
If we are to accept the theory of evolution, we are bound to admit that animate was evolved from inanimate matter. ”

“ As we look around us upon the wonderful objects of nature we see everywhere animation and law; the heavens above are full of life—suns, planets, moons, and other celestial bodies incessantly moving to and fro, all bound in their courses by the immutable laws of nature; the vast ocean, teeming with myriads of living beings, is incessantly rolling and roaring like some great monster, but never exceeds the limits which nature has assigned to its action ”

“ How absurd, then, to raise a question as to the conscious individual immortality of the countless myriads of a species that shall itself have utterly vanished without leaving a trace!
Are we, then, annihilated at death? Yes, as conscious individuals. We are bound to admit the force of all the arguments brought forward by science against the theory of a future conscious existence; but these arguments in no way affect the great problem of the “ego,” or “self,” which exists in all of us, irrespective of consciousness, memory, or other brain function. A man may be unconscious, and yet live ”

“ CREATION AND FALL.
The one great differential mark between man and the brutes is his higher development of brain power, by which he is enabled to discriminate between right and wrong, or good and evil, and thus to improve his bodily and social condition. The individual who obstinately refuses to avail himself of the great mental power within him not only deprives himself of the greatest pleasure in life, but also allows himself to sink to the level of the brutes from which he evolved, exhibiting at the same time a gross want of gratitude to the being who endowed him with so lofty an attribute. ”

“ Such inconsistency seems almost puerile, and, were it not for the fact that the admission of this truth would be the final blow at the various faiths of the world, we should not be called upon to-day to defend a position so utterly impregnable as that assumed by Haeckel and others in regard to the evolution of the human mind. When education has advanced further there will, we must hope, be less of this shutting of the eyes to obvious truths for the mere sake of propping up for a little while longer the belief in a batch of fairy tales and preposterous legends. ”

“ In spite of the present very apparent poverty and misery, the people are exhorted by the church to increase and multiply, being told that it is a blessed thing to have one’s quiver full, and that it is wicked to listen to those who preach conjugal prudence, small families, and social thrift. In short the Christian religion has entirely failed in its mission, being a standing menace to all progress, and a cause of unceasing animosity all over Europe.
Do we imagine that all the priests and ministers of the Christian church believe the fables of the creation and fall? ”

“ This comparison of the mental development of the individual with that of the whole race is extremely interesting, and provides ample material for thought. By such comparison, and by it alone, can the science of psychology ever be based on a sure and enduring foundation. It is all very well for theologians and other biased people to declare that animal intelligence has nothing in common with the reasoning powers of man; but let them honestly look at the facts as they are, thanks to the indefatigable energy and indomitable perseverance of lovers of science and truth, now presented to us. ”

“ Now, if the theory of evolution be not mere talk, this primordial germ must have been spontaneously evolved from inanimate matter, for the theory allows of no break, being a gradual unfolding of phenomena. We are told that there is no experience in nature of such a development. Perhaps so; but that is no argument against it. There is no experience in nature of any special creation either; so why fly to this alternative, which is the only one presented to us, instead of adopting the theory which agrees so harmoniously with the whole evolutionary process? ”

“ If you ask them how they defend these monstrosities, how things do not fall away from the earth on that side, they reply that the nature of things is such that heavy bodies tend towards the centre, like the spokes of a wheel, while light bodies, as clouds, smoke, fire, tend from the centre to the heavens on all sides. Now, I am really at a loss what to say of those who, when they have once gone wrong, steadily persevere in their folly, and defend one absurd opinion by another. ”

“ The modern theory of the mode of development of our earth, as also of all other planets and suns, is the one known as the “Nebular Hypothesis,” which is the prelude to the great theory of Evolution, and which teaches us that the earth, the sun, the moon, the planets, and all the heavenly host are the effects or results of the condensation of a nebulous vapour, which took place many millions of years ago, after having been diffused for an incalculable period of time throughout the illimitable expanse of space. ”

“ Our business at the present time is with these fundamental doctrines of creation and the fall, and our sole object is the elucidation of the truth, no matter whether it should be palatable or not to our minds. No sensible man can desire to retain that which is not true, for no system that is not founded on truth can be of any permanent service to the human race, but must on the contrary produce most pernicious results. ”

