speeches which never were spoken, and putting them into the mouths of statesmen and warriors; and I presume that whoever is represented by "Matthew,' would have been grievously astonished to find that any one objected to his following the example of the best models accessible to him.

But since Huxley wrote those words more evidence has been produced. From the Old Testament, from the Talmud, and from the recently discovered Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (a pre-Christian work), the origins of the Sermon on the Mount have been fully traced.

Agnostic criticism now takes an attitude towards this sermon which may be thus expressed:

1. The sermon never was preached at all. It is a written compilation.

2. The story of the mount is a myth. The name of the mount is not given. It is not reasonable to suppose that Jesus would lead a multitude up a mountain to speak to them for a few minutes. The mountain is an old sun-myth of the Sun God on his hill, and the twelve apostles are another sun-myth, and represent the signs of the Zodiac.

3. There is nothing in the alleged sermon that was new at the time of its alleged utterance.

Of course, it may be claimed that the arrangement of old texts in a new form constitutes a kind of originality; as one might say that he who took flowers from a score of gardens and arranged them into one bouquet produced a new effect of harmony and beauty. But this credit must be given to the compilers of the gospels' version of the Sermon on the Mount.

Let us take a few pre-Christian morals.

Sextus said: What you wish your neighbors to be to you, such be also to them."

Isocrates said: "Act towards others as you desire. others to act towards you."

Lao-tze said: "The good I would meet with goodness, the not-good I would also meet with goodness." Buddha said: Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by love."

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And again: "Let us live happily, not hating those who hate us."

In the Talmud occur the following Jewish anticipations of Christian morals:

Love peace, and seek it at any price.

Remember that it is better to be persecuted than persecutor. To whom does God pardon sins? To him who himself forgives injuries.

Those who undergo injuries without returning it, those who hear themselves vilified and do not reply, who have no motive but love, who accept evils with joy; it is of them that the prophet speaks when he says, the friends of God shall shine one day as the sun in all his splendor.

It is not the wicked we should hate, but wickedness.

Be like God, compassionate, merciful.

Judge not your neighbor when you have not been in his place. He who charitably judges his neighbor shall be charitably judged by God.

Do not unto others that which it would be disagreeable to you to suffer yourself, that is the main part of the law; all the rest is only commentary.

From the Old Testament come such morals as:

Let him give his cheek to him that smiteth him (Sam. iii. 30). Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Lev. xix. 18). He that is of a lowly spirit shall obtain honor (Prov. xxix. 23).

The meek shall inherit the land (Ps. xxxvii. 11).

History and ancient literature prove that Christianity did not bring a new moral code, did not inaugurate peace, nor purity, nor universal brotherhood, did not originate the ideal human character: but checked civilization, resisted all enlightenment, and deluged the earth with innocent blood in the endeavor to compel mankind to drink old moral wine out of new theological bottles.

Three of the greatest blessings men can have are freedom, liberty of conscience, and knowledge. These blessings Christianity has not given, but has opposed.

It is largely to the ancient Greeks and Romans, to the Arabs and the Indians, to patriots, heroes, statesmen, scholars, scientists, travelers, inventors, discoverers, authors, poets, philanthropists, rebels, skeptics, and reformers that the world owes such advance as it has made towards liberty and happiness and universal loving-kind

ness.

This advance has been made in defiance of Christian envy, hatred, and malice, and in defiance of Christian tyranny and persecution. After fighting fiercely to defeat the advance of humanity, after slaying and cursing the noblest sons and daughters of the ages, the defeated Christians now claim to have conquered the fields they have lost, to have bestowed the benefits they have denied, to have evolved the civilization they have maimed and damned.

As a Democrat, a Humanist, and a Socialist I join my voice to the indignant chorus which denies those claims.

THE SUCCESS OF CHRISTIANITY

We are told that the divine origin and truth of Christianity are proved by the marvelous success of that religion. But it seems to me that the reverse is proved by its failure.

Christianity owed its magnificent opportunities (which it has wasted) to several accidental circumstances. Just as the rise of Buddhism was made possible by the act of King Asoka in adopting it as the State religion of his vast Indian kingdom, was the rise of Christianity made possible by the act of the Emperor Constantine in adopting it as the State religion of the far-stretched Roman Empire.

Christianity spread rapidly because the Roman Empire was ripe for a new religion. It conquered because it threw in its lot with the ruling powers. It throve because it came with the tempting bribe of Heaven in one hand, and the withering threat of Hell in the other. The older religions, gray in their senility, had no such bribe or threat to conjure with.

Christianity overcame opposition by murdering or cursing all who resisted its advance. It exterminated skepticism by stifling knowledge, and putting a merciless veto on free thought and free speech, and by rewarding philosophers and discoverers with a faggot and the chain. It held its power for centuries by force of hell-fire, and ignorance, and the sword; and the greatest of these was ignorance.

Nor must it be supposed that the persecution and the

slaughter of "Heretics" and "Infidels Infidels" was the exception. It was the rule. Motley, the American historian, states that Torquemada, during eighteen years' command of the Inquisition, burnt more than ten thousand people alive, and punished nearly a hundred thousand with infamy, confiscation of property, or perpetual imprison

ment.

To be a Jew, a Moslem, a Lutheran, a "wizard," a skeptic, a heretic was to merit death and torture. One order of Philip of Spain condemned to death as "heretics " the entire population of the Netherlands. Wherever the Christian religion was successful the martyrs' fires burned, and the devilish instruments of torture were in use. For some twelve centuries the Holy Church carried out this inhuman policy. And to this day the term "free thought" is a term of reproach. The shadow of the fanatical priest, that half-demented coward, sneak and assassin, still blights us. Although that holy monster, with his lurking spies, his villainous casuistries, his flames and devils, and red-hot pincers, and whips of steel, has been defeated by the humanity he scorned and the knowledge he feared, yet he has left a taint behind him. It is still held that it ought to be an unpleasant thing to be an Infidel. " of

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And, yes, there were other factors in the success Christianity. The story of the herald angels, the wise men from the east, the manger, the child God, the cross, and the gospel of mercy and atonement, and of universal brotherhood and peace amongst the earthly children of a Heavenly Father, whose attribute was love this story possessed a certain homely beauty and sentimental glamour which won the allegiance of many golden-hearted and sweet-souled men and women. These lovely natures assimilated from the chaotic welter of beauty and ashes