God and my Neighbour Part 14

G.o.d knew that those women were being tortured and burnt on a false charge. He knew that the infamous murders were in His name. He knew that the whole fabric of crime was due to the human reading of His "revelation" to man. He could have saved the women; He could have enlightened their persecutors; He could have blown away the terror, the cruelty, and the ignorance of His priests and worshippers with a breath.

And He was silent. He allowed the armies of poor women to be tortured and murdered in His name. Is it not so?

Will you, then, compare the Heavenly Father with a father among men? Is there any earthly father who would allow his children to suffer as G.o.d allows Man to suffer? If a man had knowledge and power to prevent or to abolish war and ignorance and hunger and disease; if a man had the knowledge and the power to abolish human error and human suffering and human wrong and did not do it, we should call him an inhuman monster, a cruel fiend. Is it not so?

But G.o.d has knowledge and power, and we are asked to regard Him as a Heavenly Father, and a G.o.d of infinite wisdom, and infinite mercy, and infinite love.

The Christians used to tell us, and some still tell us, that this Heavenly Father of infinite love and mercy would doom the creatures He had made to h.e.l.l--for their _sins_. That, having created us imperfect, He would punish our imperfections with everlasting torture in a lake of everlasting fire. They used to tell us that this good G.o.d allowed a Devil to come on earth and tempt man to his ruin. They used to say this Devil would win more souls than Christ could win: that there should be "more goats than sheep."

To escape from these horrible theories, the Christians (some of them) have thrown over the doctrines of h.e.l.l and the Devil.

But without a Devil how can we maintain a belief in a G.o.d of love and kindness? With a good G.o.d, and a bad G.o.d (or Devil), one might get along; for then the good might be ascribed to G.o.d, and the evil to the Devil. And that is what the old Persians did in their doctrine of Ormuzd and Ahrimann. But with no Devil the belief in a merciful and loving Heavenly Father becomes impossible.

If G.o.d blesses, who curses? If G.o.d saves, who d.a.m.ns? If G.o.d helps, who harms?

This belief in a "Heavenly Father," like the belief in the perfection of the Bible, drives its votaries into weird and wonderful positions. For example, a Christian wrote to me about an animal called the aye-aye. He said:

There is a little animal called an aye-aye. This animal has two hands. Each hand has five fingers. The peculiar thing about these hands is that the middle finger is elongated a great deal--it is about twice as long as the others. This is to enable it to scoop a special sort of insect out of special cracks in the special trees it frequents. Now, how did the finger begin to elongate? A little lengthening would be absolutely no good, as the cracks in the trees are 2 inches or 3 inches deep. It must have varied from the ordinary length to one twice as long at once. There is no other way. Where does natural selection come in? In this, as in scores of other instances, it shows the infinite goodness of G.o.d.

Now, how does the creation of this long finger show the "infinite goodness of G.o.d"? The infinite goodness of G.o.d to whom? To the animal whose special finger enables him to catch the insect? Then what about the insect? Where does he come in? Does not the long finger of the animal show the infinite badness of G.o.d to the insect?

What of the infinite goodness of G.o.d in teaching the cholera microbe to feed on man? What of the infinite goodness of G.o.d in teaching the grub of the ichneumon-fly to eat up the cabbage caterpillar alive?

I see no infinite goodness here, but only the infinite foolishness of sentimental superst.i.tion.

If a man fell into the sea, and saw a shark coming, I cannot fancy him praising the infinite goodness of G.o.d in giving the shark so large a mouth. The greyhound's speed is a great boon to the greyhound; but it is no boon to the hare.

But this theory of a merciful, and loving Heavenly Father is vital to the Christian religion.

Destroy the idea of the Heavenly Father, who is Love, and Christianity is a heap of ruins. For there is no longer a benevolent G.o.d to build our hopes upon; and Jesus Christ, whose glory is a newer revelation of G.o.d, has not revealed Him truly, as He is, but only as Man fain would believe Him to be.

And I claim that this Heavenly Father is a myth: that in face of a knowledge of life and the world we cannot reasonably believe in Him.

There is no Heavenly Father watching tenderly over us, His children. He is the baseless shadow of a wistful human dream.

PRAYER AND PRAISE

As to prayer and praise.

Christians believe that G.o.d is just, that He is all-wise and all-knowing.

If G.o.d is just, will He not do justice without being entreated of men?

