/ Book IEL3__ The Twentieth Century Bible By ROBERT ADDISON DAGUE The Progressive Thinker Publishing House 106 loomis street CHICAGO, ILL. 1917 Copyright, 1917 By M. E. Cadwallader TBABSFERl»£D F§Ga§ i§HT 9FR9F DEC -8 J9i7 "All nature speaks the attributes of God, Whose vast domains of matter and of mind Accord forever to His holy will. All life is an expression of His love, All death is birth to higher life; All discord is but the fragment of a scale Which, had man the power to comprehend, Would be replete with harmony divine." WILLIAM SUMNER BARLOW. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/twentiethcenturyOOdagu TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBL INVOCATION. Our Father-Mother, God, who art, omnis- cient, omnipotent and omnipresent! We are thy children, and cannot be irrevoc- ably separated from thee. We direct our thoughts to thee, who art all wisdom, all goodness, all power, and we invoke thy aid to enable us to get into harmonious relations with thee. May we this day, and all the days we remain on earth, keep in tune with thee. May we think good thoughts, contemplate lofty ideals, do kindly acts to our fellow-men, be kind and merciful to thy dumb creatures, tolerant, generous and forgiving to all peoples, and keep our minds open for the recep- tion of new truths. And we pray that wise and sinless sages may be our guard- ian spirits, and that they will help us to resist temptation to do wrong, and will aid us in all our efforts to purge ourselves of all selfishness and evil inclinations. May we endeavor to comprehend the great truth that thou art the infinite uni- verse in its totality, and, as thy children, we inherit all thy attributes, and that we possess powers and potentialities now dor- TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE mant, which, in the ages to come, shall unfold and develop as we progress on- ward and upward to the celestial zones, where we shall become mighty and glori- ous archangels, possessing godlike wisdom and power. AMEN. TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE COMMENTS OP DISTINGUISHED MEN. Rev. C. Tinsley (Methodist) said: The present period demands a new the- ory about creation and religion. The story of Adam and Eve is a myth. This is a day of science, and the breach be- tween the church and educated people is widening. The old viewpoints will no longer satisfy thinking people. The Christian's Bible is a very embarrassing book. Rev. Lyman Abbott (Congregationalist) said : I do not believe that the Christian Bi- ble is inerrant and infallible, and I de- cline to claim for it what it does not claim for itself. I do not believe in the "Virgin Birth." It is narrated by only two of the New Testament historians. Jesus never referred to this miraculous birth; the Apostles never mention it. It is not referred to in any Apostolic epistle. Rev. R. Heber Newton (Episcopal) said: The claim that the Bible is infallible is folly that should be combated. Chris- tianity as an organized system of society is full of gross inconsistencies, and gro- TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE tesque attempts at piecing out the ethics of Jesus from the ethics of Paganism. It is a shame and a disgrace to the Church that it is no farther advanced along the line of human progress. What an utterly baffling puzzle is the conven- tional dogma of the Trinity! What a moral monster is the God of Calvinism! How fiendishly wicked are the decrees which predestine the mass of men to un- escapable damnation! How thoroughly commercial is the traditional notion of atonement! How frightful beyond the dream of insanity is the vision of the or- thodox hell! How thoroughly unethical is the statement of salvation by faith! Prof. Nathaniel Schmidt (Professor of Semitic Languages of Cornell University) said : A new conception of the Universe has come. The story of the Garden of Eden is a myth. Adam is not a historic per- sonage. The story of the deluge is a myth of Babylonian origin. The crossing of the Red Sea by aid of a miracle, the manna falling down from heaven, and the water issuing from a rock; the moves of the Israelites through the desert, are all myths. Jesus criticised freely the Scriptures, chose what seemed good, re- jected the bad. He appealed directly to the judgment of men. There is nothing about him that savors of the priest. He put no emphasis upon doctrinal belief. He judged men by their deeds, not their beliefs. He forbade his disciples to say he was the Messiah. 6 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLQ Prof. George Burham Foster (Chicago University) said: According to church doctrine, the path of the human race was downward from angel to devil; according to modern thought, it is upward from anthropoid and cannibal to civilization and culture. We are not fallen angels but developed animals; and history is no process of deterioration, but ascending ladder of perfectibility — a pyramid of higher ends and self-realizing values. Jesus said nothing about a lost paradise or of a fallen Adam, or of a golden age in the past. * * * The miraculous narratives like those told in the Bible are of no sci- entific importance. An intelligent man who now affirms his faith in such stories that are stultifying to science and com- monsense, can hardly know what intel- lectual honesty means. The modern man can no longer believe in miracles. Rev. J. T. Sunderland, D. D., said: Did the early Christian Church regard Jesus as God? I unhesitatingly answer, No. The doctrine of the Trinity, or the deity of Christ, came into being, as is well known, in the second, third and fourth centuries, having had its origin unquestionably in the speculative and ex- ceedingly mystical neoplatonism of Alex- andria. That passage in 1 John, viz: "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one" — a passage which has been the cornerstone of the doctrine of the Trinity — is now TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE universally cast out as spurious or a forgery, there being no longer even a shadow of a reason for believing it genu- ine. Every respectable scholar now omits it. The Revised Version of the New Testament, finished in 1884, at Oxford, England, by a committee of scholars of all the Protestant denominations, pro- nounced the passage an interpolation and fraudulent, and left it out of the Re- vised Scriptures. The Christian Bible nowhere makes the claim of inerrancy. The Bible con- tains many things intrinsically absurd. For example, the statement that the first woman was made of a rib taken out of the first man's side; the accounts of a serpent and an ass talking; the stories of Jonah living three days within a whale; and of Nebuchadnezzar eating grass like an ox for seven years. Rev. Washington Gladden, D. D., the distinguished Congregationalist, said: Most of us have been taught from our infancy that the Bible is an infallible book; that if it could be proved to con- tain a single error it would be worthless. The Bible makes no such claim for itself. The theory of its infallibility is a purely man-made theory. Rev. George Chalmers Richmond, D. D. (Episcopal), said: We need not be governed by what St. Paul said about women. All that he said about women speaking in church should be cut out of the Bible. The Bible 8 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE' would be a better book, morally, if many other things were cut out of it. Rev. R. J. Campbell, D. D., the distin- guished clergyman, of England (Episco- pal), said: Man builds his God from what he knows of himself, only he tries to make him bigger. Sometimes he succeeds in making his God grotesque or even hor- rible. He has credited God with his own cruelties, whimsicalities, pride, van- ity, petty jealousies, and general unrea- sonableness. The ordinary pre-supposi- tions of evangelical Christianity are ut- terly absurd. Poor God! He is not to blame. The theologians tell us God has done His best, and the result has been un- told ages of Chaos and unimaginable suf- fering. All God could do was to provide a redeemer to save a few out of the wreck. You will, I hope, forgive me for the seeming irreverence of saying that the orthodox God is a fool. This God has prepared a hell for the poor victims of what is called "His righteous wrath." Could such a God exist and be God? What is the God of conventional religion but a big plutocrat who talks of the wick- edness of the victims he crushes under the chariot wheels of his success? What would you call such a God? I think, perhaps, you would call him scoundrel or maniac, but I am sure you could neither love nor adore him. If you had a spark of manliness in you, you would shake your fist in his face and tell him that in your helplessness you are greater a TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE than lie. Why, we are better than the God in whom we profess to believe! Now, let me say that my God is much more than a name or a person. When I speak of God, I mean the sum of all human excellence, and the goal of all true human aspiration. We have no means for discerning the will of God otherwise than by obeying that which we feel to be highest and truest in ourselves. Your doctrine of the Atonement is a sham. No one ever needed to die in or- der that God might forgive you and let you into heaven. No one ever did die for that. Your belief that Jesus died for that is a lie. There is no service of God which is not the service of man. I hold that the decay of organized religion means the release of the true spirit of Christianity from its swaddling clothes. There is a movement of the spirit going on all over the world today the true significance of which is only dimly ap- parent. The doctrine of the vicarious atone- ment is a fraud. It must be admitted that the theory that a bad man can get off, or ought to get off, from the conse- quences of his guilty acts by making a sort of a deal with God, who has been kind enough to provide a scapegoat, is repugnant to the better feeling of all right-minded people. Moreover, Jesus himself said we shall inevitably reap what we sow. We are facing a new synthesis. A new era is close at hand. Something greater than the church is rising into view, and the thoughts of men are receiving a new 10 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE focus. In the Church of Rome it is being denounced as "Modernism." In the Protestant countries it is dreaded as Socialism; but it is all the same move- ment, and his eyes are dull who cannot see that it is the Spirit of God moving once more on the face of the waters. The conventional heaven and hell must be relegated to the limbo of superseded forms of thought. A new era is here. Rev. Charles W. Eliot, D. D., former President of Harvard University, said : Civilization is not due to the church, but to science. The religion of the fu- ture will not be based on authority either spiritual or temporal. The authority of churches and the Bible is greatly im- paired. In the religion of the future there will be no worship, express or im- plied, of dead ancestors or rulers — no more tribal, racial or tutelary gods, no identification of men, however majestic in character, as being Almighty God. The new religion will not teach that char- acter is likely to be suddenly changed in this world or the next. It will teach that repentance wipes out nothing in the past, and is only the first step towards reformation. The twentieth century will accept implicitly the statement that God is infinite spirit who pervades the Uni- verse just as the spirit of man pervades his body, and acts consciously or uncon- sciously in every atom of it. That God is vital atmosphere or incessant inspira- tion in whom we live, move and have our being. The new religion will there- 11 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE fore be monotheistic, its God being one infinite force, dwelling in every living creature. The religion of the new era will reject absolutely the conception that man is an alien in this world. It will reject also the conception of man as a fallen being, hopelessly wicked and tend- ing downward by nature, and it will make these emphatic rejections of long- accepted beliefs because it finds them all inconsistent with a humane, civilized and worthy idea of God. 12 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE HOW THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE WAS MADE. (Historical.) Prior to the fourth century, A. D., there existed several hundred writings, in which the author of each gave his theory about the creation, God, Jesus, heaven and hell. There were disciples of each, and violent disputings between the various factions, especially over the question whether Jesus was man or God. In 327 A. D., Constan- tine, the Pagan Emperor, who had pro- fessed conversion to the Christian religion, declared that the warring factions must unite in a common creed and decide what books were inspired and what were not. He therefore convened a council of priests and others to come together, bringing their sacred writings to be voted upon. When the delegates had submitted their manuscripts they found there was a total of 308. Professor Ernest Haeckel, of Jena Uni- versity, the distinguished scientist, scholar and historian, in his "Riddle of the