We are living together in this world, but I do not know whether we shall live together in the next world. You probably consider yourself as booked for heaven, and me as booked for the other establishment. But that is a question I will not discuss at present. I will only remark that you may be mistaken. Existence, you know, is full of surprises; and, as the French say, it is always the unexpected that happens.
Well, my fellow citizens of this world, it is now the time when you celebrate the death and resurrection of your "Savior." Not being of your faith, I cannot join in the commemoration. I shall, however, regard the season after a more primitive2 fashion. Your Church adopted an old Pagan festival, the rejoicing at the renewal3 of the earth in the genial4 springtide. At the vernal equinox the sun is increasing in power, the world is astir with new life, and begins to reassume its mantle5 of green. Such a time inspired jollity in the human breast. It was commemorated6 with feast and dance and song. Perhaps it will be so again, even in sombre England, when the gloom of your ascetic7 creed8 has lifted and disappeared. Meanwhile I, as a "heathen man and a sinner," will imitate as far as I may the example of the Pagans of old. I will not sing, for I am no adept9 in that line; and my joints10 are getting too stiff for dancing. But I will feast, within the bounds of reason; I will leave this million-peopled Babylon and put myself in touch with Mother Nature; I will feel, if only for a brief while, the spring of the turf under my feet; I will breathe air purified by "the moving waters at their priest-like task Of pure ablution round earth's human shores"; I will watch the seahorses, with their white crests11, in endless rank, charging the shore; I will listen to the sound which Homer heard so long before your Christ was born—the sound so monotonous12, so melancholy13, yet so soothing14 and sustaining, which stirs a pulse of poetry in the very dullest and most prosaic15 brain. But before I go I send you this Easter egg, to show that I do not forget you. Keep it, I pray you; study well its inscriptions16; and perhaps, after all, you will not pelt17 me with it at the finish.
I have said, my Christian fellow citizens, that your Church appropriated an ancient Pagan festival—the festival of spring. I may be told by scholars amongst you that the time of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection was fixed18 by the Jewish Passover. I reply that the Passover was itself a spring festival, whose original and natural meaning was obscured by priestly arts and legendary19 stories. That it happened at this time of the year, that it depended on astronomical20 signs, that its commemoration included the sacrifice of the firstlings of the flock—shows clearly enough that it was a Jewish counterpart of the common Gentile celebration. Has it ever occurred to you that if Christ died, he died on a particular day; and that if he rose from the dead, he rose on a particular morning? That day, that morning, should have been observed in the proper fashion of anniversaries. But it never was, and it is not now. Good Friday—as you curiously21, and almost facetiously22 call the day on which the founder23 of your faith suffered a painful and ignominious24 death—and Easter Sunday, when he left his sepulchre, never fall on the same date in successive years. They are determined25 by calculations of the position of the sun and the phases of the moon—a planet sacred to lovers and lunatics, and naturally dear therefore to devotion and superstition26. You decorate your churches with evergreens27 and flowers as the Pagans decorated their temples and altars. You use Easter eggs like the pre-Christian religionists. You show, and your creed shows, in everything that Easter is really a spring festival. The year springs from the tomb of winter, and Christ springs at the same time from the tomb of death.
I am disposed to regard your "Savior" as a purely28 mythical29 personage, like all other Saviors and sun-gods of antiquity30, who were generally, if not always, born miraculously31 of virgin32 mothers, mysteriously impregnated by celestial33 visitors; and whose careers, like that of your Christ, were marked by portents34 and prodigies35, ending in tribulation36 and defeat, which were followed by vindication37 and triumph. Whether there was a man called Jesus, or Joshua (the Jewish form of the name), who lived and taught in Galilee and died at Jerusalem, is more than I will undertake to determine, and it seems to me a question of microscopic38 importance. But I am convinced that the Christ of the Gospels is the product of religious imagination; an ideal figure, constructed out of materials that were common in the East for hundreds and perhaps for thousands of years.
To confine ourselves, however, to the Easter aspect of the matter, I think you will find—if you read the Gospel story with unprejudiced eyes—that the closing scenes of Christ's career are quite imaginary. The story of his Trial and Crucifixion is utterly39 at variance40 with Roman law and Jewish custom. It also includes astonishing incidents—such as the earthquake which rent the veil of the temple, the three hours' eclipse of the sun, and the wholesale41 resurrection of dead "saints"—of which the Romans and the Jews were in a still more astonishing ignorance. What must have startled the whole or the then known world, if it happened, made absolutely no impression on the Hebrew and Gentile nations, and not a trace of it remains42 in the pages of their historians. Can you believe that the most remarkable43 occurrences on record escaped the attention of all who were living at the time, with the exception of a handful of men and women, who never took the trouble to write an account of their experiences, but left them to be chronicled by unknown writers long after they themselves were dead?
All the documentary evidence we possess is Christian. It is the witness of an interested party, uncorroborated by a particle of testimony44 from independent sources. I do not forget that the literature of your early Church includes a letter from Pontius Pilate to the emperor Tiberius, giving a detailed45 account of the trial, sentence, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ; but this is one of the many forgeries46 of your early Church, and is now universally rejected as such alike by Protestant and by Catholic scholars. To my mind, indeed, this forgery47 itself proves the falsehood of the Gospel narrative48; it shows that the early Christians49 felt the necessity of some corroborative50 evidence, and they manufactured it to give their own statements an air of greater plausibility51.
