The people's God vs. the monarchic God

Chapter 1

Reader, if you will lix this book Avell in your memory by reading it over several times, and afterwards thinking and talking about its contents, it will make you as bright a person, on the general field of intelligence, as there is in the world.

As the late James Freeman Clarke, of Boston, Mass., one of the greatest of American preachers, in his work entitled "The Ten Great Religions," declares that revelation wears out with intellectual people, the first great object of this work will be to prevent intellectual peoj^le from running off into infidelity and rejecting the only true religion, that is, the people's religion, when revelation, monarchic religion, shall have w^orn out with them.

This object to save the only true religion from infidelity, with intellectual people, will be accomplished by proving from the standpoint of science the existence of the true and only God, and that man has a soul capable of immortality.

4 INTRODUCTION.

This will be necessary, as eventually nearly all the people will become intellectual under the educational influences of the public schools and other institutions of learning, the newspapers and public oratory.

The next great object of this work will be to successfully defend the natural inalienable right of the people to self-government, to think and choose for themselves in religion as well as in politics. This object will be accomplished by historically tracing the track of religious as well as political thought around the world, thus showing that the people came into this world with the natural inalienable right of self-government in both religion and politics. This object will also be proven from a scientific standpoint, by showing how the people originally came into the world.

Man knows that he is on this earth, but whence he came and whither he goeth are questions he has been asking' ever since the iirst o-eneration. As long as man shall live on this earth he will be asking these questions, unless they are sooner satisfactorily answered. This work will give satisfactory answers to tlu^sc^ (piestions, or tc^ll the triu* story of a world. Preliminarv to this, howi^vcM-. tiu^ historv of

INTRODUCTION. 5

the eiforts man has made all around the earth to arrive at satisfactory answers to these questions will be given, then satisfactory answers to them will be made in the true story of a world concerning the birth, the life and the death of a world, at the end of this book. Such is the plan of this book, to arrive at the truth, as to whence came man and whither goeth man, and thus put the mind of man at rest ; that he may worship Grod intelligently of his own free will in the great republic of religion as well as in the great republic of politics all around the earth, to the end that he may think and choose for himself in religion as well as in politics, and work out his own salvation in both, without dictation from any source in either.

As religion, like politics, is either republican or monarchic, and man came into existence with the natural inalienable right of self-government in religiouj as well as in politics, he can not remain free in either permanently unless free in both. This book will therefore defend religion from the true standpoint, i. e.^ the republic of religion, or "The People's God vs. The Monarchic God," and prove that the i:)eople's account of creation, life and salvation is the

6 INTRODUCTION.

truth, and that the monarchic account of creation, life and salvation is false.

This book will also show how politics and religion affect all humanity for weal or woe, and how in wars over them millions have been slain ; and that the truth of history proves that 2)erils never come to a people from republicanism, but on the contrary that they invariably flow from the violation of the j^rinciples of true republicanism ; that is, from the practice of some monarchic idea either in politics or religion in a republic or a monarchy : and that a strict adherence to the principles of true republicanism, in both politics and religion, will always undoubtedly prevent all troubles of a political or religious nature.

This book gives the history of all the principal gods that have ever been worshiped by the peoi:)le.

In the preparation of this work the author consulted Clarke's "Ten Great Religions," Rawlinson's "Religions of the Ancient World," Savage's "Belief in Grod," Pressense's "Ancient World and Christianity," Johnston's "Oriental Religions," "Sacred Mysteries Among the Mayas nnd Quiches," by i\l. Lo j^loiigeon, "Moi'als and Dogmas," by AUxM't Pike, and " Kent's ConmuMitai-ies."

Chapter 2. China

The first generation of people having no parents of whom to inquire, naturally asked of each other on meeting, whence they came.

Thus soliloquized the first man : Plere I am all alone, ! so lonely.

Thus soliloquized the first woman : Here I am all alone in this beautiful world, but, ! so lonely.