Uni- verse," page 311, under the head of Prim- itive Christianity, says: 13 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE As to the four gospels, we now know they were selected from a host of contra- dictory and forged manuscripts of the first three centuries by the 318 bishops who assembled at the Council of Nicea in 327 A. D. The entire list of gospels numbered forty; the canonical list con- tained four. As the bishops could not agree, they determined to leave the se- lection to a miracle. They put all the books (according to the Synodical Pap- pus) together under the altar and prayed that the apocryphal books, or those of human origin, might remain there, and the genuine inspired might be miracu- lously placed on the tables of the Lord, and, tradition says, that really occurred: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John leaped up onto the table. Henry M. Tichenor, in his book, "The Creed of Constantine, " on pages 26-27, says : As gleaned from history it would be a spectacle to even stagger the faith of the most bigoted to view the makeup and proceeding of the First Council of Nicea. Call to your mind an assemblage of the most ignorant, illiterate, cunning ward- heelers that ever came to your notice; the Council of Nicea was far more ignor- ant and more illiterate and more cun- ning than these. It was an age so de- generate that it was already fit to plunge itself into the abyss of the Dark Ages. Presiding over these 318 priests sat the coarse, bloated-faced Constantine, the murderer. Such was the Council of 14 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Nicea, inspired of God to canonize a holy scripture and proclaim a religion that damns to eternal torture those who deny it. It is admitted that church history is quite hazy, fragmentary and unreliable prior to the fifteenth century. Christian writers have written voluminously trying to disprove the tradition that the Council of Nicea compiled the New Testament criptures, but many students of history say that ' ' the weight of historical authori- ties sustains the statements of Ernest Haeckel." Other writers say that this first Council of Nicea did select seventy- five books out of the 308 manuscripts, but the conference broke up in confusion and left no written records of their action. Ancient tradition was that they compiled the books of the New Testament. Some historians say there was more than one council held at Nicea. The "Holy Bible" made by the Council of Nicea was not gen- erally accepted for a century after its compilation. Hot disputings raged from 327 A. D. to 363 A. D., when the Council of Laodicea endorsed the seventy-five books of the Constantine Nicea Bible. This action of that convocation did not, how- ever, stop the wrangling over what manu- scripts were inspired by God, and what 15 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE were not. This dispute went on until the days of Martin Luther and protestantism, when nine books were cut out of the Con- stantine (Catholic) Bible, which left but sixty-six books in the Protestant Bible, while there are seventy-five in the "Word of God of Roman Catholics. Prior to the reign of Constantine the Christians taught and practiced commun- ism (or near-Socialism). Rollins' Ancient History (London Edition, vol. IX., page 312), says: For over 200 years all Christians were communists, who held the land and waters, as well as all timbers and pre- cious metals, etc., in common. The lot was cast in deciding all questions, and the assembled commune judged all dis- putes. This bold democracy was held in abhorrence by the pagans, who trafficked in lands and took profits from others' labors. Tertullian, one of the early Christian writers, said: All is common with us except women. Jesus was our man, God and brother. He restored unto all men what cruel murderers took from them by the sword. Christians have no master, and no Chris- tian shall be bound for bread and rai- ment. The land is no man's inheritance. None shall possess it as property. 16 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE! Charles E. Sheldon, a student of history, says: Constantine paganized Christianity and was the source of the destruction of communism. To quote an ancient au- thor, we are indebted to Zosimus in re- gard to Constantine, saying one of the early Fathers conveys to us the facts we need to establish the claim of his part in the destruction of communism. He says Constantine stands as the pivot over which for ages the two great parallel schemes of religion balanced. Nearly all the noble, original thoughts, sentiment, humanity, economic democ- racy and communism were wiped out un- der him, Socrates' "Hist-Eccles," III-C- XI., taking the story from Zosimus' "Hist Romaika." Good encyclopedias declare that this author can not be accused of a deliber- ate misrepresentation of facts. We here get the information that Constantine was ambitious, unscrupulous and cruel, and that it was through his cunning plots, even to the extent of murdering his own family, that he, step by step, rose to the full control of his empire. Zosimus remarks that Constantine's crimes were so great that when he ap- plied to the pagan priesthood for forgive- ness and absolution those clericals re- fused to grant forgiveness. This forced him to have his supplication to the Chris- tian priests, who forgave him, took him with all his sin, and thenceforward Chris- tianity was adopted. This was the real basis of the Constantinian deal which at 17 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE once legalized Christianity. (See Ward's "Ancient Lowly," vol. II, pages 686-687.) More properly speaking, Constantine paganized the Christian Church by fusing it with the Pagan religion, and then made it a state religion. Instead of practicing the communism of Jesus and his followers, he, his priests and successor stamped it out. The private ownership of lands and other public necessities was allowed; the collection of interest, rents and profits was permitted, the rich were favored, the poor exploited, kingcraft and priestcraft were fostered and strengthened, inventors, phil- osophers, reformers, were burned at the stake as heretics, and the professing Chris- tian kings deluged the world with blood by the atrocious wars they waged. What other great Bibles have there been besides the Hebrew and Christian Bibles? The most conspicuous are: 1. The "Vedas" of the Brahmans. 2. The "Tripitaka" of the Buddhists. 3. The Avesta (or Zend-Avesta) of the Per. sians. 4. The Five Kings, or Chinese Sacred Books of Confucius. 5. The Tao-tse-King, or Sacred Book of Tao-Tse. 6. The Mohammedan Koran. 18 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Every nation and era of the past have had their inspired and sacred scriptures, suited to their times. Doubtless there will be many bibles written in future cycles. 19 The Twentieth Century Bible By ROBERT ADDISON DAGUE TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE BIBLE OF THE TWENTIETH CEN- TURY. CHAPTER I. '7N THE month of June, A. D. 1917, a spirit of inspiration came upon me, H which I have named the Spirit of Truth and Justice, and which, com- manding me, said : Robert Addison Dague, take thy pen and write the "Bible of the Twentieth Century," which will be for the instruc- tion and guidance of humanity for two thousand years. Verily I say unto you that the old dis- pensation of ignorance, strife, competition and war is rapidly drawing to its end, and a new era is about to be ushered in, in which intelligence, peace and brotherhood will prevail, and swords will be beaten into plowshares, and spears into pruning hooks, and nations will learn war no more. The Spirit of Truth and Justice would have all mankind to know that co-opera- tion (Socialism) and the Harmonial Phil- osophy (Modern Spiritualism) are twins, heaven-born, the pioneer prophets of which were those inspired humanitarians, 23 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Karl Marx and Andrew Jackson Davis, who, like John the Baptist, came preach- ing in the wilderness of ignorance and war, heralding the coming of a more in- telligent and peaceful age. Blessed art all who believe that God or Nature has so interwoven the happiness and well being of every human soul into one inseparable bond of unity and inter- dependence that what is the natural right of one is the right of all, and an injury to one is the concern of all. Blessed is he who accepts as his polit- ical and religious creed that of the in- spired prophet, Thomas Paine, who said: 1 ' The world is my country, and to do good is my religion." Blessed is he who yearns for the abol- ishment of wars and the establishment of a Socialist co-operative commonwealth, the four cornerstones of which are justice, reciprocity, universal brotherhood and universal peace. Blessed is he who has emerged from the Jungle of the competitive system of in- dustrialism in which beasts and selfish men compete, fight, and kill for profits and spoils, the motto of which is " Might makes right," and blessed are they who have evolved to the highlands of Social- ism and co-operation, the law of which 24 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE is " Every one shall receive the full value of his labor, and all shall be rewarded ac- cording to their deeds." Blessed is he who has blown away the chaff and rubbish of pagan theology about Jesus Christ, and now knows that he was intensely human and, in truth, was both a Socialist and a Spiritualist. Blessed is he who would dethrone all kings and establish social democracies throughout the world in which men and women would exercise equal social, polit- ical and religious rights and privileges, in which all would be free to do whatsoever they might desire to do, providing that in the doing thereof they would not infringe upon the rights of others. Blessed is the man who does not believe that all needful knowledge was revealed in the past, and who thinks all new ideas are heretical and modernisms, and whose religious creed was not made by ancient men who believed that the earth is flat and that God possesses all the passions and weaknesses of man ; and blessed is he who was born with an open mind, and reason- ing powers so developed that he can keep step with humanity in its march onward and upward out of the jungle of ignorance and superstition to lofty heights of knowl- edge and happiness. 25 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE CHAPTER II. Blessed were Darwin and Wallace, who were the discoverers and exponents of Na- ture 's law of evolution, which inflicted death wounds upon the pagan fable of orthodox Christianity, that God created the Universe in six days, out of nothing. Blessed are Paine and Ingersoll, those mental giants and ardent lovers of human- ity, who exhibited to the vision of all peo- ples the illogical, grossly unjust and false theology that had for nearly two thousand years held myriads of human beings in ab- ject mental slavery. Thrice blessed is he who is both a So- cialist and Spiritualist, he who under- stands that Socialism is the science of in- dustrialism, which strives for a perfected civilization, and who knows that Alfred R. Wallace and Sir Oliver Lodge, the two most distinguished scientists of the cen- tury, also scores of other great thinkers of every profession in all the countries of the world, testify that Spiritualism is a well established science. Blessed is he who is no longer satisfied with ancient superstitions and fables, and accepts the teachings of science, and knows that the earth has evolved from a gaseous and fluid state to what it is now, 26 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE and that its progress is marked by steps or eras separated each from the other by thousands of years. Scientists call this the doctrine of "Periodicity." From the days of Moses until recent times there had been little or no progress made in any thing that makes for civilization. Our fathers harvested grain with a scythe and sickle and threshed it with a flail ; and our mothers carded, spun and wove the cloth as did the ancient Pharaohs. Fifty years ago a new era began to dawn. At the beginning of a new period or cycle, the earth seems to be forced up a rung on Nature's evolutionary ladder; the old things die and a new order comes into activity. Then inventors invent new ma- chines; scientists and philosophers make new discoveries; statesmen propose radi- cal reforms; heretics rise up like mush- rooms and dispute old theologies. Old bibles are discarded and new bibles are written; good men are made better, and bad men are so disturbed and mentally jostled that they become worse and rush into crime and wars. Animals, humans, religions, governments, unfitted for the new era, dwindle and die. 27 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE CHAPTER III. The Spirit of Truth and Justice, which prompts the writer to prepare this, the " Bible of the New Era," desires, above all else, that Socialism be spiritualized, and Spiritualism be socialized. For that reason is this scripture given to the world. The aim of Socialism is to improve the material environments of humanity, to establish a civilization in which there shall be equal opportunities to all, special priv- ileges to none; while Spiritualism would provide proof undeniable that death (so- called) is not extinction of man's con- scious personality, but that he is a child of Infinite Wisdom and Goodness— that he possesses embryonic and dormant powers and potentialities which, when fully un- folded and developed, will make him a mighty archangel of wisdom, power and glory. Let these heaven-born twins, Socialism and Spiritualism, be indissolubly united, and when the union is consummated let no man attempt to put them asunder. 