If G.o.d is all wise, and knows all that happens, will He not know what is for man's good better than man can tell Him?

If He knows better than Man knows what is best for man, and if He is a just G.o.d and a loving Father, will He not do right without any advice or reminder from Man?

If He is a just G.o.d, will He give us less than justice unless we pray to Him; or will He give us more than justice because we importune Him?

To ask G.o.d for His love, or for His grace, or for any worldly benefit seems to me unreasonable.

If G.o.d knows we need His grace, or if He knows we need some help or benefit, He will give it to us if we deserve it. If we do not deserve it, or do not need what we ask for, it would not be just nor wise of Him to grant our prayer.

To pray to G.o.d is to insult Him. What would a man think if his children knelt and begged for his love or for their daily bread? He would think his children showed a very low conception of their father's sense of duty and affection.

Then Christians think G.o.d answers prayer. How can they think that?

In the many ma.s.sacres, and famines, and pestilences has G.o.d answered prayer? As we learn more and more of the laws of Nature we put less and less reliance on the effect of prayer.

When fever broke out, men used to run to the priest: now they run to the doctor. In old times when plague struck a city, the priests marched through the streets bearing the Host, and the people knelt to pray; now the authorities serve out soap and medicine and look sharply to the drains.

And yet there still remains a superst.i.tious belief in prayer, and most surprising are some of its manifestations.

For instance, I went recently to see Wilson Barrett in _The Silver King_. Wilfred Denver, a drunken gambler, follows a rival to kill him.

He does not kill him, but he thinks he has killed him. He flies from justice.

Now this man Denver leaves London by a fast train for Liverpool. Between London and Rugby he jumps out of the train, and, after limping many miles, goes to an inn, orders dinner and a private room, and asks for the evening paper.

While he waits for the paper he kneels down and prays to G.o.d, for the sake of wife and children, to allow him to escape.

And, directly after, in comes a girl with a paper, and Denver reads how the train he rode in caught fire, and how all the pa.s.sengers in the first three coaches were burnt to cinders.

Down goes Denver on his knees, _and thanks G.o.d for listening to his prayer_.

And not a soul in the audience laughed. G.o.d, to allow a murderer to escape from the law, has burnt to death a lot of innocent pa.s.sengers, and Wilfred Denver is piously grateful. And n.o.body laughed!

But Christians tell us they _know_ that prayer is efficacious. And to them it may be so in some measure. Perhaps, if a man pray for strength to resist temptation, or for guidance in time of perplexity, and if he have _faith_, his prayer shall avail him something.

Why? Not because G.o.d will hear, or answer, but for two natural reasons.

First, the act of prayer is emotional, and so calms the man who prays, for much of his excitement is worked off. It is so when a sick man groans: it eases his pain. It is so when a woman weeps: it relieves her overcharged heart.

Secondly, the act of prayer gives courage or confidence, in proportion to the faith of him that prays. If a man has to cross a deep ravine by a narrow plank, and if his heart fail him, and he prays for G.o.d's help, believing that he will get it, he will walk his plank with more confidence. If he prays for help against a temptation, he is really appealing to his own better nature; he is rousing up his dormant faculty of resistance and desire for righteousness, and so rises from his knees in a sweeter and calmer frame of mind.

For myself, I never pray, and never feel the need of prayer. And though I admit, as above, that it may have some present advantage, yet I am inclined to think that it is bought too dearly at the price of a decrease in our self-reliance. I do not think it is good for a man to be always asking for help, for benefits, or for pardon. It seems to me that such a habit must tend to weaken character.

"He prayeth best who loveth best all things both great and small." It is better to work for the general good, to help our weak or friendless fellow-creatures, than to pray for our own grace, or benefit, or pardon.

Work is n.o.bler than prayer, and far more dignified.

And as to praise, I cannot imagine the Creator of the Universe wanting men's praise. Does a wise man prize the praise of fools? Does a strong man value the praise of the weak? Does any man of wisdom and power care for the applause of his inferiors? We make G.o.d into a puny man, a man full of vanity and "love of approbation," when we confer on Him the impertinence of our prayers and our adoration.

While there is so much grief and misery and unmerited and avoidable suffering in the world, it is pitiful to see the Christian millions squander such a wealth of time and energy and money on praise and prayer.

If you were a human father, would you rather your children praised you and neglected each other, or that brother should stand by brother and sister cherish sister? Then "how much more your Father which is in Heaven?"