What is that I see, said the first man ; a beautiful creature so nearly like myself. ! what joy. I am no longer alone. At first she looked overjoyed when our eyes met, now she appears to be bashful and timid. I will go to her, but she runs and hides behind a tree. The man chased her, caught her, and thus by looks and signs, having no language, they talked.

Looking deep down into the glorious black eyes of the beautiful brunette, with flowing black hair, who stood before him, the man said : Beautiful creature, whence came you?

Blushingly looking up into the flashing eyes of the gallant man, who stood before her, the first woman said : Grand, handsome creature, I am here : I know not whence I came. Whence came you ?

I am here, but I know not whence I came, answered the man. By looks and signs, kisses and caresses, they courted and soon married. There was neither minister nor priest, nor legal authority to tie the knot ; nature alone brought them together. They multiplied, and thus the Chinese nation began, who originally Avere like all other races, roving children of nature, in contradistinction to our present conventionalities of life. Many centuries they multiplied and lived a roving life, existing on tropic fruits, under a patriarchal government, where the olc^ grandfather ruled his descendants. Finally, for protection against the hostile neighbors, two or more patriarchal communities united into a tribe, and elected their chief. The tribal government was therefore undoubtedly republican government, as they elected their chief. For centuries the tribes led their roving lives, roving over the plains and mountains, through the valleys, and camping on the streams, and in time went to living on game and fish. And then catching the wild cattle and sheep, tanunl them, and hnl the lives of shei)herds tending their flocks. And tinally finding wheat and other cereals growing wild, and learning that they were good food, and would sustain human life, they carried along the seed with them, and finding game scarce, sowed them, and thus became a farming community, with plenty of stock. And in time other industries grew, and thus civilization began, and republican government continued for centuries.

In time one man went with another man's woman. Jealousy caused the husband to kill the offender. This having happened so often, caused great trouble in the community, to prevent the recurrence of which two of the Ten Commandments were established : Thou shaft not adult. Thou shalt not kill.

After while man acquired personal property, and his fellow-man stole it. This gave rise to the commandment : Thou shalt not steal. In a similar way came the other commandments, and thus the moral law was established.

Experience proved that those who lived in accordance with the moral law, as a rule, kept out of trouble, and were happy, which state they called happiness, which was finally called heaven, while those who lived contrary to the moral law were, as a rule, in trouble and unhappy ; mentally confined to a dark cave, called hell or hades, so at first their ideas of hell "and heaven were confined entirely to this life. So they urged the importance of living in accordance with the moral law, if people wanted to be in a mental heaven in this life and keep out of a mental hell in this life. Hell was a dark cave in the earth called hades, in which the greatest criminal in the community was confined. They called him the Devil because he deviled or tormented the people so. Other criminals were confined in hades, where the devil tormented them.

NATURE WORSHIP.

They looked off into space at the sun, moon and the stars, and Avondered what they were. Observing that the sun caused the vegetation to grow, in gratitude they Avorshij^ed the sun. As the moon gave them light when the sun was gone away, in gratitude they worshiped the moon. As the stars gave them light, and were so beautiful, they worshiped the stars. Seeing the earth bearing the grain and the other food, in gratitude they worshiped the earth, and called it Mother Earth. Such was Nature worship.

In time they conceived the idea tliat it was not tlu^ sun that caused the vegetation to grow, hut an invisible power back of th(^ sun. wliicJi ihcy called the Sun God. In the same way they arrived at the idea of a Moon God. And so on they conceived the idea of different gods for all the separate objects of nature. Finally they conceived the idea that there was a supreme God over all these plural gods.

CREATION BY EVOLUTION.

Seeing everything coming and going, according to the laws of nature, they concluded that with all life it was simply a question of conditions. And also seeing the different chemical elements uniting to form new objects, they concluded that the earth had come into existence from matter passing through different conditions, from chaos to the perfect world; and therefore believed in creation by evolution. In time dreams started the idea of a future life.

