«
THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1897.
T hom as Jefferson.
will never make him a truer man. coercion? To make one half the They will he forgotten, therefore,
In religion he was a decided It may fix him obstinately in his world fools, and the other half hyp- and their rights disregarded. They
hut l it r will not . cure them,
ocrites.
To support roguery
and «1,1
will forget
themselves, but
in the
the
F re e th in k e r
“ H is i n s t i n c t s ’> sav« errors,
o
.
...................
> v ««.u
img.-i memseives.
out in
?
.
lnst nets, says Reason and free enquiry are the error all over the earth. Let us re- sole faculty of making monev and
Bancroft, “all inclined him to trace only effectual agents against error, fleet that it is inhabited by a thou- will never think of uniting to* effect
every fact to a general law, and to Give a loose rein to them, they will sand millions of people. That these a due respect for their rights. The
put faith in ideal truth.” During support the true religion, by bring- profess probably a thousand differ- shackles, therefore, which shall not
his later years “he watched with ing every false one to their tribunal, ent systems of religion. That ours be knocked off at the conclusion of
deep concern the ceaseless move- in the test of their investigation, is but one of that thousand. That this war, will remain on us long
ment ot the human soul toward They are the natural enemies of if there be but one right, and ours will be made heavier and heavier’
freedom and purity. J)r. Channing error, and of error only. Had not that one, we should wish to see the till our rights shall revive or expire
became an interesting figure to him, the Roman Government perm itted 999 wandering sects gathered into in a convulsion.”
and he failed with delight the in- free enquiry, Christianity could the field of truth. But against such
“It is for the benefit of mankind
roads which Channing appeared never have been introduced. Had a majority we cannot effect this by to mitigate the horrors of war as
to be making in what he considered not free enquiry been indulged at force. Reason and persuasion are much as possible The practice
the most pernicious of all priestly the era of the Reformation, the the only practicable instruments, therefore, of modern nations of
devices, the theology of Calvin, ft corruptions of Christianity could To make way tor these, free inquiry treating captive enemies with po
is hard to say which surpassed the not have been purged away. If it must he indulged; how can we wDh liteness and generosity, is not onlv
*
•/
other in boiling hatred of Calvinism, be restrained now, the present cor- others to indulge it while we refuse delightful in contemplation,
hut
Jefferson or John Adams. ‘I ruptions will be protected, and new it ourselves? But every state, says really interesting to all the world—
rejoice,’ writes Jefferson in 1822, ones encouraged. Was the govern- an inquisitor, has established’souie friends, foes, and neutral.”
‘that in this blessed country of free ment to prescribe to us our medi- religion. No two, says I, have es-
These sentences, among others,
inquiry and belief, which hag cine and diet, our bodies would he tahlished the same. Is this a proof he addressed to his nephew, Peter
surrendered its creed and conscience in such keeping as our souls are of the infallibility of establishments? Carr, in college, in 1787:
neither to kings nor priests, the now. Thus in France the emetic Our sister states of Pennsylvania
“Religion. In the first place di
genuine doctrine of one only God was once forbidden as a medicine, and New York, however, have long vest yourself of all bias in favor of
is r* viving. In a letter to ( olonel and the potato as an articleof food, subsisted without any establishment novelty and singularity of opinion.
Pickering he writes of “the in- Government is just as infallible, at all. The experiment was new Indulge them on any other subject
comprehensible jargon of the too, when it fixes systems of phys- and doubtful when they made it. rather than on that of religion. On
Trinitarian aiithmetic, that three ics. Galileo was sent to the In- It has answered beyond conception, the other hand, shake off all the
are one, and one is three.” He be- quisition for affirming that the They flourished infinitely. Religion fears and servile prejudices under
came even more vehement than this earth was a sphere; the government is well supported; of various kinds, which weak minds are servilely
after his eightieth year. He spoke had declared it to he as flat as a indeed, hut all good enough; all crouched. Fix Reason firmly in
of “the blasphemous absurdity of trencher, an J Galileo was obliged | sufficient to preserve peace and or her seat, and call to her tribunal
the fl\e points of ( alvin;’ of “the to adjure his error. This error, der; or if a sect arises, whose tenets every fact, every opinion. Question
hocus-pocus phantasm of a God” however, at length prevailed, the would subvert morals, good sense
with boldness even the existence of
created by ('alvin, which, “like earth became a globe,and Descartes has fair play, and reasons and God; because, if there he one, he
another Cerberus,” had “one body declared that it was whirled round laughs .........................................
it out of doors without suf must more approve the homage of
and three heads;” and declared its axis by a vortex. The govern- fering the state to he troubled with Reason than of blind-folded fear.
that, in his opinion, “it would be ment in which he lived was wise it. They do not hang more male- You will naturally examine, first,
more pardonable to believe in no enough to see that this was no factors than we do. They are not the religion of your own country.