28 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE CHAPTER IV. The Spirit of Truth and Justice says: "Write and say to the people that the ten commandments of Spiritualism, and the ten commandments of Socialism written herein, constitute all the "Holy Scrip- tures necessary for the well-being of hu- manity, until the end of the new era, viz : Ten Commandments of Socialism. I. Thou shalt not own, for profit, the crude or raw materials provided by Na- ture, such as lands, water, fuel, minerals, air, sunlight, electricity, and other public necessities and utilities, which all the peo- ple must use to live. Those should be owned by the people collectively. II. Six days shalt thou labor at some useful occupation, with head or hands, and receive the full value of thy toil ; and thou shalt not steal from others the re- wards of their labor by means of specula- tion, monopoly, stock-watering, interest, rents or profits. III. Thou shalt not worship PROFITS as thy God [because profits is the getting of values from others without rendering an equivalent therefor]. Thy God shall be Infinite Intelligence, whose attributes are justice, wisdom and love. 29 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE IV. Thou shalt keep seven days of each week holy by dealing justly with thy fel- low-men and doing unto all others as thou wouldst that they should do unto thee. V. Thou shalt honor thy father and mother, also all men and women, and shall provide pensions for all whose age exceeds sixty years, sufficient for their support the remaining years of their life. VI. Thou shalt provide maternity homes for all prospective mothers, in which they may abide while awaiting the birth of their child, and for two months thereafter, and be tenderly treated, without expense to them. VII. Thou shalt not require children to work in mines, mills, shops, or other indus- tries, but shall send them to school, where they may be educated free of expense to them. VIII. Thou shalt promote and maintain the equal social, political and religious rights and privileges of men and women alike. IX. Thou shalt thyself have unrestrict- ed liberty to enjoy such religion as thy conscience approves (if it is not detri- mental to the public welfare), and thou shalt defend the right of all others to have the same privilege; and thou shalt at all times defend the people 's right to freedom 30 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE of speech, free assemblage, a free press, free public schools, and religious liberty. X. Thou shalt by thy ballot and by all other legal means at thy command, do all thou canst do to abolish the competitive system of industrialism, under which, for profit, men compete, contend, cheat, fight, rob and kill— a system that appeals to all that is selfish, and vile, and cruel, and dis- honest in man, the legitimate fruits of which are extremes of riches and poverty, ignorance, squalor, crime and war, the motto of which is "might makes right- to the victor belongs the spoils" ; and thou shalt favor the disarmament of nations, and the creation of international courts of arbitration in which all disputes be- tween nations may be peaceably adjusted ; and thou shalt help to maintain a co- operative commonwealth, the four corner- stones of which are Justice, Reciprocity, Universal Brotherhood, and Universal Peace; a pure social democracy in which the people will administer the government through the initiative, referendum and re- call—a system of industrialism and gov- ernment that appeals to all that is just, and honest, and ennobling in the human mind, the motto of which is "An injury to one is the concern of all." 31 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE CHAPTER V. And the Spirit of Truth and Justice sayeth: Know ye not that the Christians of the first three centuries practiced com- munism, and made it the chief doctrine of the church? In Acts, fourth chapter, we read: And the multitude of them that be- lieved were of one heart and one soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things that he possessed were his own, but they had all things in common. * * * Neither was there among them that lacked: for as many as were the possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet: And distribution was made to every man according as he had need. Jesus Christ was a communist and pacifist, as well as seer and Spiritualist. His birth was announced by angels, who came singing " Peace on earth, good will to men." He was called the Prince of Peace. After he was grown to manhood, and became a teacher, he said : Beloved, a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another. Blessed are the peacemakers. If ye say ye love God whom ye have not seen and hate your brother whom ye have seen, ye are liars and the truth is not in you. 32 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Such were the sayings of Jesus, and such are the teachings of Socialism and Spiritualism. Both were eclipsed by a pagan emperor and his successors, who repudiated these heaven-born twins and, by laws enacted, substituted a paganized church which has masqueraded as Chris- tian for seventeen centuries. Now, happily, mammonism is in its death struggle. Paganized governments and a paganized church are being scourged by the cyclone of war. They sowed the wind and must reap the whirlwind. The old cycle of ignorance, persecution, cru- elty and war is about ended, and the new era of enlightenment, toleration, justice and peace is at our very doors. Social democracies are being born, and a reju- venated and purified church is on the way in which the true gospel of Jesus Christ will be preached instead of the gospel of pagan Constantine and his successors. Let all the people rejoice and be happy, and give thanks that the old cycle is about ended and the glorious new era is close at hand. The Commandments of Spiritualism. I. Thou shalt not believe that death (so- called) is extinction of man, but that it is birth to higher life, and is as natural, as 33 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE necessary, as beneficent, as birth into this life ; and that there could be no birth with- out death, or transition. Andrew Jackson Davis said : Death is a kind and welcome servant, that unlocks with noiseless hand the flower-encircled door, to show us those we love, whom the world calls "dead." II. Thou shalt not believe that death is a penalty inflicted upon mankind and all creatures below the human, because the first man and woman offended God by some unknown act, and that he sentenced not only them but also myriads of inno- cent people, not yet born, to suffer death here, and then be tortured endlessly in hell hereafter, unless they believe the hor- rible statement that God caused his only begotten son to be cruelly murdered to appease his wrath. Thou shalt not accept as truth the fable that God's plans were defeated by a wicked, ubiquitous spirit in the form of a snake, who was more power- ful than God. III. Thou shalt not believe the doctrine of the Trinity, which is that God consists of three persons, viz : the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; that the Son is as old as his father— is in truth his own father— and that the Holy Ghost is as much God as either one or both of the others; that this 34 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE is a mystery which neither men nor angels understand, but all who do not believe it will be sent to hell forever. This is a heathen superstition, promulgated about the third century. Thy God shall be In- finite Intelligence, omniscient and omni- present, being the illimitable universe in its totality. IV. Thou shalt not accept the church doctrines of immaculate conception, nor of vicarious atonement, which latter is that all mankind are born totally de- praved because of Adam's sin, and that they may commit all the crimes in the cal- endar and escape all punishment for their sins if, before they die, they accept a church creed and are baptized. These doc- trines are pagan inventions, and their propagation has cursed humanity beyond the power of man to estimate. Thou shalt believe that as man sows so shall he reap, virtue brings its own reward and vice its own punishment, and that no shed blood of animals, men or gods can enable the wrong-doer to escape the penalty that overtakes and punishes the transgressor. V. Thou shalt not believe the blasphem- ous charge made against God by profess- ing Christians, that he is now torturing in hell myriads of men, women and children, and will burn unnumbered millions more 35 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE not yet born because they could not accept as true the pagan belief in vicarious atone- ment or never heard about it; but thou shalt defend God against such blasphem- ous accusations by affirming that all indi- viduals make their own happiness or un- happinesis as they obey or disobey Na- ture's laws, and that the doorway to reformation is never closed against any human being, here or hereafter. VI. Thou shalt do all in thy power to educate thy fellow-men and have them repudiate the insane and blasphemous statement of the Calvinistic orthodox the- ology which is that "God foreordained and predestinated a large portion of the human family to be burned in hell end- lessly 'for his own glory and good pleas- ure,' and that myriads of elect babies not yet born are predestinated and elected to eternal damnation. VII. Thou shalt be diligent in thy en- deavors to educate the superstitious and deluded church adherents that, according to their own Bible, Jesus Christ said noth- ing about the "fall of man," total deprav- ity, a virgin born god, the trinity, the vicarious atonement, nor trans-substantia- tion (or that a priest can, by saying a few words in Latin, change a piece of bread 36 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE into the literal flesh and body of Jesus Christ). VIII. Thou shalt not accept the pagan doctrine that Jesus Christ is Almighty God, or even a third part of God, but thou shalt know the truth that he was an in- spired man— a prophet and Spiritualist. IX. Thou shalt read history and inform thyself, and learn that prior to the fourth century there were 308 Christian bibles, when, by order of a pagan emperor, sev- enty-five books were selected to constitute the Catholic Bible, and in the fifteenth century the Protestants cast nine books out of the Catholic Word of God, leaving but sixty-six books in the Protestants' Holy Bible ; and thou shalt know that the world's most profound scholars say that both bibles contain hundreds of interpola- tions, alterations and forged passages. Moreover, thou shalt know that many of the writers of the books now in both bibles were illiterate, uneducated men, who never dreamed that what they wrote would be gathered together by command of a pagan emperor, put into a book, and labeled "Holy Bible." X. Thou shalt foster a desire to know the truth about the science of Spiritual- ism, which has been pronounced the great- 37 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE est of all sciences by the world's most illustrious scientists and philosophers ; and thou shalt study its history and become familiar with its lofty teachings and pure ethics, and learn that all the inspired prophets of ancient and modern times were Spiritualists, among whom were Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Elijah, Homer, Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, Jesus, Peter, James, John, Swedenborg, Andrew Jack- son Davis, Hudson Tuttle, Harriet Beech- er Stowe, Lincoln, and others. These had frequent converse with disembodied intel- ligences, who once inhabited physical bodies; and thou shalt know that both the phenomena and teachings of Spiritual- ism are glad tidings of great joy to all humanity, in that they prove that death, so-called, is not extinction, but is birth of the soul to higher life, and that man be- yond the grave retains his memory and love of his friends who still linger in the mortal form, and that the orthodox heaven and hell are mental conditions, not places ; that no angry, changeable, tyrannical God nor an all-powerful, ubiquitous Satan ex- ists; and that no human soul is irretriev- ably lost, but that all spirit intelligences shall unfold and progress in wisdom and happiness forever. 38 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Declaration of Principles of Spiritualism. 1. We believe in Infinite Intelligence. 2. We believe that the phenomena of Nature, physical and spiritual, are the ex- pressison of Infinite Intelligence. 3. We affirm that a correct understand- ing of such expressison, and living in ac- cordance therewith, constitutes the true religion. 4. We affirm that the existence and per- sonal identity of the individual continues after the change called death. 