FUTURE LIFE.

Before they began to bury dead bodies, man saw the dead body of his fellow-man decay and become invisible, and subsequently dreamed of seeing him as he appeared in life. Having seen the body decay and become invisible, he thought that it could not be the body appearing to him in a dream, so he concluded that the body must have had a spirit in it that presented to him in a dream the same appearance that the body presented to his eyesight when it was alive. Hence his belief in a soul.

They at first believed that the spirits they had seen in their dreams remained in the neighborhood, as they saw them there in their dreams. They called them ghosts, and were afraid of them. And thus started the idea of a spirit life after the death of the body. After while they found out that they did not remain in the neighborhood, as they could not see them when they were awake, so they concluded that they only came there when they appeared unto them in dreams. And as they could not see them about, concluded that they must have gone into space — that the spirits of the good people must have gone up into space to a place of light and happiness, which they called heaven, from comparison to their idea of heaven in this life, where the supreme God would bless them, and that the spirits of the bad people must have gone down into a place called hell, from comparison to the dark cave called hades or hell here on earth, where there was a devil to receive and torment the spirits of the bad people. And thus came their ideas of the soul, of heaven, of hell, of God, of the Devil. And thus came natural religion. And for many generations they enjoyed liberty, both in politics and religion, but their cunning old chief, observing the great superstition of the people, played on them the monarchic trick.

THE MONARCHIC TRICK.

Being very ambitious to have his chieftainship descend to his progeny indefinitely, for the glory of his own family, the old chief pretended to have received a revelation from the supreme God telling him that he was the son of God, although he had a Chinese mother, and commanding that he and his progeny should rule over the Chinese and live at their expense forever, and that he would deliver the orders of God unto them. And whosoever disputed them was in revolt against the will of God. The ignorance and superstition of the people caused them to submit, and the cunning old chief w^as worshiped as the son of God, and was not only the temporal but was also the spiritual ruler.

It was a sharp trick the old chief played on them, politically and religiously. And thus man was first deprived of his natural right of self-government, both in politics and religion. Thus was monarchy, in both politics and religion, established on the overthrow of free government by that lying trick of pretended revelation in favor of that fraud called divine right monarchy. It was the overthrow of all liberty, political and religious. Other chiefs got the idea and played the trick on their tribes, in most cases using priests for the purpose.

For centuries the Chinese Emperor pretended that he descended from God, and away back, not now, was worshiped as a descendant of God, and was religious as well as political ruler, as a lineal descendant of God. The Chinese claimed that they had thirteen Emperors who were lineal descendants of God.

Since the Chinese people have become so highly educated and intelligent, they now put it tine by simply saying their Emperor is of celestial origin, which is only a new way of putting the old idea, God being the only celestial being in heaven. So it is the same old lie.

While under free government, their natural right, they enjoyed perfect liberty, both political and religious, thinking and choosing for themselves, both in politics and religion, and believed in natural creation, creation by evolution.

But the old arbitrary chief thought his dynasty was more likely to be |)erpetuated if all free thought, both in politics and religion, was suppressed. Hence he told them that he would let them know what the truth was in regard to creation, that he had gotten it from God. And told them that their idea of creation by evolution was all wrong. That instead of nature creating them, and everything else, God had created nature, created them, the earth, the stars and everything else. That God having created them, he alone had a right to rule them. That they had no right to rule themselves, for all authority comes from God, and that God had authorized him to deliver his commands to them, and they must obey them, or he would punish them in this life, and after death God would punish them in hell forever. From all of which we see that religion, like politics, is either republican or monarchic. That under free government religion was republican, and under monarchy it was monarchic. That under free government politics and religion were separate and distinct. That by the trick of pretended revelation, overthrowing free government, politics and religion were united in monarchy, and free thought among the people suppressed in both, thus raising the issue of the People's God vs. the Monarchic God, and thus bringing into the world all the trouble that has occurred over politics and religion.