Taking the Gospels as they stand, I will ask you to read the story in Matthew (not that I believe he wrote it) of the watch at Christ's sepulchre. The Jewish priests come to Pilate, and ask him to let the sepulchre be sealed and guarded; for the dead impostor had declared he would rise again on the third day, and his disciples52 might steal his body and say he had risen. The guard is set, but an angel descends53 from heaven, terrifies the soldiers, rolls away the stone, and allows Jesus to escape. Whereupon the Jewish priests give the soldiers money to tell Pilate that they slept at their posts.
How, I ask, did those Jewish priests know that Jesus had said "After three days I will rise again"? According to John (xx. 9), his very disciples were ignorant of this fact—"For as yet they knew not the scripture54, that he must rise again from the dead." Could it be unknown to his intimates, who had been with him day and night for three years, in all parts of Palestine; yet well known to the priests, who had only seen him occasionally during a few days at Jerusalem?
There was an "earthquake" before the angels descended55. Would not this have attracted general attention? And is it conceivable that the soldiers would take money to say they had slept at their posts? The punishment for that offence was death. Of what use then was the bribe56? Do men sell their honor for what they can never enjoy, and count their lives as a mere57 trifle in the bargain? Is it conceivable that the priests were so foolish as the story depicts58 them? Would bribing59 the soldiers protect them against Christ? If he had risen he was lord of life and death. Would they not have abandoned their projects against him, and sought his forgiveness? He who had the power to revive himself had the power to destroy them.
The appearances of Jesus, after his resurrection, are grotesque60 in their self-contradiction. Now he is a pure ghost, suddenly appearing and suddenly vanishing, and entering a room with shut doors. Then he appears as solid flesh and blood, to be felt and handled. He even eats broiled61 fish and honeycomb.
Such conditions are quite irreconcilable62. We may imagine a ghost going through a keyhole, but is it possible to imagine broiled fish and honeycomb going through the same aperture63? Or is the stomach of a ghost capable of digesting such victuals64?
Has it never struck you as strange, also, that the risen Christ never appeared to anyone but his disciples? No outsider, no independent witness, ever caught a glimpse of him. The story is a party report to prove a party position and maintain a party's interests. Surely, if Christ died for all men, if his resurrection is the pledge of ours, and if our inability to believe it involves our perdition, the fact should have been established beyond all cavil65. Christ should have stood before Pilate who sentenced him to be crucified; he should have confronted the Sanhedrim who compassed his death; he might even have walked about freely amongst the Jews during the forty days (more or less) during which, as the New Testament66 narrates67, he flitted about like a hedge-row ghost. He should have made his resurrection as clear as daylight, and he left it as dark as night.
To ask what became of the body of Jesus if he did not rise, is an idle question. There is not the slightest contemporary evidence that his body was an object of concern. On the other hand, however, the story of the Ascension looks like a convenient refuge. To talk of a risen Christ was to invite the question "Where is he?" The story of the Ascension enabled the talkers to answer "He is gone up." It relieved them from the awkward necessity of producing him.
Space does not allow of my discussing this subject more extensively. I could swell68 this Easter egg into gigantic proportions, but I must leave it as it is It goes to you with my compliments, and a hope that it will do you good. If it leads any of you to "take a thought and mend," if it induces one of you to review the faith of his childhood, if it stirs a rational impulse in a single Christian mind, I shall be amply rewarded for my trouble.—Christian fellow citizens, Adieu!—I remain, Yours for Reason and Humanity.
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1
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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renewal
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| adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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commemorated
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| v.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ascetic
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| adj.禁欲的；严肃的 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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adept
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| adj.老练的，精通的 | |
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joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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crests
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| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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prosaic
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| adj.单调的，无趣的 | |
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inscriptions
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| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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pelt
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| v.投掷，剥皮，抨击，开火 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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legendary
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| adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学） | |
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astronomical
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| adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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facetiously
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| adv.爱开玩笑地；滑稽地，爱开玩笑地 | |
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Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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ignominious
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| adj.可鄙的，不光彩的，耻辱的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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evergreens
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| n.常青树，常绿植物，万年青( evergreen的名词复数 ) | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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mythical
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| adj.神话的；虚构的；想像的 | |
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antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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miraculously
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| ad.奇迹般地 | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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portents
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| n.预兆( portent的名词复数 )；征兆；怪事；奇物 | |
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prodigies
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| n.奇才，天才（尤指神童）( prodigy的名词复数 ) | |
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tribulation
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| n.苦难，灾难 | |
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vindication
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| n.洗冤，证实 | |
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microscopic
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| adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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variance
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| n.矛盾，不同 | |
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wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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45
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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46
forgeries
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| 伪造( forgery的名词复数 )； 伪造的文件、签名等 | |
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forgery
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| n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为） | |
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48
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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50
corroborative
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| adj.确证（性）的，确凿的 | |
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51
plausibility
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| n. 似有道理, 能言善辩 | |
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disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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53
descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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scripture
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| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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bribe
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| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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depicts
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| 描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述 | |
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bribing
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| 贿赂 | |
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grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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broiled
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| a.烤过的 | |
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irreconcilable
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| adj.（指人）难和解的，势不两立的 | |
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aperture
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| n.孔，隙，窄的缺口 | |
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victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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cavil
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| v.挑毛病，吹毛求疵 | |
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testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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narrates
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| v.故事( narrate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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