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About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (May 20, 1897)
T orch of R eason . SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1897. For the Torch of Reason. In fact, it was alm ost com pulsory. Never in the history of the country Less of d iv in ity , and m ore of h u m a n ity , was there such a strong tem perance sentim ent all over the land, from The people are needing to d a y ; Less a ssiu in ity , w hich som e call C h ris Maine to Texas. These influences tia n ity , —religion, education, and te m p e r Or godliness given by b ra y ; ance— have alw ays been regarded Less sovereignity, and m ore of u rb a n ity , And «{leakers w ith som ething to sa y ; as active factors in the supression More of senseanitv, and less of in sa n ity , ! of crim e; but w hat are we to say in W hich th in k s to move m o u n tain s by the face of these statistics?” pray. Religion, p rim arily , em otion, a Don’t saddle y o u r evil upon th e poor feeling of dependence, is pow erless to restrain crim e, except so far as devil, H e has enough sin of his own ; it is enlightened, and is made to D on’t glicke on a bevel, b u t keep y o u r conform to th e principles, and be head level, • come suffused with the sp irit of Be u p rig h t, though sta n d in g a lo n e; Savages are religious. It never will free us, believing in Je su s, m orality. The most corrupt periods of history A God to h im self c a n ’t a to n e ; W alled heaven would squeeze us, and have been the most religious; th a t spasm s would sieze us, is, they have been periods in which To m onkey a ro u n d a m ad th ro n e . the religious feelings w’ere t h e most Less of verbosity, and m ore of p h ilo s active, and religious observances ophy, the most intim ately associatod with Let faith be c o n sisten t w ith facts; public and private life. Speaking Less of pom posity, and none of th e o s of the period th a t ju st preceded the ophy, Q uit d ream ing an d do m ore good a c ts; advent of C h ristian ity , Mommsen says, “ A wager m ight be laid th a t Less of piosity, an d m ore g enerosity, Potatoes e a t b e tte r th a n tra c ts ; the more lax an y •r woman was, the Less anim osity and godly m o n stro sity , more piously she worshipped Isis.” The gospel of good-will exacts. The m iddle ages, per-em inently Less seers in d a rk ages, an d m ore religious, were ages of ignorance, lighted sages, vice, and crime. Often, the most No blind m en co nducting th e b lin d ; religious persons am ong us to d ay — Less tru e m en in cages, and m uch b e tte r those who revel in the excitem ent wages of religious revivals—are habitually For w orkers w ith body or m in d ; Less of D w ight Moody, Sam Jo n e s and im m oral, and even crim inal, as in his boody, the cases of G uiteau and the Jam es Leave Sankey and M urp h y b e h in d ; brothers. “ U niversal piety is, in The city of Boston would not know it the popular eye,” Lange observes, lost one “either genuine saint-ship or a If up th e show w ent in th e w ind. —JO H N P. G U IL D . wicked cloak of all th a t is vile. Tyngsboro, Mass. For the psychological su b tlity of the m ixture of genuine religious Religion and Crime. em otions with coarse selfishness and The A tlan ta C onstitution quotes vicious habits, the o rdinary mind from Gen. B riukerhoff of Ohio, who has no ap p reciatio n .” Schleier is an a u th o rity on the subject of m acher says: prison and prison reform, to the “ Religion belongs neither to the effect th a t in th is country crim e is dom ain of science nor m orals, is rising like a Hood, and th a t, “ unless essentially neither knowledge nor we check this flood, society as at conduct, but em otion only, specific present organized must go under,” in its nature, and inherent in the th at “<>ur penal system is a failure, im m ediate consciousness of each and our society is on the down individual m an. H ence comes the grade, rushing eith er to an arch y or vast variety of religious conception Caesarism.” and of religiou« system observed in W hile our Southern contem porary the w orld—variety not only thus is inclined to a practical and not to be accounted for, but apprehend to the pessim istic view of the ed as a necessiiy of hum an nature. subject, believing th a t this co u n try , Hence, also, the irrefragable plea although young, has the wisdom for universal toleration, and the and strength to protect itself, and sin against G od’s ordinance, com that t h e first step to be taken is to m itted in every act of persecution investigate our crim inal laws and of o p in io n .” Upon this, Dr. W illis, Spinoza’s penal system an d reform them , it asks: “ W hy does this state of biographer, rem arks: “ This view of Schleierm acher things exist? Religion was never more active, and money was never was an im m ense advance on all more lil>erallv spent for C h ristian iz previously en tertain ed ideas of the ing the heathen. E ducation was n atu re and true worth of the relig- m ver more generally distributed. ions idea, and has not yet been gen- H