IQ CHINA.

CHIXESE BIBLE.

The religion of the Chinese was oral, and carried entirely in their memories for many centuries before any of it was reduced to writing.

The first Bible writings of the Chinese were called Sacred Books, or Kings, and were ancient even in the days of Confucius. Confucius passed his last years editing these books, which are called the Yih-King, the Shoo-King, the She-King, and the Le-Ka King, and they constitute all of the ancient literature of the Chinese that has come down to posterity.

The four books of Confucius which contain his doctrines were not written by him, but were written by others after his death.

CHINESE PHILOSOPHY.

The Chinese also had their philosophers outside of their Bible writers, who tried to account for everything, from creation to salvation. Chinese philosophy originated with Fuh-He, who lived about 3327 B. C. He was the man who substituted writing for the knotted strings wliich had before formed the only means of record.

The (yhinese were the iirst to beiiin to record history, and were advanced in the sciences and the arts as early, if not earlier, than any other people on the earth. Their great wall which bounds China on the north, twelve hundred and forty miles long, twenty feet high, with towers every few hundred yards, crosses mountain ridges, valleys, and is carried over rivers on arches. It was built two hundred years before Christ, to repel the attempts of the Huns, who then occupied' what is now Siberia, to conquer China.

The mariner's compass, gunpowder, and other useful inventions came from China.

The immense canals of China are wonders. Europeans and Americans are surprised at the splendid libraries in China. Our civil service law was borrowed from China.

Chapter 3. Aryana

West of China, just north of hidia, and east of the Caspian Sea, lie the great elevated plains of Central Asia, the center of which region was called Bactria, but 1 will call the entire region Aryana, as it was the original home of the Aryans. On these plains, perhaps one hundred thousand years ago, were evoluted into existence the most remarkable people the earth has ever known — white people, from whom have descended most of the different white peoples of Europe, America and of the whole world. Those primitive white people were called Aryans, the meaning of that word being honorable people. That being the meaning of the word, it is evident that the Aryans are now almost extinct. The Aryans, like all other races, had a story of a first

ARYANA. 19

couple, an Adam and an Eve. With them, as with the Chinese, government was at tirst repubh'can, and religion was also free.

History informs us that more than ten thousand years ago these people were a pastoral and agricultural people on those plains, living in houses that had windows, doors and fire-places. They had oxen, cows, horses, sheep, goats, hogs and domestic fowls, the plow, the mill for grinding grain, cereals, the hammer, hatchet, auger. They were acquainted with several metals, among which were gold, silver, copper and tin. They knew how to spin and weave, and were acquainted with pottery. They boiled and roasted meat and used soup. They had lances, swords, the bow and arrow, shields, but not armor. They had family life, some simple laws, games, the dance and wind instruments. They had the decimal numeration, and their year was three hundred and sixty days.

NATURE W^ORSHIP.

The Aryans, seeing the grain and all vegetation grow under the influence of the sunlight, believed that the sun was the cause of all life. Accordingly they worshiped the sun. Seeing that tire, like the sun, im-

20 ARYANA.

parted heat and helped to preserve life in winter, worshiped fire. Seeing that the earth helped the sun to produce the vegetables, grass for the cattle and so on, worshiped the earth. Seeing how beautiful the heavens were, that the stars and moon gave them light by night, in gratitude worshiped the heavens. From the changes they saw going on, producing new objects, the Aryans believed in creation by evolution, and therefore worshiped nature, the sun, the moon, the stars and the earth.

There were seven tribes of Aryans, all white, that afterwards became the Hindoos, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, who emigrated south-west from the original ancestral home in Central. Asia, and the Kelts, the Teutons and the Slavi, who entered Europe on the northern side of the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea.

