tecnh
The
Religion for the Well & the
Religion for the Sick
April
1862
It
is customary for the clergy to open the Bible, read a chapter, make a
prayer, and then after reading a passage as a text, preach a sermon.
This is the fashion of the day, and everyone who preaches from the
same text explains it according to his views - as though his
explanation was of some value to man. Suppose a number of persons who
are sick and in pain sit listening to preaching - instead of
receiving any spiritual food or drink to cool their feverish tongue,
they get nervous and are told to be reconciled to all that happens
and not complain of their suffering; so they leave the church more
nervous than they entered it.
Now
was this the case with the preaching of Jesus and his disciples? No.
Their preaching was from some wrong impression that the people had,
in regard to their health. Jesus never preached to the well. The
priests of his day preached to them to make them religious; and when
they got a convert, they made him ten times more miserable than
before. This is the same in our day. All sermons are preached to make
men more religious, and when they have succeeded - men are ten times
more liable to disease.
Jesus
opposed such works as the works of darkness - and I oppose this sort
of religion as the invention of man and shall show that every word
they say is false and contains not a word of Christ (or truth). Jesus
says a tree is known by its fruits. If I show that the fruits of
religion come from a corrupt tree, then it ought to be hewn down.
Everyone
will admit that when a minister preaches from a text, he gives his
opinion as to what it means; and his opinions make up his religious
discourse. The fruit of it is the good it does to the hearers.
Everyone knows that opinions are arbitrary (or a belief, without
wisdom) - so how can the fruits, coming from a religious opinion, be
anything but bad? It must be so; for every person is responsible for
his opinions and must be affected by them, either for good or evil.
All
religion is arbitrary and was opposed by Jesus; for he had nothing to
say to those who were without religion, for he came to save the lost
house of Israel. You will find that all his disciples were from the
church - and religious, being Jews. So being a Jew, himself, his
remarks were to his own people, and everything was for the benefit of
the suffering sick, who had been robbed of their health and happiness
by the religion of the priests and left, like the prodigal son, to
eat the husks and crumbs of their own labor (or wisdom) (or common
sense). This kind of food was, to the priests and religious people, a
dry morsel, as it is now. If a person undertakes to question the
opinions of the priests and doctors and to think for themselves, such
a person is denounced by both classes and their wisdom laughed at and
ridiculed, as dry food and worthless.
As
I said at first, all preaching is religious - but not of the religion
of Jesus. It was the very religion he opposed; for he saw that it
contained nothing but opinions that were forced upon the people,
making them sick and unhappy. Jesus' religion was Christ (or truth) -
not opinions. So when he spoke the truth, he spoke God (or wisdom),
and that would burn up the priests' opinions and destroy the misery
that followed them. So all his religion was to the sick - made so by
the priests.
The
sick are the only ones who are in danger; for if a person is not
sick, he needs no physician. So to make anyone sick is to get him in
danger of something. If you cannot make him believe he has a disease,
you can make him believe his soul is in danger of being lost. This is
the same. One is as effectual as the other. Either makes a man
miserable and is the effect of our belief.
When
Jesus commanded his disciples to go forth and teach all men and cure
all diseases, he never told them to go to the well and preach the
doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees - but to go to the lost sheep
(or those who had been made sick by the priest); to call on them, and
cast out their corrupt ideas that they got from the doctors. So by
their fruits they were to be known; and instead of making the young
sick and crazy by false doctrines, they showed the absurdity of their
religion and expounded the living truth, which broke in pieces their
opinions. Their test came when they had something to perform. For
instance, when Paul went to Athens, his test come up by the state of
society. He saw that their religion was all vanity, and it made the
people sick and wicked, so he said, “I perceive that, in all
things, you are too superstitious (or religious).” You often hear
this text preached from Acts 17:22-23. I found an altar with this
inscription: To the unknown God. Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly
worship - him declare I unto you.
Paul
knew the people were very religious; for when he was a religious man,
he was very religious and persecuted all who disbelieved in his
religion. But when he saw the truth (or Christ), it lit up his
wisdom; so that he saw that all his religion was of man, and he
condemned it as superstition, etc. Religious worship is all the
invention of man. There is not one particle of the wisdom of Christ
in it. It is only the superstition of the old church, that Jesus
opposed.
Jesus
had gotten rid of his religion before he undertook to preach the
Christ (or truth). This is the difference - one teaches what he
believes about something he knows nothing of, and if he succeeds in
convincing others of this belief - this is religion. They are
convinced of all kinds of errors and are put under a great many
restrictions, so that fears of something horrible get them nervous.
This is called “religion,” and their feelings are the fruits.
Therefore
religion is to make men more miserable than before, and this is
always so, although at times it may seem different. Shall we do evil
that good may come? Now let truth be truth, but every man (or
opinion) a liar. The idea of opinions being true is what causes all
the controversy. All medical skill is based on this sandy foundation.
Religion is based on the same; so when the winds of wisdom blow, and
the waves of truth beat upon the house of opinion - its foundation is
washed away, and it falls.
Science,
like rain, has been dropping upon superstition (or religion), until
it is nearly crumbled to pieces. And as the tide of wisdom sweeps
along the shores of superstition, it will wash out the errors and
leave the shores of time clear from the rocks and ledges of religious
bigotry. So when the wind of life springs up, the soul will glide
away down the stream of life to the great ocean of wisdom, there to
float free from all harm, till time shall be no more.
You
may say that this time may never come. I will answer in the words of
Jesus, spoken on a similar occasion. “As in the day of Noah, they
were eating and drinking in heathen superstition, and the floods of
wisdom came, and those that entered into this truth were saved.” So
shall it be now. The heavens (or minds) are black with error, and the
sun (or wisdom) gives no light (or truth.) The stars (or teachers)
fall from the heaven, and the powers of their theories are shaken.
Now
as this truth cometh from the east and shineth to the west; so shall
this great wisdom come. And thou that understandeth shall enter in
and be saved from the evil that follows the belief of the priests and
doctors. The truth shall come in the clouds of error, and every eye
of wisdom shall see it. And it shall sit on the throne in the belief
of man, where it will judge the world, and separate the truth from
the error. Then every theory of man, based on an opinion, shall fall;
and the son of God (or science) shall reign on the earth, as it does
in heaven. Then there will be a new heaven (or science) and a new
earth (or belief); for the old theory of opinions shall be burned up
by science.
Truth
and wisdom shall reign, till error shall be known as a separate thing
from wisdom. Wisdom (or science) shall test all opinion; and when a
man gives an opinion, it will be taken as such - and truth as truth.
Religion will then give away to a higher wisdom that will prove
itself, as Jesus proved his wisdom when on earth. Jesus was the
founder of this great truth, and his field was the mind of man. His
labor was not among the well, nor in any known science; but it was
with the sick - and his sermon was to correct the error that made the
people sick. Therefore, all he said was to destroy religion, because
religion was a sin, based on an opinion.
If
a person can show where a sermon corrects any error that the sick
have, so as to relieve them from any suffering - then I will admit
the preacher is a follower of Jesus. Jesus never preached without
having some object to obtain. But you may go to the church forever,
and gaze on the dead bodies of sin and error, and offer up prayers to
this common God - and it will never take away sin and error. But once
in the end of these things, the truth will come out and explain all,
and the sick will be made better; but never will the truth shine,
till error is shown up in its true character, and its cloven foot of
ignorance is seen. Then it will cease to be error to mankind.
teloV