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VOL. 1.
CLEAR
R eason .
SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY . p NEAR Y 7 LS“
THE
NO. xu.
W AY.
hollowed by flint flakes, each from them all and definite enough to be
Chalcedon and Constantinople were
clearly understood.
filled with anarchy, riot, outrage,
Critical and destructive work is and murder. The cathedral on
still needed, oposition to absurd Ephesus was the theatre of tierce
dogmas which dw arf the mind, and and brutal butchery, and Arius
to efforts to evangelize the govern­ himself, as is stated, was poisoned
(see Lecky’s
ment and public institution, should hy Anathasian
be more active than it is, for it is History of European morals,” Vol.
as true now as it ever was that ! 2 pp. 207-209.)
Profl’essor John Fiske remarks
despotism steals over a people like
a mist and that “eternal vigilance that, while the Jesus of Dogma is
t h e l>est known, the Jesus of his­
is the price of liberty.”
Yet every Freethinker should be tory is the least known of all th<?
Once th e welcome light h a s b roken, who a negative position, remind them of
shall say
the positive side of Freethought. ready to answer the question “If eminent names in history. Num­
W h a t th e unim agined glories of th e
you take away our religion what erous volumes have been written
AU Freethinkers hold that,
day?
1. Reason is man’s highest au­ do you offer in its place?” —a ques­ under the titles of life of Jesus and
W h a t th e evil th a t sh all p erish in its
thority and best guide, and its ex­ tion with which everyone w’ho ven­ life of Christ, but they are no more
ray
Aid th e daw ning, tongue and p e n ;
ercise in religion, as in all other tures to dissent from formulations than romantic paraphrases of the
Aid it, hopes of honest m e n ;
matters, is an inalienable right and of past thought called creeds, is gospels, and the gospels as we have
Aid it, p a p e r; aid it, ty p e ;
often confronted.
shown, are in no sense historical re­
duty.
Aid it, for th e hour is ripe,
cords. These gospels and the
B. F. U nderwood .
2. Salvation is escape from er­
A nd o u r e arn est m u st not slacken
Chicago, 111.
stories built upon them that have
ror of thought and action; it comes
in to play.
so many times been repeated, have
Men of th o u g h t and m en of action, clear from knowledge of truth and the
Popular
Science.
been the means of preventing the
th e w a y !
practice of virtue.
foot of newly fallen snow name of Jesus from falling into ob­
Lo! a clo u d ’s ab o u t to vanish from th e
3. All may help to save their
day;
fellows by wise instruction and the changes into an inch of water livion. Jesus is not credited with
And a bazen w rong to cru m b le in to
having written a single word of
when melted.
example of an upright life.
clay.
4. All truth is sacred; all false­ The colors penetrating deepest them; be taught no new doctrine,
L o ! th e r ig h t’s about to c o n q u e r: C lear
are the blues and the greens, the and he never claimed to he the Son
hood is profane.
the w a y !
of God. Now* if it tan he shown
M ith th e rig h t shall m any m ore
5. All sacred books so-called, red Iwnng cut off first.
E n te r sm iling a t th e d oor;
are products of evolution; many of
Keller has shown» in Madagascar that this claim of the church in re­
W ith th e g ian t wrong shall fall
gard to the gospels being the word
them
are
valuable
as
records
of
that
the
corals
always
grow’
out
in
M any o th ers, g rea t and sm all,
of God, is false, then it is plain that
T h a t for ages long have held us for past thought and as expressions of the direction of the strongest light.
the Jesus of Dogma must follow the
religious life; they are all human,
th e ir prey
The Geysers of the Yellowstone Jesus of history. Bishop Faustus,
Men of th o u g h t and m en of action, clear fallible, and their teachings are to National Park are failing. Their
th e w a v !
be accepted only so far as they ac­ forces has fallen off fifty per cent (Faust Lib. vol. 2) in speaking of
these early writers, correctly says:
cord wdth reason and truth.
in sixteen years.
Science vs Theology.