Himmel, the German word for heaven, was derived from Himalaya, the name of the range of mountains that lie east and west and constitute the dividing line between India and Aryana, thus proving that the German tribe of Aryans must have had some imaginary gods before they left Aryana, and must have thought that their imaginary gods resided in the Himalaya mountains.

ARYANA. . 21

Greek soldiers under Alexander the Great fought their way to Aryana, the original home of their ancestors, where they remained, and for centuries were a power.

The Russians are now building a railroad into Aryana, to be able to send her army down there rapidly and threaten England's possession of India. Thus do some of the posterity of the ancient Aryans go back to the land of their ancestors. The Russians are also building a railroad through Siberia to the Pacitk ocean, just north of China, on about the same parallel of latitude as the Canadian Pacific railroad across our own continent.

Chapter 4. India

When the Aryans, who afterwards became Hindoos, got down into India, they found natives there, who had been evoluted into existence in the days of evolution, and were dark people, but not negroes. Being dark, the white Aryans thought they had a right to make them their lowest caste, and accordingly reduced them to that condition. Here the Aryans built cities. Here the imaginations of the Aryans created a great many gods for the diflferent objects of nature they had worshiped in Aryana, on the plains of Central Asia. For the atmosphere, their imaginations created a god, whom they called Indra; for the ocean of light, or the heavens, a god, they called Varuna; for tire, a god they called Agni ; for the sun, a god they called Savitri ;

for the moon, a god they called Soma; for death, a god they called Yama. And in turn, their imaginations created separate gods for the earth, food, wine, months, seasons, day, night and dawn. Here they built magniticent temples in which to worship their different gods. Here they even hewed out magnificent temples in the solid rock.

Here the imaginations of the Aryans ran till they concluded that all was spirit, and there was no such ihmg as matter in all space. That we think we see matter in the shape of stars, the earth, houses and other objects, but in reality we do not see them, that they are only illusions, that they are all spirit. That universal spirit throughout space they called Brahman. This view could only have been taken by regarding all the invisible matter in space as spirit, and all the globes and other objects as simply condensed spirit. But this view would prove it all simply matter, most of it invisible matter and the rest visible. This latter was the Buddhist view at first. Brahmanism declared everything spirit, and Buddhism declared everything matter.

Brahmanism taught that this life was no account, and the sooner a person got out of it the better. So many of them suicided to gti into the spirit land as soon as possible. To stop that ridiculous extreme, Buddhism taught the religion of humanity, that this life, or the body, was some account, and should be preserved and made as happy as possible. That people should not neglect the happiness of this life, and at first denied that there was any such thing as spirit, or a future life. /

Buddhism broke down all castes, and is a relig'ion of humanity. It was a revolt against the castes, aristocracy, of Brahmanism and the extreme spiritualism. Buddhism wanted to save people from hell in this life.

The greatest personal god of the Brahmans was called Brahma. They claimed that he was the tirst born of creation ; that he was born from the self-existent being, which was in the form of a golden ^gg. That by the power of prayer he became the creator of all things.

Some of the Brahmans worshiped a god they called Vischnu, and claimed that he was the greatest god. Other Brahmans worshiped a god they called Siva, and claimed that he was the greatest god. When the war came on between the Brahmans and the Buddhists for religious supremacy the different factions of the Brahmans found it necessary to settle their ditleronces as to which was the greatest god ; so they agreed that Brahma was the Creator, Vichnu the Preserver, and Siva the Destroyer, all three in one Supreme God. And thus the Indian triad, or trinity, was created. The civil war between the Brahmans and the Buddhists resulted in the expulsion of the Buddhists from hidia. The struggle between them lasted during nine centuries, from A. D. JOO to A. D. 1400, resulting in the total expulsion of the Buddhists, and the triumphant establishment of the triad as the worship of India. What a ridiculous civil war, in which the Brahmanists and Buddhists fought each other for nearly a thousand years over the dispute as to whether it was all spirit or all matter, when all of them ought to have had sense enough to know that it was part matter, as they saw it with their own eyes every time they looked at the sun, the moon, the stars, and the earth. Long prior to this occurred the civil war between the Solar and Lunar Monarchies, resulting in victory to the Solar Monarchy. How these monarchies came by these names is plain enough. The chief of one tribe must have claimed that he was the son of the Sun-God, and ploclaimed himself king, and accordingly his would be called the Solar Monarchy. In a similar way the name of the Lunar Monarchy came.