5. We affirm that communication with the so-called dead is a fact scientifically proven by the phenomena of Spiritualism. 6. We believe that the highest morality is contained in the Golden Rule: " What- soever ye would that others should do unto you, do ye also unto them." 7. We affirm the moral responsibility of the individual, and that he makes his own happiness or unhappiness as he obeys or disobeys Nature's psychic laws. 8. We affirm that the doorway to refor- mation is never closed against any human soul, here or hereafter. Thy religion cannot rise higher than thy aspirations and thy deeds. Thy prayers go to no higher levels than thy practice. 39 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Thy invocations affect none but thyself; thy creeds are of no benefit unless thou make use of them as scaffolding in the erection of stately spiritual mansions. Thy deeds outlive thy creeds, What thou doest to help others abides eternally. A pebble cast in mid-ocean moves its waters to the fartherest shore: so every act of thy life will influence thee to the fartherest shore of eternity. Every act is a cause that pro- duces an effect, and every effect becomes itself a cause which produces its effect, and the chain of cause and effect is end- less. Hate begets hate; love produces its kind. "As a man thinketh, so is he." Ella Wheeler Wilcox said : "So many gods, so many creeds, So many paths that wind and wind; While just the art of being kind Is all the sad world needs." Let us, as we pass through the earth- life, scatter kindly deeds along our path- way. Kindness is the key that unlocks all the doors of the myriads of successive zones and spheres of the spirit world, and lets us progress upward and onward toward the realms of wisdom and unal- loyed bliss. Selfishness is the key that locks us in the prison-house of ignorance and unhappiness. "40 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE CHAPTER VI. There is no death. The stars go down To rise upon some fairer shore, And, bright in heaven's jeweled crown, They shine for evermore. There is no death. The dust we tread Shall change beneath the summer showers To golden grain, or mellow fruit. Or rainbow-tinted flowers. There is no death. An angel form Walks o'er the earth with silent tread; He bears our best-loved ones away, And then we call them "dead." Born into that undying life, They leave us but to come again; With joy we welcome them — the same Except in sin and pain. And ever near us the unseen, Their dear immortal spirits, tread; For all this boundless universe Is Life. There is no dead. — Selected. No, my beloved, there is no death.. Na- ture offers not a scrap of proof that there is any real death (annihilation). You cannot extinguish a single atom or elec- tron. Nature proves that what we call death is a change only— is birth to another 41 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE zone or sphere. There can be no birth without death (so-called). Without the two, birth and death, there would be uni- versal stagnation. We can kill nothing. If we smash the body the life or spirit goes on working in a higher realm of vibration and the body disintegrates into its component parts, but each atom gets busy again and goes to forming new asso- ciations. We can wreck the body, which is composed of matter, but we can destroy neither spirit nor matter. We can only compel the inhabitant of the body to move out, and our jostling only causes the atoms of matter to seek other associations. All the universe is alive, from grain of sand to the blazing sun. All nature is throb- bing with ceaseless energy. You may knock things down, but they will get up again. Nature resents all idea of death or stagnation. Even the solidest granite and steel are vibrating with life. Nature resurrects every apparent failure into suc- cess. If she destroys one planet or sun she makes another to take its place. The day always follows the night. If things ripen and die in the autumn, they appear again in the springtime. If we sleep with death for a night, we are more alive than ever the next morning. If we wound a tree with an axe, the tree sends an extra 42 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE amount of sap to the injured spot and heals the wound. If you cast a bowl of wet sand on a smooth surface it quickly adjusts itself into a shape of flowers and assumes sym- metrical and beautiful forms. The frost on the window-glass gives proof of the existence of a natural law of art. The foulest ponds and stagnant water produce most beautiful flowers. The caterpillar has an offensive-looking body, with many feet, but out of him comes a butterfly with most gorgeous colorings. The eggs of birds are a shapeless protoplasm, but three weeks of warmth will transform that slimy substance into a glorious creature of beauty and song. The ant-lion has numer- ous legs, strong jaws, sharp teeth, and eats smaller insects. Under the microscope he looks like a ferocious monster. After a time he wraps himself in a blanket which he weaves of silk and sand, and curls up and sleeps. Later he opens the door and is a mild-mannered insect, and thereafter is a strict vegetarian and nice fellow; whereas when an ant-lion he lived in a cave, he now functions in the glorious air and sunshine. Here, we are living in our caterpillar and lion-ant bodies. We are not yet fully born. We are still in Nature's incubator. 43 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE When we break out of this old worm body then we will live in a finer zone, not vis- ible, yet real. Electricity, air, and all powerful things are invisible. Our real selves are not visible now ; only our bodies can be seen. Nature is pushing and pulling every- thing, man included, upward. Man has a glorious destiny. Nature, properly under- stood, tells us that God is Infinite Intelli- gence—is life— all life. The poet well says: "All are parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Nature is, and God the soul." The rosebud has all the possibilities of the fully developed rose. It will in due time unfold. Men are "God-buds" on the tree of Infinite Intelligence. They are gods in embryo. Some time they will un- fold. What a glorious destiny! How in- spiring the thought ! We could not exist without God ! He, or it, could not be in- finite without us. We are a part of God. We can no more die than can He. Now we are prattling infants in Nature's school. We are in the kindergarten de- partment playing with blocks and baby things. Later we shall be promoted. Oh, my brother, you who think you are only a worm of the dust and shall never be any- thing greater— you who are struggling with poverty and sorrow— look up ! Take 44 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE courage! You were not created for ex- tinction. You are here in a "worm body" for an infinitely wise purpose. There is nestling within that shell in which you live an angel in embryo, possessing god like powers and beauties not yet unfolded. You are a bud. Some time in the future you will fly through space with the veloc- ity of light, step from star to star, asso- ciate with the wise sages of other worlds and of the past ages, to bask forever in the glory of celestial spheres. There is no death. All— all is life. No, my beloved ; this world is not a vale of tears, except as man has made it so. "Man's inhumanity to man makes count- less millions mourn." Snail it always be so ? No. Ignorant man invented defective systems of religion and economics, but they, like all other things, are subject to the law of evolution or unfoldment. All error and injustice must be rung out and truth and justice be ushered in. The doc- trine that "might makes right," and "to the victor belongs the spoils," is the law of the jungle, but will not 'govern in higher levels of humanity on which the law of equity, reciprocity and the golden rule prevails. Rev. L. D. Reynolds says: Spiritualism is broadening the views 45 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE of men and women concerning creeds and ancient beliefs: proving that a true religion is not one of blind faith and dogmatic theories. We believe in the triumph of science over superstition; we believe in the Golden Rule, which Con- fucius gave to his people 2,500 years ago, and we revere the precept from Buddha, "Thou shalt not attempt, either by word or action, to lead others to believe that which is not true." Spiritualism offers no creed-bound belief as a foundation for faith, offers no unproven statement as a declaration of principles, offers no form of ceremony as a part of its dogma. Every declaration has behind it the posi- tive evidence of fact, and we glean the gems of truth from all the literature of the ages. Every religion on earth has for its foundation faith, the belief in a future life; yet ours is the only one that proves it. Spiritual phenomena has been a vital feature of all past history. The various bibles of all the religions of the world is evidence of this fact. The trend of popular thought is away from orthodox theology and distinctly toward rational views concerning all the bibles of the world. There is clearly a growing tendency to discredit the super- natural in religion and the trend of sci- entific thought is toward Spiritualism, which is bound to be the religion of the future. The Old Testament Scriptures are liter- ally filled with accounts of departed spir- 46 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE its communicating with those in the flesh. Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Jacob, Daniel, Solomon, Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Elisha, Jesus, Paul, John, Peter, and all the prophets, and the twelve disciples, were mediums and Spiritualists. All down the ages, in both Christian and so-called pa- gan countries, seers (mediums) have been inspired by disembodied intelligences to keep alive the faith of humans that there is life after death. Were it not for that truth, humanity might have degenerated into atheism and materialism. Confucius, the great Chinese prophet, was a medium, so was Buddha. Socrates, the great Ath- ens philosopher, who lived five hundred years before Jesus, conversed daily with his spirit guides. He is still regarded as one of the wisest philosophers the world ever saw. Spiritualism has always taught true doctrines. It was the religion of all the prophets and seers before Jesus was born. His birth was announced by a company of angels (spirits). He conversed daily with spirits. When he began his ministry, he selected twelve disciples, every one of whom was a clairvoyant or possessed me- diumistic powers. Often when the disci- ples were met together, spirit phenomena occurred. When Paul and Silas were con- 47 TWENTIETH CENTURY B I B JL E fined in jail, the prison doors were un- locked by spirits and the prisoners walked out. It is a historical fact that for three hundred years the early Christians often held seances and received spirit messages. Mr. Leo Oehmler, a reputable writer, says : It was. the spirit of Christ that inspired the Spiritualistic movement called Chris- tianity, which, in its pristine purity, and — as expounded by its most powerful ad- vocate, St. Paul — was a pure Spiritualism as yet undefiled by the added trappings attached to it after the Council of Nicea had convened under Constantine. It is a well known fact that the early Christians, when arrested in Rome under Nero, were usually found in a dark room. Ecclesiastical history records for us that all kinds of psychic phenomena attended the meetings and efforts of the early Christians. Spiritualists do not deny that the Chris- tian Bible contains inspiration. They do insist, however, that it was not all in- spired, nor is it infallible. Spiritualists say that if you take out of the Bible its Spiritualism, but little of value will be left. When our clerical critics assail Spir- itualism they are assaulting all the great and good seers and prophets not only of the Bible, but of all the ages. Spiritual- 48 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE ists admit that ignorant spirits can some- times obsess mediums, and communicate, as well as the good. Jesus well under- stood that, for he conversed with them, preached to them, and cast them out of obsessed persons (undeveloped mediums). The Bible says Jesus preached to the spir- its in prison (hades), which proves that souls may progress in the Spirit World. Jesus never claimed to be other than the son of God, and said all are "sons of God." He never uttered a word about the "fall of man," the trinity, the vica- rious atonement, or the immaculate con- ception. All those doctrines were invent- ed and promulgated since his time by pagans. Jesus taught a practical religion. He said, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap: Every one shall be rewarded according to his deeds done in the body." The pagan doctrine of the atonement teaches a con- trary proposition. It says by compliance with certain forms of church, bad men may escape reaping as they sowed, and go to a heaven of joy which they did not earn by right doing. Spiritualism does not dispute the divin- ity of Jesus, but does deny his deity, or that he was Almighty God. He made no such