VOL 2.
MLVBRTON, O R M O » , THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1898.
NO. 20.
F r the Torch o f Reattori.
1
',al no t fail r h in r it. ..«
* ...............................................tWr.
, 1
„ .„ „ ¡ „ g ,.,,-
To pre­
we should also l7 h " a , ve
reason
in burning fellers.
tend th a t the divine a ttrib u te s are
" « would no longer regard it as a
BY D. PRIESTLEY.
I he god of today, “our father beyond the und erstan d in g of the
lever for the practical elevation of
m an,” has with his microscope fol- hum an m ind is to render God unfit
God ta k e th aw ay— we have to bow—
the race.
Its mission is to teach
\n d who shall sav, U h at doest th o u ?
lowed m atter to its atoms, bv new for men.
If we are assured th a t
men how foolish it is to tie up the
devices m agnifying them 3,<X)0,000 God is it.finite, we adm it th a t there
If he will not w ithdraw his w ra th ,
spirit of Reason within the lim its limes,
The proud shall stoop along his p a th .
Ho has looked into the i can be nothing in common between
of any creed or special set of dog- heavens
Behold, th en , how nm eh less shall I
with
and his
creatures. T
T o o s s a a y y th
th a a t t
mas, and to set the mind of man
*•
, , his telescope,
1 ’ has
nas I him
1,1,1 an<*
h,s creatures.
A ttem pt to answ er the Most H igh?
free to soar into the Beyond the
T
’ U" 8 !” '<1
"'« "¡-n , is to destroy bin,
If right niv cause, I would not sta te ,
V
u ei the
tin U
IT nknow
l
.............. 1 *-fw*c,ro,*c,U«>. s ru
u n s s m
a t lor men, or at least render him use-
Vast,
n a n d » 'i,n b , n o « . .1,.,
that
But my judge I ’d supplicate.
hl
L "know n and unknow- the telescope cannot see have re-
able, the Infinite, the AbH.lute. v e a W them selves fo th „ R,.„sjtive less to them.
And if an answ er I receive
God, we are told, created men in-
That he heark en ed , I'd not believe.
Nor should we have any vital faith • plate of the photographer.
These telligent, hut de did not create them
n Agnosticism ,n case it could ^ ¡ s ta te m e n ts „re based upon proved
For ’gainst me he his tem p est draw s
And w oundeth m e w ith o u t a cau se;
identthed w .lh any indiv id u al in 1 and provable tru th s, here and now; om niscient: that is to say, capable
No respite gives to my <1 ¡stress,
such a degree as to be w hat would |„ „ reason, growing ever and evei of knowing all things. We conclude
But tills my soul w ith b ittern ess.
th a t he was not able to endow him
Ut»t have existed in substance even
If speak of stre n g th , h e ’s strong in d eed ; if that individual bad never appear­ more clear and holy, ever purifying with intelligence sufficient to u n d er­
o f judgm ent, who sets tim e plead?
am i u dishonesty. . stand the divine essence. In this
• 1
.
. itself from falsehood <IIIM
ed. Tp „ «I 1a 4. w I nt
1 comes in >ub- His com m andm ents are the im m ut-
But this one th in g , therefore, I sa id :
stance
(as
opposed
to form) with able laws of nature. Knowledge case it is dem onstrated th a t God
He spoils th e righteous w ith th e bad ;
has neither the power nor the wish
any one m an shall perish with
And, when his slaying scourge is sent,
and science are “ to the fore” . There to he known by men. By what
him. It is a revolutionary, not an is no going back.
He laughs at pain of in n o ce n t;
right could ibis god become angrv
evoluiionary, product; n has brok­
He covers judges’ faces when
I rof. G uthres, who spoke for the with beings whose own essence
He gives th e e a rth to wicked m en.
en with the past, and its mission is divine ami dem onstrable laws of
makes it im possible to have any
not to fulfill, hut to destroy.
If this is not, and cannot he,
the
universe,
says;
“
The
develop­
I hen tell m e who am i w here is he?
idea of the divine essence? God
d e come not to destroy, but to
ment of scientific knowledge will would evidently be the most unjust
develop.
If we pluck up, it is in
assuredly prove the sacred ark of and tin* most unaccountable of tv-
A gnosticism .
order th a t we may plant, and facil­
our social and intellectual salva ran ts if he should punish an A the­
itate the survival of the fittest. If
tion, the star and colum n of fire ist for not knowing that which his
BY SALADIN.
we break down, it is loi the express
j
which
will lead 11s mil of the «¡1-
-t------ n u iv .i w in ie a u us out ot the wil- n atu re made it im possible for him
We believe th a t Agnosticism is purpose of building a belter struc- ¡derness of our perplexities into the
to know.
pros
the spirit of the age, and th a t all ture upon a broad ••r basis and a promised land of peace and pros
firmer foundation.
perity.”
attem pts to resist it m ust necessa­
Religion and Philosophy.
In
one
of
his
lectures
on
“Science
rily be abortive.