The Buddhists left behind them about nine hundred temples excavated in the solid rock in the sides of mountains in the Bombay Presidency in India.

The Buddhist rock-cut monasteries are also numerous in India, although long since deserted. The Buddhist monks, then as now, took the same three vows of celibacy, poverty and obedience, that are taken by the members of all the Catholic orders.

The Catholic Church, in its ritual, confession and general outline, is supposed to be a copy of the Buddhist Church. In its forms the Buddhist religion resembles the Catholic Church and in its spirit. Protestantism. The Buddhist religion is now the popular religion of the Chinese and the Japanese, Siam, Anam, Nepaul, Ceylon, nearly all of Eastern Asia.

BIBLE OF THE BRAHMANISTS.

The religion of the Brahmanists was entirely oral for many centuries. For centuries it mostly consisted of hymns, which were carried in their memories. Finally they were reduced to writing, and the volume was called the Vedas, and that age was called the Vedic age. Subsequently came the Laws of Manu. The Vedas and the Laws of Menu constituted the Brahmanistic Bible. The Buddhists had a separate Bible.

Buddha was the son of the last King of the Solar

Monarchy. The Buddhist calls his heaven Nirvana,

and considers it a place of perfect rest from all worry.

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY.

hidependent of the Bible writers, the priests, there were philosophers in India who tried to account for the existence of everything, from creation to salvation. They had three systems of philosophy, called the Sankhya, the Vedanta and the Nyasa. It is not known who were the authors of these systems of philosophy. The Vedantists held that there was but one God, and that the worship of the plural gods was necessary to those who could not rise to the sublime monotheism. All three of these philosophies agreed on certain points, and differed on others. They all three agree in asserting the transmigratian of souls, and that the cessation of that brings final deliverance. A ridiculous idea. They will not be pursued in this chapter any farther. The poets also wrote poems about creation, the gods and salvation. The Brahmanists sacrificed human beings to their gods. The Buddhists did not practice that outrageous murder of human beings. ORDER OF SACRED MYSTERIES.

In the days of nature worship some of the smartest men assumed the office of priest of the people, hi time they organized themselves into a secret society, called "The Order of Sacred Mysteries." This order was organized for the study of nature — the sun, the moon, the stars and the earth, and through that study finding out the origin of all things, gaining light, further light, even unto the finding of God. This was the beginning of scientific knowledge, and from it came chemistry, geology, geometry, trigonometry and astronomy. This order was generally divided into three degrees. The secret rites and ceremonies of these degrees were called "Sacred Mysteries." In the first degree they were given some light ; in the second degree they were given further light, and in the third degree they were told which was the true God.

At first nobody but the priests of the nature worship were allowed to enter "The Order of the Sacred Mysteries." Some of. the priests were only allowed to enter the first degree ; others were only allowed to take the second degree, while but few were ever allowed to take the third degree, that is to be introduced to the true and only God.

The people were kept in profound ignorance of the secret ceremonies of "The Order of Sacred Mvsteries," and the great secret, who the true God was; and the priests only imparted very little of the knowledge they gained by the study of nature to the people. Their object seemed to be to get all the knowledge they possibly could for themselves, but at the same time keep the people in ignorance, that they might play on their superstition and control them to their own purposes. They let the poople go on worshiping the sun, the moon, the stars and the earth, and subsequently the imaginary gods, who were supposed to preside over those objects in nature, while they in "The Order of Sacred Mysteries" concealed from the people and worshiped the true God, whom we now worship publicly.