claim himself. Spiritualists say he was an inspired man, possessing marvel- 49 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE cms psychic powers. He was seer, proph- et, healer, and Spiritualist. He often con- versed with the spirits of Moses and Elias and others. Spiritualism does not deny that there exists mental and moral conditions in this and the next world which may be desig- nated as "heaven" and "hell." They say that there is punishment in the Spirit World, but it is not of a wrathful, vindic- tive nature, nor endless, but is for educa- tional and reformatory purposes. All souls will progress and become happy some time, but they must gain that happi- ness by right thinking and right doing. The poet said, "Heaven is not gained by a single bound." Two of the articles of the Spiritualists' "Declaration of Prin- ciples" are in the following words: We affirm the moral responsibility of the individual, and that he makes his own happiness or unhappiness as he obeys or disobeys Nature's psychic laws. We affirm that the doorway of refor- mation is never closed against any hu- man soul, here or hereafter. It was a sad day for true Christianity (Spiritualism) when, in the latter part of the third century, Constantine, the bloody, tyrannical Emperor, captured Christian- ity, made it a state religion, and pagan- 50 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE ized it. He had most cruelly murdered his wife, put his son and many others to death, and had committed so many atrocious crimes that even the pagan priests con- demned him. Then he professed to em- brace Christianity. Writers tell us that the spirits of the people whom he had murdered haunted him, and he became furious and determined to put a stop to the seances of the Christians, and to elim- inate Spiritualism from the church. He did not wholly succeed in doing that, as many of the church fathers (Catholics) since Constantine 's day were clairvoyants, and mediumistic ; but that church, becom- ing rich and powerful, finally forbade con- sulting the spirits outside of the Catholic Church. 51 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE CHAPTER VII. The Spirit of Truth and Justice sayeth to me: Beloved, know ye not that while Spiritualism and Socialism are called "modernisms" by the misinformed, yet both are truths as old as humanity. In the early ages of the world, angels walked and talked with men and taught them eternal truths. In the days of Abraham, Moses and Daniel, the spirit phenomena were wonderful. All along down the ages, in all nations, there have been great mediums. Daniel, Elijah, Socrates, Jesus, Joan of Arc, Swedenborg, Andrew Jack- son Davis, and others. Probably history mentions no medium of greater psychic powers than were possessed by the Maid of Orleans, known as Joan of Arc, an illit- erate peasant girl of France. The war between England and Prance had result- ed in a succession of defeats for the French army, until the King seriously con* templated escaping from the country. Then Joan went to the King and told him that a spirit voice had spoken to her inner ear and told her to go to the King and request him to make her commander-in- chief of the Frencfe armies. The King called a meeting of his counsellors, and they auestioned the girl at great length. 52 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE She discoursed so eloquently, and seemed to possess such marvelous military knowl- edge, that he believed that God had sent her to save the country, and he made her supreme commander of his armies. She won great battles and saved her country. She said a spirit voice directed her in all commands given by her to her generals. She was but seventeen. After the war Joan went back to her parents and worked awhile in the fields, as she formerly did. The clergy now got busy and decided that Joan was a witch, and an instrument of the devil. Then they burned her at the stake. The spirits, however, sustained her to the last. With her last breath she declared she saw and heard exalted spirits. But the burning of Spiritualists is no longer practiced. The old era of cruel persecution is nearly gone. A better cycle is at our doors. Rev. Mr. Reynolds truly says: Spiritualists are the pioneers in this world-wide movement, and it is to the spiritual mediums that the scientific world has come for the evidence of this great truth, this knowledge, around which theology weaves a network of un- certainty and superstition. Other emi- nent scientists all over the civilized world are studying these problems, and in every K3 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE case where thoroughly and sincerely in- vestigated, the verdict has been that we survive the change called death, that the spirit still lives and can come hack and communicate. This is a proven fact, and to decry it is simply a mark of intoler- ance or lack of information. It is especially noticeable that ortho- dox ministers are unconsciously preach- ing Spiritualism more and more, all the time. When they talk about ministering angels, and the guiding hand of those who have passed on, and thousands of similar expressions, we know it means just what our organization stands for, and if their minds could be cleared from the bewildering pagan inconsistencies of the Bible they would be Spiritualists. There are millions of people who be- lieve in dreams, spiritual communica- tions, presentiments and apparitions, but are accepting them blindly and with no effort at reaching a solution of any prob- lem. The New Testament says: Try the spirits that ye may know of what manner they be. Paul declared: There is a diversity of gifts from God. Some shall heal the sick, others dream dreams, see visions, prophesy, and speak in divers tongues. Spiritualists are the only people of mod- ern times who practice those gifts. On the day of Pentecost, spoken of in the New 54 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Testament, many persons were influenced by the spirits to speak in various lan- guages and prophesy. When the Protestants split off from the Roman Catholics, many of them devel- oped mediumistic powers. Martin Luther was mediumistic, but not a clear seer. He saw spirit forms dimly, but thought they were the devil, or some of his servants. Later, Emanuel Swedenborg became a marvelous seer, and wrote a score of books describing the spirit spheres, and what he saw and heard. Still later came Andrew Jackson Davis, whose clairvoyant gifts were greater than those of any predeces- sor since the days of Jesus. When a lad of tender years, illiterate and timid, he was influenced to write bulky volumes, which, for profound reasoning, exposition of science and philosophy, stated clearly and forcibly, have not been surpassed by any writer in America. Victor Hugo, the great French writer, was a Spiritualist. Queen Victoria of England for many years held daily con- versations with her spirit husband, through John Brown, medium, whom she paid a yearly salary, and who was an in- mate of the Queen's palace. President Abraham Lincoln often attended Spirit- ualist seances, and frequently received 55 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE communications through, Mrs. Maynard. Harriet Beecher Stowe said she deserved no credit for writing "Uncle Tom's Cab- in," as every line of it was spoken to her inner ear by a spirit voice. *M. Jfc. Jfr Afr. Jf. W ^P" W T& W The following are quotations of a few of the world's most distinguished clergy- men, scientists and statesmen, who de- clared their belief in Spiritualism: "Italia," of Eome, a few years ago said: Joan of Arc recently appeared to Pope Pius and addressed to him solemn words of encouragement and exhortation. It was while the Holy Father was indulging in devout prayer and meditation in his private oratory, immediately after the ceremony of reading the decree of beat- ification, that the spirit appeared. Rev. Adam Clarke, D. D., the author of "Clarke's Bible Commentaries," which are accepted as authority by Christians throughout the world, on pages 298 and 299 of that work says : I believe there is a supernatural and spiritual world in which human spirits, both good and bad, live in a state of con- sciousness. I believe that any of these spirits may, according to the order of God, in the laws of their place of resi- dence, have intercourse with this world, and become visible to mortals. 56 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Rev. H. W. Thomas, D. D., the great Methodist, who for nearly a quarter of a century preached every Sunday to thous- ands of people in one of the great theaters of Chicago, said: I am a Spiritualist. I would have to give up the Bible if I denied the ministry of spirits. * * * Thirty years ago I was so fortunate as to discover that Spirit- ualism meant a continuity of life. I found that I was in sympathy with its teachings. * * * I am a Spiritualist. Rev. R. Heber Newton (Episcopalian) preached a sermon which was published in the "New York World" of April 11, 1897, in which he said: There are certain truths which are coming into the world through Modern Spiritualism. * * * It is a fact concern- ing Modern Spiritualism that through it the conviction of the life to come is taking a new hold on man's mind and heart. Orthodoxy has never denied it. Spiritualism is a truth which is embodied in the records of the very beginning of our Christian religion. Rev. Lyman Abbott, D. D., of Beecher's old church (Congregationalist), Brooklyn, N. Y., said : I do not believe that those who have died have gone far away from us. I love to think my mother follows me with her eyes as she did when I was a boy. I be- 57 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE lieve that the strange, subtle, inexplica- ble and indefinable influence that some- times comes into my life is from her. Rev. Theodore Parker, in writing in his private journal, says : It [Spiritualism] has more evidence for its wonders than any historic form of religion heretofore. It admits all the truths of religion and morality in all the world's sects. Henry Ward Beecher, Brooklyn, N. T.: There have been times in which I de- clare to you heaven was more real than earth; in which my children that were gone spoke more plainly to me than my children that were with me. These glimpses of the future state are a great comfort and consolation to all those who are looking for the development of per- fect manhood. It is generally admitted from the very beginning of things this world has been open to the influence of spirits. That false notions have arisen during all ages concerning Spiritualism does not prove its fallacy by any means. Archdeacon Colley, of England, rector of Stockton, says: Spiritualism comes as a godsend to millions who are incapable of believing the Christian faith without its aid. It teaches that death is the gate of life, hence that there is continuous and im- mediate and conscious being with no sleeping in the grave. 58 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Bishop John P. Newman (Methodist), who was President Grant's pastor, often declared himself to be a Spiritualist. He frequently attended Spiritualist seances. In a published sermon he said: The belief is almost universal that the spirits of the departed have returned to earth. The two worlds met in bible times; then the communications were as real as between New York and London today. But do the communications between the two worlds continue to this day? Let us rise to the sublimity and purity of the great Bible truth, and on this day con- sole our hearts therewith. Yes, Wesley and Swedenborg were right in their be- lief that they communicated with their spirit friends. Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Milburn (Presbyter- ian) said: They are forming a sect called Spirit- ualists. You cannot laugh at Spiritual- ism. Only shallow people laugh at Spir- itualism. Only ignorant people laugh at Spiritualism. The thoughtful man no longer laughs at the Spiritualist. That man is reaching for a truth beyond the truth that he can find within the bounda- ries of the visible church. Rt. Rev. Samuel Fallows of Chicago, Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, says : I believe in apparitions, and think it is possible that there are mediums who 59 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE have the power of materializing visitors from the spirit world. Psychic research has opened up a new field, and it is no longer scientific to pooh! pooh! at Spir- itualism. J. Godfrey Raupert, of London, who has been especially delegated by Pope Pius X. to lecture to Catholic audiences in Amer- ica on Spiritualism and its dangers, said: It is no longer possible to put the phe- nomena aside. A few years ago it was the policy of the church to avoid the dangers of spiritism by saying nothing about it, but today the scientific men all over the world have recognized spiritism as a definite and real power, and to shelve it as a dangerous policy. Conse- quently, the Pope has asked me to tell Catholics just the attitude to take toward this mysterious subject. * * * The Church admits the reality of these phe- nomena. The Jtev. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, was a believer in Spir- itualism. On page 269, Vol. II., of his Journal, he says : What pretense have I to deny well at- tested facts because I cannot comprehend them? The English in general, and, in- deed, most men of learning in Europe, have given up all accounts of apparitions (spiritual appearances) as mere old wives' fables. I am sorry for it, and willingly take this opportunity of entering my sol- emn protest against this violent compli- 60 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE ment which so many who believe the Bi- ble pay to those who do not believe it. Infidels and materialists well know (whether Christians know it or not) that the giving up of apparitions is, in effect, the giving up of the Bible. And they know, on the other hand, that if but one account of the intercourse of men with spirits be admitted, their whole "castle in the air" (deism, atheism and material- ism) falls to the ground. I know no rea- son, therefore, why we should suffer this weapon to be wrested out of our hands. On page 496, Wesley remarks, in refer- ring; to spiritual gifts : The grand reason why the miraculous gifts were so soon withdrawn was, not only that faith and holiness were well nigh lost, but that dry, formal, orthodox men began even then to ridicule what- ever gift they had not themselves, and to decry them all as either madness or im- posture. There are numerous arguments which abundantly confute their vain imagina- tions. But we need not be hooted out of one; neither reason nor religion require this. The Rev. Dr. Isaac K. Fnnk, D. D., Ph. D., LL. D., a distinguished clergyman, author and publisher, after twenty years of investigation of Spiritualism declared it to be a proven truth, and says that Je- sus and the early Christians were Spirit- ualists. He published a book of 540 pages 61 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE in which he quotes about twenty-five of the world's greatest scientists to prove Spiritualism to be an established fact, I might quote the statements of scores of famous clergymen, scholars and states- men, who have declared their belief in Spiritualism, but will content myself with quotations from a few of the more than fifty noted scientists who have unquali- fiedly put themselves on record as Spirit- ualists. Prof. Richard Hodgson, M. A., LL. D., member of the British Society for Psych- ical Research, and secretary of the Amer- ican Psychical Research Society, testifies as follows: For a period of twelve years I have had communication with the spirits of those long dead, through the mediumship of Mrs. Piper. Today I am prepared to say that I am a believer in the possibility of messages being received from what people call the spirit dead. Prof. A. R. Wallace, of England (the great naturalist, and member of many sci- entific societies, who shares the honor with Charles Darwin of being the discoverer of the principles of evolution), says: We are justified in taking the facts of Modern Spiritualism (and with them the only tenable one) as being fully estab- lished. Its whole course and history pro- 62 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE claim it to be neither imposture nor de- lusion, nor survival of beliefs of savages, but a great and important truth. Again he says: My position, therefore, is that the phe- nomena of Spiritualism in their entirety do not require further confirmation. They are proved quite as well as any facts are proved in other sciences, and it is not denial or quibbling that can disprove any of them. Dr. Elliott Coues, member of the Na- tional Academy of Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C, M. A., M. D., Ph. D., Norwich University, Johns Hopkins University, a Spiritualist and a medium also, published an article in the Philadelphia ' ' Sunday Express, ' ' in which he says: I have myself seen ghosts of a good many dead persons. On several occa- sions I have been aware of the presence of spiritual bodies of deceased persons who gave information that was not oth- erwise obtainable, and who conveyed to my mind a conviction of their identity. * * * Let me tell you that I know that the alleged phenomena of Spiritualism are true, substantially as alleged. Sir William Crookes, F. R. S., editor London Quarterly Journal of Science, in- ventor of the Crookes vacuum tube which made possible the x-ray, and author of 63 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE "Researches in the Phenomena of Spirit- ualism, " says: That certain physical phenomena, such as the movement of material substances, and the production of sounds resembling electrical discharges, occur under cir- cumstances in which they cannot be ex- plained by any physical law at present known, is a fact of which I am as certain as I am of the most elementary facts in chemistry. Prof. Sir Oliver Lodge, LL. D., presi- dent of Birmingham University (Eng- land), the world's most famous scientist, recently said : I tell you with all the strength of the conviction which I can muster, that we do persist, and that those in the beyond still continue to take an interest in what is going on on earth; that they know far more about things on this earth than we do, and are able from time to time to communicate with us. I have conversed with my spirit friends just as I can con- verse with anyone in this audience. Dr. Robert Chambers, F. R. S., LL D., author Cyclopedia English Literature, etc.. declares : I have for many years known that these phenomena are real, as distin- guished from imposture, and when fully accepted will revolutionize the whole frame of human opinion on many impor- tant matters. 64 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Herbert Mayo, F. R. S., M. D., professor of Anatomy and Psychology in King's College, London, England, we quote as follows : Twenty-five years ago I was a hard- headed unbeliever. Spiritual phenomena, however, suddenly and quite unexpect- edly were soon after developed in my family. This led me to inquire and to try numerous experiments in such a way as to preclude the possibility of trickery and self-deception. That the phenomena occur there is overwhelming evidence, and it is too late now to deny their exist- ence. Mr. Leon Favre, Consul - General of France, says: I have long, carefully and conscien- tiously studied spiritual phenomena. Not only am I convinced of their irrefutable reality, but I have also a profound assur- ance that they are produced by the spir- its of those who have left earth; and fur- ther, that they only could produce them. Camille Flammarion, one of the world's greatest astronomers, says: I do not hesitate to affirm my convic- tion, based on personal examination of the subject, that any scientific man who declares the phenomena denominated "magnetic," "somnambulistic," "medi- umistic," and others not yet explained by science, to be "impossible," is one who speaks without knowing what he is 65 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE talking about; and also any man accus- tomed, by his professional avocations, to scientific observations — provided that his mind is not biased by pre-conceived opinions — may acquire a radical and ab- solute certainty of the reality of the facts alluded to. Perhaps no one has brought greater learning, combined with a natural apti- tude for experimental research, to the investigation of the recondite phenomena of Spiritualism, than Prof. Kobert Hare. He was a graduate of Yale, long a distin- guished professor of chemistry in the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, and an honored member of the most celebrated scientific societies in the land. The results of his experiments were received as almost infal- lible, so carefully and wisely were they instituted. He held some departments of electricity entirely to himself, so far had he pushed his discoveries. When Spiritualism was presented to him he was an outspoken infidel. By pursuing science on its material plane he could see no reason for a life hereafter. His interest was awakened, and he at once set himself at work to test experimentally its truth- fulness. He proceeded precisely as he would to test a fact in electricty or me- chanics. After many years of carefully conduct- 66 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE ed experiments, Prof. Hare was compelled to believe in the reality of spiritual phe- nomena. He was not easily convinced, but finally testified unqualifiedly that Spirit- ualism is a demonstrated scientific fact. His tests stand as yet unrivaled in their scientific accuracy and conclusiveness. Cromwell F. Yarley, F. R. S., Europe's greatest electrician, said: I know of no instance either in the new or old world in which any clear- headed man who has carefully examined the phenomena has failed to become a convert to the spiritualist hypothesis. The abuse and ridicule we have had to encounter came only from those who have never had the courage or decency to make an investigation of it before de- nouncing that about which they are en- tirely ignorant. In this respect the world seems to have made no progress in the last one hundred and seventy years. Dr. W. F. Barrett, professor of Experi- mental Physics and Dean of Faculty in Royal College of Sciences of Ireland, tes- tifies : I do not hesitate to affirm that a care- ful and dispassionate review of my own experiments, extending over a period of twenty years, together with the investi- gation of evidence supplied to me from trustworthy sources, compels my belief in Spiritualism as a science, based solely on facts open to the world, through an ex- 67 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE tensive system of mediumship, its car- dinal truth, established by experiment, being that of a world of spirits, and the continuity of the existence of the indi- vidual spirit through the momentary eclipse of death. Among other famous scientists who ac- cept Spiritualism as a science as well es- tablished as is astronomy, chemistry, or any other science, are Prof. Wm. James, professor of psychology, Harvard Univer- sity; Prof. Cesare Lombroso, alienist-pro- fessor of psychiatry, University of Turin, Italy; Dr. T. L. Nichols, F. R. S., author of "Esoteric Anthropology," etc.; Prof. James Challis, F. R. S., professor of as- tronomy and philosophy, Cambridge Uni- versity, England ; Dr. Baron Carl Du Prel, Munich; Dr. John Elliotson, F. R. S.,^M. D., professor of medicine in London Uni- versity, president of the Royal Medicine and Chirurgical Society, etc.; Earl of Crawford and Belcarres, F. R. S., past- president of the Royal Astronomical So- ciety ; Prof. William Gregory, F. R. S., M. D., professor of chemistry in Edinburgh University, author of "Outlines of Chem- istry," etc.; Prof. Wm. Denton, eminent geologist, author of "Our Planet, Its Past and Future," "Soul of Things," etc.; Prof. Joseph Rodes Buchanan, M. D., pro- 68 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE fessor of Psychology, Electric Medical In- stitute of Cincinnati, author of "Thera- peutic Sarcognomy," Manual of Psychom- etry," etc.; Prof. G. J. Tichner, professor of Physics anr Natural Philosophy, Leip- sic, author of "The Soul of Planets," etc. I might mention the names of many other distinguished scientists who say spiritualism is a science thoroughly estab- lished as such. Among the world's greatest statesmen, authors, editors and poets, who were out spoken Spiritualists, are: Hon. Arthur Balfour, late Prime Min- ister of England ; Wm. T. Stead, the noted English journalist and physicist, himself a writing medium; Henry W. Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier, Lydia Maria Child, Julia Ward Howe, Lucretia Mott, Ella Wheeler Wil- cox, William Lloyd Garrison, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Marie Corelli, Prof. Wil- liam Lockwood, Emmanuel Swedenborg, James M. Peebles, M. D., Ph.D., Charles Dawbarn, Prof. Edgar L. Larkin, Leland Stanford, John K. Francis, Horace Gree- ley, Mrs. M. E. Cadwallader, J. J. Morse, George W. Brown, M. D., Cora L. V. Rich- mond, Abraham Lincoln, Mary T. Long- ley, Daniel W. Hull, Moses Hull, Lyman. 69 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE C. Howe, Lillian Whiting, Maud Lord Drake, and scores of other talented, schol- arly, distinguished lawyers, editors, scien- tists, authors, clergymen, and people of all professions and callings. And the Spirit of Truth and Justice prompts me to say the names of the pio- neers of Modern Spiritualism mentioned above should be honored, and go down to future generations in this, the Twentieth Century Bible. 