“ Humanity stands aghast, and shudders at the hideous tale of crime which the history of Christian Europe unfolds. It is one long wail of anguish, poured forth by suffering man, finding relief only in the silence of the grave—that stronghold of peace within which neither god, devil, priest, nor tyrant can wreak their diabolical vengeance further. ”

“ Thus were gathered together by the Alexandrian Eclectics the principal essentials of all the old mythological cults, and thus came into existence the huge and powerful system of religion called Christianism, which has been the great curse of Europe for well nigh two thousand years. From the brutal murder of Hypatia, in a Christian church, by the fanatical mob of a Christian bishop, down to the last poor wretch burnt alive at the stake by the orders of the Church of Jesus, the story of Christian infamy is not relieved by one bright spot. ”

“ In congratulating ourselves upon the advance made by our own particular species over other members of the animal kingdom, we must never forget that, although we can mentate, see, hear, smell, taste, and feel, while myriads of our lowly brethren can do none of these, we yet are incapable of solving the mighty problems of the universe with any or all of these organs without artificial aid. No man on earth has ever yet been able to solve the mighty problem of existence, in spite of his great intellectual powers. ”

“ Let us, for instance, take the case of a stranger to the Christian faith, one who never heard of the Bible or its gods, and who meets a Christian priest in the backwoods of America. The holy one informs the stranger that he possesses a book which has been written by god, through the medium of the inspired minds of a number of holy men. Would you consider the stranger to be a man of sound mental faculties if he at once accepted the word of the parasite, and shaped his whole career according to the teaching of that book? ”

“ It is a fact beyond dispute that every human being commences his individual existence as a tiny piece of structureless bioplasm, from which condition he passes through the Amœba stage to the Synamœba, and thence in regular order through each successive stage of development marked in the genealogy given above, becoming worm, fish, and mammal in turn, and finally being born into the world as a member of the human family. Each of these lower forms also passes through all the species preceding it in precisely the same manner. This is one of the strongest arguments in favour of Evolution. ”

“ The whole universe is a huge manifestation of phenomena, which make up the sum-total of life or activity. The sun rotating on its axis is one form of life; the moon silently wandering round our planet is another form of life; the trees and animals growing and multiplying on the land are other forms; and every lump of ore taken out of the ground and every paving stone in our streets are other forms of life. Every particle of every substance whatever is in a state of continual motion, and therefore full of life. ”

“ My opinion is that this human force, which is the outcome of the complex union of the ultimate atoms of the plasm life-molecules, and which is but a phenomenal manifestation of the great incomprehensible cause of all phenomena, will, at the death of the body, be re-absorbed into the great animating spirit of the universe, and partake of the nature and properties of the Unknown. ”

“ And what do we not owe to those heterodox scientists just mentioned? It is the fashion with some people to give the name of Christianity to the morality of this century; but this very ingenuous attempt to clothe one of the most immoral of the world’s religions with the garment of righteousness carries no weight for the scholar and the historian. There is as much difference between the morality of to day and the genuine Christian religion as there is between the north and south poles. ”

“ At present we are at the mercy of an imperfectly-developed nervous organisation, with its five special senses, which, though very far superior to the lowly nervous development of our remote ancestors of millions of centuries back in the history of life, is perfectly inadequate for the solution of the great problem of existence. But a time will probably arrive in the dim and misty future when other and more important senses will be evolved within the human frame, which may bring man nearer the elucidation of this greatest of all mysteries. ”

“ Mahomet, or Mohammed, was a young religious enthusiast, a camel-driver of Mecca, who determined to uproot the idolatry and superstition of the Arab tribes, and was singularly successful in his arduous undertaking. He had a powerful aversion to all kinds of priestcraft, sacrifices, and superstitious ordeals, and boldly preached the unity of God, declaring that “there is but one God, and Mahomet is his prophet.” Of all the religions of the world, perhaps none has been more successful than this; and, certainly, not one ever spread so rapidly over the face of the earth. ”

“ He would be as much struck with wonder and amazement at the one set of phenomena as with awe at the other. The returning sun-light would each morning produce joy in his heart equally as much as the inevitable recurrence each night of darkness would produce a feeling of sadness, dread, and despair. ”