“It is an undoubted fact that the
6. All religious systems are out­
The Du Fonts, of Wilmington, New Testament was not written by
The contrast between the theolog­ growths of the human mind,
Del., have a horseless family car­ Christ himself, nor hy his apostles,
ical and the scientific theory of the natural in origin and development.
riage, with a seating capacity for
origin and nature of the moral
7. All particular religions are eight persons. 'The motive power hut a long while after their time
by some unknown persons, who,
code is so great as to preclude the special forms, modified by race,
is electricity.
lest they should not l>e credited
idea of any reconcilement. We climate and character of universal,
. The air tight compartment when they wrote of affairs they
have already been compelled to ar­ natural religion.
rive at the same conclusion in com­ H, The conception of evolution, theory of building ships was copied were little acquainted with, affixed
paring the principles of theology of law and continuity in the world, from a provision of nature shown to their works the names of ajxjs-
and science in regard to other should and must replace the un­ in the case of the nautilus. The tles, or of such as were supposed to
branches of knowledge. When t lie scientific and erroneous idea of shell of this animal has forty or have been their companions and
human race was in its infancy it miraculous creation and super­ fifty compartments, into which air said they were written according to
or water may be admitted, to allow them.” According to various au­
thought as a child and spoke as a natural interposition.
child; hut as it became more ad­ 9. Man has ascended, not fallen. the occupant to sink or float as it thorities there were in the early
pleases.
centuries over two-hundred differ­
vanced it threw away its childish
10. By wise and united effort
The making of artificial ears ent gospels and epistles, all claim­
theories. Xo one would hesitate we can accelerate human progress.
for a moment to acknowledge that
11. The Freethinkers bible is seems to have reached scientific ing to give a true account of this
it would be inconceivable folly for Nature which includes all books, perfection within the last decade. person Jesus. All these various gos­
us to cast away all the knowledge and all objects and their relations. Made of a specially prepared rubber pels possessed the unsatisfactory
that science has given us in astron­
Entire uniformity of thought is flesh colored in the rough, they are" characteristic of not giviug the au­
omy, mechanics, chemistry, anat­ not expected among those who painted by hand in exact imitation thors names, nor dates nor authenti­
omy, surgery, and go back to the think, and not merely assent to of the remaining ear ot the unfortu­ cation for the impróbale stories they
theories and practices of primitive projs>sitions submitted to them. nate customer, and as carefully narrated. Bishop Middleton in his
man. Yet men of great intelli­ They who “think in herds” do not “touched” and marked as an artist’s Essay on the gift of tongues says
gence in regard to other matters think at all. A go.al motto is, “in Picture- The n,ak*r gets a hun- the scripture Greek is utterly rude
try to persuade themselves and things that can lie demonstrated, dred dollarH aPiece f,,r them.—Ad- and barbarous, and abounds with
every fault that can possibly deform
others that it is the highest wisdom unity; in things that admit of vocate of Common Sense.
language whereas we should nat­
for us to accept the theories of prim­ doubt, free diversity; in all things,
Jesu s of Nazereth.
urally expect to find an inspired
itive man concerning the most im­ charity.”
portant subject of all—the science
On some such statements of- These controversies in the early language. In short we should ex­
of social conduct. Men who would thought as I have given above,Bgc8of ,he cbureh convulsed all pect the purity of Plato and the
eloquence of Cicero.
laugh to scorn the idea of exchang­ Freethinkers can unite on a posi-
great c, pita|, of thc East.
H. D. B urrows .
ing our ocean steamers for canoes live basis broad enough to satisfy I j erusalem) Antioch, Alexandria,
, Joouoa ’ ; „
•
Vancouver \\ ash.
Men of th o u g h t.b e up and stirrin g night a single tree, gravely ask uh to
and d a y :
“accept” the theories of the .infants
Sow th e seed—w ithdraw th e c u rta in —
of our race about ethics as a “revel­
• clear the way !
Men of action, aid and cheer them ; as ye ation from God.”—John Wilson.
m ay!
T h e re ’s a fount ab o u t to stream ,
The P ositive Side of Freethought.
T h ere ’s a light ab o u t to beam ,
T h ere ’s a w arm th about to glow,
W hen orthodox people object to
T h ere ’s a flower about to b lo w ;
T h e re ’s a m id n ig h t blackness ch an g ­ the position of Freethinkers, those
who reject the bible as divinely in­
ing in to gray.
Men of th o u g h t and m en of action, clear spired and Christianity as a di­
th e w a y !
vinely revealed system of truth, as
J
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