u m a n ity D isco u n ts D iv in ity . erally appreciated in all its signif icance. W hen we recognize it, how ever, we readily understand how religious em otion m ay be associ ated with crim e and im m orality as well as with the highest m oral ex cellence; how a Jacques Clem ent and B althasar G erard m ay confess them selves to the priest, and take the sacram ent of the body and blood of the Saviour by way of strengthening them in th eir p u r pose to com m it the crimes th a t have made their memories infam ous; how punctilious atten tio n to Bible reading and devout observ ance am ong crim inals of a less ter rible stam p do not necessarily im ply hypocrisy and cunning, as so commonly assum ed, when these unhappily constituted beings are found again engaged in their ob jectionable courses. T he piety, the religion, displayed is a perfectly tru th fu l m anifestation of the emo tional element in the nature of m an which seeks and finds satisfaction in acts im plying intercourse with Deity, but neither seeks nor finds satisfaction in acts of honesty and virtuous life in the world. We have here an explanation of how it happens th a t our penitentiaries are filled with the worst sort of crim inals, whose lives, prior to the detection of their crimes, wrere ch a r acterized by em inent piety and a strict regard for religious obser vances. T h at religion, per se, has no restrain in g influence upon the conduct of men is a tru th con firmed and attested by our daily and hourly experience, and needs no elaborate argum ent to substan tiate it.” Religion, since it is included in hum an th o u g h t and feeling, cer ta in ly belongs to the dom ain ot science; and this Schleierm acher, had he been less a theologian ami more a m an of science, would never have questioned. Religion is a fact of hum an nature, and can lie stu died in the individual and in the race. I t m ust therefore belong to the province of science. T he ques tion w hether religion has a “ scien tific basis” is a proper question only when it is asked in regard to any p articu lar theories or concep tions of religion. The above quo tations are m ade only to sustairi the view th a t religion is not neces sarily m oral, and th a t it contributes to the restraint, of crim e only so far as it is purified and dom inated by ethics. W hat is especially needed then at th is time, indeed at all tim es, is th a t em phasis be put upon m oral teachings and m oral influences. NO. 29. No education is w orthy of the nam e th a t is not dom inated by the principles and the spirit of ethics. E ducation as a mere accom plish m ent will not secure exem ption from vice and crim e. If proof of this were needed, we should have only to refer to the corruption of fem ale children in London by men of w’ealth and social position, educated in the highest schools of learning. Tem perance, or w hat is com monly so called, is most im p o rtan t; but som ething more is needed to prevent crime. Spain is a tem perate n ation; yet her people delight in b ru tal sports, crim es of violence are com m on, and im m orality prevails am ong the nobility, the clergy, and the masses. W hat is needed is not a religious revival, b u t a m oral m ovem ent that shall elevate religion and m ake all intellectual acquisition con trib u te to th e advancem ent of the liest interests of society. B. F. UNDERW OOD. True Teachers of Mankind. The men who felled th e forests, cultivated the earth , spanned tlm rivers with bridges of steel, built railw ays and canals, the great ships, invented the locomotives and en gines, supplying the countless w ants of m an; the men who invented the telegraphs and cables, and freighted the electric spark with thought and love; the men who invented the looms and spindles th a t clothe the world, the inventors of p rin tin g and the great presses th a t fill the earth with poetry, fiction, an d fact, th a t save and keep all knowledge for children yet to be; the inventors of all the wonderful m achines whose wheels and levers seem to th in k and deftly mould from wood and steel the things we use; the men who have explored the heavens and traced the orbits of the stars, who have read the story of the world in m ountain range and billowed sea; the men who have lengthened life and con quered pain; the great philo sophers and n atu ralists, who have filled th e world with light; the great ¡>oets, whose thoughts have charm ed the souls; the great p ain t ers and sculptors, who have m ade the canvas speak, the m arble live; the great orators, who have swayed th e world; the composers, who have given th eir souls to sound, the cap tain s of in d u stry , the p ro ducers, the soldiers who have b a t tled for the right, the vast host of useful m eu—these are our Christe, our apostles, and our saints. The triu m p h s of science are o u r m ira cles. The books filled with the facts of n atu re are our sacred scrip tures, and the force th a t is in every atom and in every sta r— in every thing th a t lives and grows and th in k s, th a t hopes and suffers—is the only possible god.— R. G. In gersoll.