70 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE THE GOD OF SPIRITUALISM. Mr. J. Lincoln Bishop thus sings of the God of Spiritualists: Every glittering diamond, sparkling in end- less space, Reveals God and His Glory, He is shining in their face; There is not a single atom that floats up in the air But assures His Love and Wisdom, for the Architect is There. The moon reflects its silver, as it tracks its dial round, Lighting up the old earth garden, where Goa walks without a sound, Through the Harvest fields of midnight, scat- tering glory o'er the ground. He is seen in morning glories, at sunrise on the hills, He is heard in rippling music of the laughter of the rills As they flow along to ocean, to greet Him, for He is there, Rocking on the sunset billows; yes, our God, is everywhere. You can see Him in the morning, when the sun is out of sight, Coming with His stretch of silver, driving back the clouds of night; You can see Him at the noon-day, in the fields of waving corn; You can see Him in the dewdrop, lingering from early morn; 71 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE You can see Him in the evening, showering behind his golden beams, Flooding hilltops, clouds and mountains with His tinted glory-streams. You can see Him in the springtime, carpeting the fields with green, And you linger there enchanted by the beauty of the scene; You can see Him in the summer, in the golden harvest fields — Hear Him singing in the sickle, flashing light on reapers' reels; You can see Him in wild-flowers, that cap the summer hills; You can see Him in the willows, bending o'er the rippling rills; You can see Him in the autumn, in the dead leaves on the ground, Where sad, hazy Indian summer falls on land- scape all around. He is on the starlit river. Oh, how beautiful it seems! Where the lovers love to linger, floating down the stream of dreams; He is singing in the wildwood, in the song of every bird, Sending forth the sweetest music that the ear has ever heard. He is seen in vivid flashes, in the clouds that quickly form, Speaks in rolling thunder echoes: He's the majesty of storm. In tornado's mighty rushes you can hear His bellows roar, 72 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Coming on in blackest midnight, while in front the eagles soar. Take my heart, dear God of Nature, for I love You more and more, As exhilarating lightning plays around upon the floor, While outside the wild wind rages, and the rain in rivers pour: Yes, dear God of all the ages, You're my love for evermore. He's in every living thing that ever lived upon this earth; He's the author of its being, He was with it at its birth. All these things I worship dearly, standing here upon the sod — Every thought I have assures me that the Universe is God. 73 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE PROPHECIES. NATURE'S REVELATION. God of the granite and the rose! Soul of the sparrow and the bee! The mighty tide of being flows Through countless channels, God, from Thee. It leaps to life in grass and flowers, Through every grade of being runs, Till from creation's radiant towers Its glory flames in stars and suns. O ye who sit and gaze on life, With folded hands and fettered will, Who only see amid (the strife The dark supremacy of 111, Know that, like birds, and streams, and flowers, The life that moves you is divine! Nor time, nor space, nor human powers, Your god-like spirit can confine. God of the granite and the rose, Soul of the sparrow and the bee! The mighty tide of being flows Through all Thy creatures back to Thee. Thus 'round and 'round the circle runs, A mighty sea without a shore; While men and angels, stars and suns, Unite to praise Thee evermore. — LIZZIE DOTEN. 75 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE The Spirit of Truth and Justice moves the writer of these scriptures to prophesy of the coming in the near future of a new industrial, political and religious era, in which social democracies will supplant monarchies and plutocracies, and the re- ligion of Spiritualism will eclipse all other systems of faith. These heaven-born twins are in harmony with the Golden Rule; they are founded on justice; they oppose wars ; they would abolish poverty* they would protect and educate all chil- dren ; they would pension and make com- fortable the aged ; they would enfranchise women and place them on an equality with men. When they arrive in all their fullness, a paganized church will have dis- appeared and a religion founded on sci- ence will prevail. Kings, plutocrats, mo- nopolists, and all selfish robbers of their fellowmen will have gone. There will be no strikes, nor blacklistings, nor dynamit- ing, nor war; there will be no unem- ployed ; poor girls will no longer sell their bodies for bread ; the jails and insane asy- lums will contain few or no inmates ; there will be no beggars in the land, and no festering slums in our cities ; there will be no pale-faced, half-starved women work- ing in sweatshops, no tender children en- slaved in shops and mills. Then labor will 76 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE receive its just reward; peace and pros- perity will cover the earth ; then will life be worth living. Robert G. Ingersoll, with prophetic vision, saw the coming of the new era when Spiritnalism and Socialism would be triumphant. He said: A vision of the future arises. * * * I see a world where thrones have crum- bled and where kings are dust. The aris- tocracy of idleness has perished from the earth. I see a world without a slave. Man at last is free. Nature's forces have by sci- ence been enslaved. Lightning and light, wind and wave, frost and flame, and all the secret subtle powers of the earth and air are the tireless toilers for the human race. I see a world at peace, adorned with every form of art, with music's myriad voices thrilled, while lips are rich with words of love and truth; a world on which the gibbet's shadow does not fall, a world where labor reaps its full re- ward, where work and worth go hand in hand, where the poor girl, trying to win bread with the needle — the needle that has been called "the asp for the breast of the poor" — is not driven to the des- perate choice of crime, or death, or sui- cide, or shame. I see a world without the beggar's out- stretched palm, the miser's heartless, stony stare, the piteous wail of want, the livid lips of lies, the cruel eyes of scorn. 77 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE I see a race without disease of flesh or brain — shapely and fair, married har- mony of form and function, and as I look, life lengthens, joy deepens, love canopies the earth, and over all in the great dome shines the eternal star of human hope. Ella "Wheeler Wilcox, Socialist and Spir- itualist, moved by a spirit of inspiration, thus sang of the new age and the govern- ment-to-be : I have listened to the sighing of the burdened and the bound, I have heard it change to crying with a men- ace in its sound, I have seen the money-getters pass unheeding on the way, As they went to forge new fetters for the peo- ple day by day. Then the voice of labor thundered forth its purpose and its need, And I marveled and I wondered at the cold dull ear of greed. For as chimes in some great steeple tell the passing of the hour, So the voices of the people tell the death of purchased power. All the gathered dust of ages God is brushing from His book; He is opening up its pages, and He bids His children look, And in shock and conflagrations and in pesti- lence and strife, He is speaking to the nations of the brevity of life. 78 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Mother earth herself is shaken by our sor- rows and our crimes, And she bids her sons awaken to the portent of the times. With her travail pains upon her she is hurling from their place All the minions of dishonor to admit the com- ing race. By the voice of justice bidden, she has torn the mask from night, All the shameful secrets hidden she is drag- ging into light, And whoever wrongs his neighbor must be brought to judgment now, Though he wear the badge of labor or a crown upon his brow. There is growth in revolution, if the word is understood: It is one with evolution, up from self to brotherhood. He who utters it unheeding bent on self or selfish gain, His own doom is speeding, though he toil or though he reign. God is calling to the masses, to the peasant and the peer, He is calling to all classes that the crucial hour is near; For each rotting throne must tremble and fall, broken in the dust, With the leaders who dissemble and betray the people's trust. Still the voice of God is calling, and above the wreck I see, And beyond the gloom appalling, the great government to be; 79 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE From the ruins it has risen, and my soul is overjoyed, For the school supplants the prison, and there are no unemployed! And there are no children faces in the factory or at the loom — They are out in sunny places with all sweet things that bloom. God has purified the alleys. He has made the white slaves free, And they own the hills and valleys, in the government to be. Frances E. "Willard, that talented seer and prophet, thus spoke of the better cy- cle and era of Socialism, Spiritualism and genuine Christianity: I believe that competition is doomed. The trust whose single object is to abol- ish competition has proved that we are better without than with it. What the Socialist desires is that the corporation of humanity should control all produc- tion. Beloved comrades, this is the fric- tionless way; it is the higher way; it eliminates the motives for a selfish life; it enacts into our every-day living the ethics of Christ's gospel. Nothing else will do it; nothing else can bring the glad day of universal brotherhood. Oh, that I were young again, and it would have my life! It is God's way out of the wilderness and into the promised land. It is the very marrow of Christ's gospel. It is Christianity applied. 80 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Mrs. M. E. Cadwallader, Editor of The Progressive Thinker, contrasting the doubts and uncertainties of the old era with the knowledge of the new age, said : When the tiny rap at Hydesville electri- fied the world, it did more to arouse the thinking faculties of man than did two thousand years of Christianity. The message it brought was so stupendous that even the leaders of the church were obliged to take cognizance of it. Sorrow- ing hearts mourning for their loved ones were comforted. Daily duties were per- formed with more zeal because of this new hope. Life held something more than ever before. The grave had lost its victory; Death's sting was taken away. Spiritualism has more to offer to the human soul than any other religion, and has made millions of people happy. It embraces all that hope, all that faith, which is instinctive in the human heart. It is the keynote of the inspiration of the poets and songsters of the past. They im- mortalized it in poetry and song. They wrote of faith and hope. The world read and waited. They sung of love — but something was lacking. They wrote and sung of home and heaven — but the key to human hearts had not been struck. Of what use is life, cried the listening hearts, if death ends all? Of what use is faith and hope to the heart in despair? Of what use is love, if it ends at the open grave? Of what use is home or heaven, unless death brings reunion with those we love? TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE When the historian shall write of the wonderful progress made in the nine- teenth century, in the evolution of the race, he will say: "Another era has come to mankind," and add: "The crowning glory of the nineteenth century was the discovery that it was possible to hold communication with those who had pass- ed from this to a higher plane of life." Alexander Pope, in his "Essay on Man," written in 1732, prophesied of this new era, and thus described the people who had evolved out of the jungle of the old theology into the new: Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks through Nature up to Nature's God; Pursues that chain which links the immense design Joins Heaven and Earth, joins Mortal and Divine. Sees that no being any bliss can know, But touches some above and some below, And knows where faith, law, morals all began All end, in Love of God and Love of Man. Self-love thus pushed to social, to divine, Gives thee to make thy neighbor's blessing thine. God loves from whole to part; but human soul Must rise from individuals to the whole. Friend, parent, neighbor, first it will embrace; His country next, and next all human race. Wide and more wide, the o'erflowing of the mind 82 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Takes every creature in, of every kind; Earth smiles around, with boundless bounty blest, And heaven beholds its image in his breast." Allan Kardec, the distinguished seer and prophet of France, prophesied of this glorious era. He said: I know that a time is near at hand when the trappings of error will fall from all religious systems. The shrines of bones and nails from the Cross will dis- appear. Reason will overcome the mon- ster iniquities of false religion. The only sacred thing to be found in religion is the presence of our angel friends, a holy communion of Saints, who come closer to us day by day as we grow in the free- dom of spiritual truth. Dr. Jas. M. Peebles, M. A., M. D., Ph. D., the celebrated traveler, author and speak- er, formerly the U. S. Consul at Trebi- zond, author of "The Seers of the Ages," "Immortality," etc., who is a Spiritualist and Socialist, who, at the age of ninety- six, prophesies of the near approach of a new era, said: Spiritualism is not a narrow cult to gratify fame with an unprincipled ambi- tion to annihilate any great personality. Its real spirit is construction rather than destruction. It is as open as the skies, free as the summer winds, and wide as the measureless space. It is the gospel of demonstration, the gospel of brother- 83 