It has oozed
Roman Pontiffs.
reaching”, Prof. G uthers said: “ Of
Complete assent, so far from be­
through the walls of the churches
this at least you and all men mav ing a test of tru th , is, on the con-
BY MBS. M. M. TURNER.
and saturated the pulpits. It has
he assured, th at I will not cease to .rary, alm ost alw ays proof th a t
settled upon literatu re and turns
lo p e Leo X III. in his first en­ proclaim , as long as strength is giv­
the wheels of the cultured press. It cyclical says; “ We will never cease en me, th a t the hope of science ¡ r ruth has not been attained, owing
either to erroneous assum ptions as
has taken com m and of science and !
the hope of the w orld.”
to contend for our restoration to
»0 the premises, or to Ilie omission
philosophy, an d rests at last upon
1 he pope will “ never cease to
'
«
" of inqiortant
i
ia«'H
»rs in
m the
n»‘ so
factors
solution
the muses. It is no mere m ush­ that condition o f things in which contend j for , civil i soveieignty.
Piof. ,
..
1
.,
...
6 J
i of Hie problem.
To give i an in-
room developm ent. It is a general the provident design of th»* divine G uthers
will never cease to pro- .
,
■
i
.
. .
1
S ta n c e , I s suppose
u p p o s e t then*
h e r e c could
on
not
cosmic tendency, and will assert it­ wisdom had form erly placed the claim
, as long as strength is given
be a stronger case of com plete a s ­
self. As well m ight you trv to eject Roman Pontiff. Not only because him, th a t the hope of science is the
sent than th at of the im piisitors
yourselves beyond the influence of the civil sovereignty is necessary for hope of the world.
who condemned the theories of
the atm osphere as attem p t to evade the protection and preservation of
Often has science won in her
Agnosticism.
Sooner will you the full liberty of the spiritual warfare with theology. The future Gallileo. They had in support of
empty the sea with a spoon th an power, but because the interest of holds more glorious victories for the proposition th a t the sun re­
volved round the earth the testi­
you will eject it from the study. the public good and the salvation her and hum anity.
mony of the senses, the universal
Sooner will yon stem the flowing of the w hole hum an society are in­
belief of m ankind in all ages, the
tide than successfully resist the volved.”
A theism Justified.
direct statem ent of inspired scrip­
dom inant th o u g h t-cu rren t of this
Leo sees the design of divine
ture, the au th o rity of the infallible
era.
BY JEAN .MKRÎJKR.
wisdom in the former condition of
church.
W as all this to be set
Did we believe th a t Agnosticism things where the popes had power
W ithout doubt the more to per- aside because s o m e ‘sophist vainly
was the production of a single gen- over life and death, the bodies and „ |„ V
,, , .
eration, or even a single cen tu ry , souls of men, alm ost equal to their ‘
have mad with dubious lore’ told them
we should have but little faith in its god- «hen kings eo nerors and cl,osen l<> "*** nothing about « h a t 0,1 8 " " ,n ,B ,,f
new-fangled »o-
...... - ■- -
- 8 ’
g ’ e,nf’eror9 a " d their and ¡..
ml. . . . - e . . . «... , Ul,IM •’a « « * . th»> 'h e earth re-
.
power to live and prosper, and m onarchs could be summoned be- their god is; they tell us w hat he is l , ,
, „
volvcd round its . axis
. . . . and IUUIJU
round
should scarcely deem it worth a fore the trib u n al ______
of t h e ‘holy
— w office’
____ not* By negations and abstractions the sun? “ No- let us stam p <
,
¿ ’f tHe J ' en ‘ X' lth UH. H ( the
and be forced to they im agine them selves composing heresy so co n trary to our ‘illative
•• •Gl be a sufficient proof of in- accept its judgm ents, be they of a real and perfect being, w h ile ' sense’ and so fatal to all th e m o-t
h rent weakness th a t "h , r° ken tOr,Ure ° r d ea lh -
there *'*" re8Ul‘ frOm il h,‘' *
.......... . " ...... .
beliefs of the
God’s G overnm ent.
tin past. I hat » h ich springs
■e in a day shall perish in a day;
hut hat which takes centuries to
" '" .o p shall, with modifications,
- and forever.
Did we confound
•gnosticism with a mere sectarian
itn, claim ing to be true and right
t'self, and condem ning all other
I his pope does not seem to think
th a t the condition of things exist-
ing today are the design of divine
wisdom. He is not satisfied with
the present rulings, so he will nev-
er cease to contend for a return to
the things of the past, which means
credulity, ignorance, superstition
of h um an reason. A spirit has no C hristlian world to the insnira-
laxly; an infinite being is a being tion of the word ¿ f God and to the
which is not finite; a perfect being au th o rity of his church ” ‘E nor ,i
is • being which is not imperfect. I m ouve,’ and yet the earth re allv
Can any one form any real notions did move; and the verdict o f f «
of such a m ultitude of deficiencies was th a t G allileo and ecience were
or absence of ideas? T h at which ' right, and the church and th e i l l .
excludes all idea, can it be any- live sense were wrong—[S. I