God at all than to blaspheme him question of civil jurisdiction, or we more disturbed with religious dis Read the Bible, then, as you would
hy the atrocious attributes of should all have been involved by sensions than we are. On the con- Livy or Tacitus. For example, in
Calvin.” In a letter to Dr. Cooper authority in vortices. In fact, the trary, their harmony is unparal- the hook of Joshua we are told the
he says: “ In our Richmond there vortices have been exploded, leled, and can be ascribed to noth- sun stood still for several hours.
is much fanaticism, hut chiefly and the Newtonian principle of ing hnt their unbounded tolerance, Were we to read that fact in Livy
among the women. They have gravitation is now more firmly es- because there is no other circurn- or Tacitus, we should class it with
their night meetings and praying tahlished, on the basis of reason, stance in which they differ from their showers of blood, speaking of
parties where, attended by their than it would be were the govern- every nation on earth. They have their statues, beasts, etc. But it is
priests, and sometimes by a hen- ment to step in, and to make it an made the happy discovery, that the said that the writer of that hook
pecked husband, they pour fourth article of necessary faith. Reason way to silence religious disputes, is was inspired. Examine, therefore,
the effusions of their love to Jesus, and experiment have been in- to take no notice of them. Let us candidly, what evidence there is of
in terms as amatory and carnal as dulged, and error has fled before too give this experiment fair play, his having been inspired. The pre
iheir modesty would permit them them. It is error alone which needs and get rid while w*e may of those tension is entitled to your inquiry,
to use to a mere earthly lover.” the support of government. Truth tyrannical laws. It is true we are because millions believe it. On the
The final and complete remedy, can stand by itself. Subject opin- as yet secured against them by the other hand, you are astronomer
he thought, for the ‘fever of ion to coercion, whom will you spirit of the times. I doubt whether enough to know how contrary it is
fanaticism,’ was the diffusion of make your inquisitors? Fallible the people of this country would to the law of nature. You will next
knowledge.
men, men governed by bad pas- suffer an execution for heresy, or a read the New Testament. It is the
In his “Notes on Virginia,” sions, by private as well as public three years’ imprisonment for cut history of a personage called Jesus.
Jefferson declares that “ignorance reasons. And why subject it to comprehending the mysteries of Keep in your eye the opposite pre
is preferable to error; and he is less coercion? To produce uniformity, the Trinity. But is the spirit of tensions: First, of those who say he
remote from the truth who believes But is uniformity of opinion desir- the people our infallible, a perma- was begotten of God, born of a vir
nothing, than he who believes what able? Introduce the bed of Pro- nent reliance? Is it government? gin, suspended and reversed the
iswrong.” In the same “ Notes,” crustes, then, and as there is dan- Is this the kind of protection we re- laws of liavU
.c at will, and ascended
nature
while speaking of .“the different ger that the large men may heat ceive in return for the rights we give bodily into heaven; ’ and second
religions received in that State,” the small, make us all of a size, by up? Besides, the spirit of the limes of those who say he was a man of
he wrote as follows:
lopping the former and stretching may alter, will alter. Our rulers illegitimate birth, of a benevolent
T h ek g itim atf powers ofgovern- the latter.
wip become corrupt, our people heart, enthusiastic mind, who set
ment extend to such acts only as
“Difference of opinion is adv/in- careless. A single zealot may com- out with pretensions to divinity
are injurious to others. But it tageous in religion. The
several mence persecution, and better men ended in believing them, and wis
< >es me no injury for my neighbor sects perform the office of a censor be his victims. It can never be too punished capitally for sedition by
to say there are twenty gods, or no morum over each other.
Is uni- often repeated, that the time for being gibbeted, according to ’the
. It neither picks my pocket l'ormity attainable? Millions of in- fixing every essential right on a Roman law, which punished the
nor ireaks niv leg. If it he said, nocent men, women and children, legal basis, is while our rulers are first commission of that offense by
• ns testimony in a court of justice since the introduction of Christian- honest, and ourselves united. From whipping, and the second by exile
cannot be relied on, reject it then, ity, have been burnt, tortured, the conclusion of this war we shall or death in furca. Do not be
and
be the stigma on him. fined, imprisoned; yet we have not be going down hill. It will not then frightened from this inquiry by anv
n-traint may make him worse advanced one inch toward uniform- be necessary to resort every move- fear of its consequences. If it ends
by making him a hypocrite, hut it ity. What has been the effect of ment to the people for support, in a belief that there is no God, you