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE hood, the gospel of diversity in unity, and the mighty motive power for the world's final redemption. Spiritualism is the only religion that practically proves its teachings true — proves it through present-day spiritual messages from the spirit world. In brief, Spiritualism is God's living witness, through mediumistic sensitives, of con- scious existence beyond the grave, as a foretaste of a fadeless and glorious im- mortality. Spiritualism is a science, a truth, a religion, a philosophy, and is the founda- tion of all the world's great religions. To the dissemination of Spiritualism I have devoted upwards of sixty years of a strenuous life. Spiritualism is to us a sacred word. And for this all-inclusive, all-uplifting re- ligion, I will continue to think, to write, to speak, to sacrifice, and, if needs be, to die, for I know that I have above "a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 84 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE IMMORTALITY. By Joseph Jefferson. Two caterpillars crawling on a leaf, By some strange accident in contact came; Their conversation, passing all belier, Was that same argument — the very same — That has been "proed and conned" from, man to man, Yea, ever since this wondrous world began. The ugly creatures, deaf and dumb and blind, Devoid of features that adorn mankind, Were vain enough, in dull and wordy strife, To speculate upon a future life. The first was optimistic, full of hope; The second, quite dyspeptic, seemed to mope. Said Number One, "I'm sure of our salva- tion," Said Number Two, "I'm sure of our damna- tion; Our ugly forms alone would seal our fates, And bar our entrance through the golden gates. Suppose that death should take us unawares, How could we climb the golden stairs? If maidens shun us as they pass us by, Would angels bid us welcome in the sky? I wonder what great crimes we have commit- ted, That leaves us so forlorn and so unpitied? Perhaps we've been ungrateful, unforgiving; 'Tis plain to me that life's not worth the liv- ing." "Come, come, cheer up!" the jovial worm replied. "Let's take a look upon the other side: 85 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE Suppose we cannot fly like moths or millers; Are we to blame for being caterpillars? Will that same God that doomed us crawl the earth, A prey to every bird that's given birth, Forgive our captor as he eats and sings, And damn poor us because we have not wings? If we can't skim the air like owl or bat, A worm will turn 'for a' that/ " They argued through the summer; autumn nigh, The ugly things composed themselves to die, And so, to make their funeral quite complete, Each wrapped him in his little winding sheet. The tangled web encompassed them full soon; Each for his coffin made him a cocoon. All through the winter's chilling blast they lay, Dead to the world, aye, dead as human clay. Lo! Spring comes forth, with all her warmth and love; She breaks the chrysalis, she resurrects the dead — Two butterflies ascend encircling her head. And so this emblem shall forever be A sign of immortality. 86 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE THE CHRIST. A little slip of a girl, age about 16, of Honnelly, Wales, name unknown, a Spirit- ualist medium, is the author of the fol- lowing inspired poem. It is a prophecy of the coming of the New Era of Spirit- ualism and Socialism, which she has named "The Christ." She says: They cry, He comes: The signs are sure, All lands are armed for war. The mystic number is fulfilled. He comes! We answer, Oh, that He would come! We want The Christ! We want a God to burn the truth Afresh upon the forehead of the world! We want a man to walk once more among The wrangling Pharisees, to drive the beasts And money changers from the temple courts; To bring the gospel back again, and prove How all unlike the churches are to Christ! We want that Christ again, to tell the "saints" Their sins; that they were sent to bless the poor, And they have sold themselves unto the rich; That they were sent to preach the works of peace, And they have filled the world with war of words; That they were sent the messengers of love. And they have driven love out with their creeds; That they were sent to teach men not to lie, Nor trouble when their duty leads to death. Oh, for the Christ again! He — He would dare 87 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE To tell the churches that they lie and cant, And talk of serving God — and serve them- selves; And talk of saving souls — to save their cause; And pare and narrow God's divinest truth Until a man can hardly be a man And member of the church. Already Christ is coming. Hear we not The footfalls of the Lord? He tramples down The cruel hedges man has built about The gates that lead to heaven. He rends the creeds And gives their tatters to the merry winds. He does not come as bigots prophesied, To choose a handful and condemn the rest, To found a Jewish-Gentile kingdom here, And roll the world into the past again. He comes, the spirit of a brighter age, When all that is not good and true shall die; When all that's bad in custom, false in creed, And all that makes the boor and mars the man Shall pass away forever. Yes, He comes — To give the world a passion for the truth, To fill us with a holy human love, To make us sure that ere a man can be A saint he first must be a man. 88 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE CHAPTER VIII. My Brother, my Sister ! I bid you look up, and take courage. You are not a poor, miserable worm of the dust. You were not created for nothing except sor- row and doomed to hopeless defeat and for final extinction, but for a glorious des- tiny. Open your eyes; throw open the windows of your soul, and know that you are a child of Infinite Intelligence— of God— that you are an essential part of God. Know ye that ye are deathless, and not only deathless but that you have nest- ling in that physical body an immortal spirit, which possesses dormant, God-like powers and possibilities, which will unfold more and still more, in the celestial zones, until you have attained to that degree of power, wisdom, harmony, goodness and happiness beyond our ability to conceive. Although now in this kindergarten and primary school of your Father-Mother God, where you have hard lessons to learn, and in which you toil and suffer and weep; though disappointments and sickness and sorrows may surge all about you and sometimes submerge you; though crushed by poverty, oppressed or deserted by your fellowmen, cast out, trampled TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE upon, beaten, bruised and killed, you shall some time, somewhere, emerge from all your unfavorable environments and clap your hands and shout for joy that you were taken out of the infinite ocean of im- personal unconscious spirit, implanted in matter, given a personal and conscious existence, and started on an endless jour- ney to ineffable happiness and glory. You shall yet step from star to star, fly with the velocity of light to the blazing suns in the depths of infinite space, and sit in council with the mighty sages and arch- angels in the glorious courts of heaven. I bid you to take the cards that Nature has dealt out to you, and heroically, trust- ingly play the game of life; for be as- sured that there is no joker, knave or devil who can cheat you out of your hon- est winnings. No power on earth, hell or heaven, can prevent your ascending the golden stairway that leads from earth to heaven, if you want to go up higher. 90 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE REMARKABLE SPIRIT PROCLAMA- TION THROUGH ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS. Not since the days of Jesus Christ has the world been blessed by a greater seer, prophet and illuminated teacher than was Andrew Jackson Davis, who may properly be regarded as the father of Modern Spir- itualism. He was an illiterate youth when wise and exalted angelic personages took possession of him, and through his voice and pen gave to the world the ' ' Harmonial Philosophy " and "Science of Spiritual- ism." He published about thirty books and pamphlets. In one of them, entitled "The Harmonial Man; or, Thoughts for the Age," he published in condensed form the gist or kernel of the Harmonial Phil- osophy, or the religion and politics recom- mended by wise spirits for the people of earth to adopt, and through him. the Spir- its prophesied that in due time the whole world would accept Spiritualism as a uni- versal religion, and co-operation or social- ism as its system of industrialism. This proclamation made by denizens of the Celestial Spheres through the great seer, Davis, more than sixty years ago, is a most interesting one, and its republica- 91 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE tion at this time cannot fail to interes' many thousands of people, especially Spir- itualists and Socialists, as the inspirers of Prophet Davis, in a few words, stated the cardinal doctrines of both Spiritualism and Socialism. It is prophetic, also, and its predictions are being" fulfilled. The following is the proclamation that came through Medium Davis from wise denizens of the Spirit World: To All Humanity: Again, and again — the Spirit World exclaims, and adopts as a principle, that — Every human being has a right to the possession and enjoyment of four condi- tions: First: A farm without mortgage. Second: A home without discord. Third: A country without slavery. Fourth: A religion without creeds. These conditions can be secured only by and through Organic Liberty. Liberty is the parent of Anarchy wherever it is entertained as a mere sentiment — as a poem or a song, in the savage mind. The salvation of the world lies in "Organic Liberty." And America is destined to bring this savior into being; it will be born in a manger; but the kings of the earth shall bow before its simple grandeur and majesty! America, in her present state, is but the representative of transi- tional republicanism and sentimental freedom! This is the cause of so much 92 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE political antagonism — of so much party vice and deception! And this is the cause, also, of the strength of foreign despotism; the sneers of kings and slave- holders at American institutions. In order to secure Organic Liberty, as exhibited in the Principles of Nature, you are admonished to form yourselves into a Harmonial Brotherhood whose politics and religion will be one and the same thing. The government will permit no monopolizing of the land by the few, to the injury of the many; and will arrange all kinds of industry so concordantly with individual attractions and qualifications, as that a just remuneration for it will no longer be the degrading incentive to labor, as now, but its acompaniment; for, when properly arranged, Industry is Hap- piness. These conditions, as I am im- pressed, can be attained by adopting forthwith, as a Band of Brothers, certain instrumentalities, now in being, as your weapons. First: Free Speech, unlimited discus- sion. Second: Free schools for the masses. Third: Freedom of the press, by the fecundating power of which you may shower upon the people the evangels of peace on earth, in the shape of newspa- pers, periodicals, pamphlets, tracts of the hour, and songs of Truth. Fourth: Free churches and honest teachers. Fifth: And Nature's own religion. But I ask you to adopt no local plans — only such measures as may conserve the 93 TWENTIETH CENTURY BIBLE purposes of bringing you into closer fra- ternal relations, to the end that you may conceive of united methods of assisting the world's progression. We have had enough of sectarianism — enough churches built. Let us now leave all useless forms, and become the champions of Principle. And so, friends of humanity! so you may teach the masses to venerate the Principles of Universal Truth and Unity; teach the rising generation to apply the right of suffrage to the highest and holi- est purposes; obtain the enfranchise- ment of the slave; secure the fraterniza- tion of all Europe; the analysis of all religions; the elevation of the heathen into harmonious nationalities; unlimited commerce; and the establishment of the Spiritual Church of Humanity. The foregoing' contains in a nutshell an ideal religion, a just system of industrial- ism and a perfected government. It would be well for all Spiritualists, Socialists, Ra- tionalists, and friends of the public schools, freedom of speech, a free press, and religious liberty, to read the fore- going proclamation often enough to fix in their memory every statement contained therein. NOTE. — No claim is made that this "Bible of the Twentieth Century" is infallible or iner- rant. There are no man-made bibles without error. The bible of Nature alone is infallible. It behooves man to study Nature's bible and so adjust his religious creeds and theories of government and harmonize them with Nature as nearly as he can understand Nature's ways. 94 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: Nov. 2004 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 111 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724)779-2111 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 412 742 9