THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, JANUARY 26, 1899.
I ship god» of wood, snakes, croco
diles, etc., and thus this faculty,
Our friend, G. R- Pottorff, the whjc|J} ¡f directed in right direc-
gentlem an with whom we had the y ong, wO„ld <lo them much good, is
friendly controversy in the Janu- waHte(j g 0 ¡t ¡s with the worship-
ary 12th issue of the Torch, now
of
im aginary Jehovah and
wishes us to answer through the faig gon T heir veneration is mis
colum n, of our paper the following guid' edi and when they should be
Pioneers of F re e th o u g h t.
V e n e r a tio n .
It is a fine distinction Hr. ( hap-
man draws between the erroneous
conception Byron held of the uni-
verse and his labors actually to
overthrow th a t error. B\ ron be-
not in evolution. It ¡»doubt-
difference. His nam e and fame are
rot to be m easured by the sales of
his volumes. The anxious adm irer
who adduces these evidences as tes-
fjmonv to B yron’s genius m ay be
indulging love’s labor lost.
The
things th a t Bvron th o u g h t have
pl)s8ed ¡„to the hum an m ind. Mon-
question:
Phrenology teaches ue th a t
th e hum an head an organ called
tion, its office being to worshi
genii of the evening breeze w ere, an(j
protests against ty ran n y
th ere is no G od, for w hat purpose was
O, brother, let us guide all our
very real to him. I his separation can roughly be classed with G ali-
th is organ evolved?
m ental faculties into channels that
of man from the m aterial universe, jeo’g argum ent for the ro tu n d ity of
will
help
to
free
the
world
from
its
The above statem ent th at the of
removed by evolution, dwelt in the earth , and the reasoning by
unerstitious
fears
and
slavish
wor-
fice of the organ of veneration is to
, ,
i t i .
„i, ¡(¡reek philosophy and in all the which Colum bus concluded th a t
and help to make
‘
-
worship might he questioned. It sh hip of , ghosts,
before
Browning. India lay to the westward. This
.
,
•
•
i,i
Victorian
poets
I
real gods and godesses in this world
*
would be better to say that its .
, .
.
, W ordsw orth’s pantheism is a very m ay be said of B yron’s work as a
fit
subjects
of
our
veneration
and!
i m
i ?
_______ ,
_
function is venerating, or revering,
different thing from evolution. He thinker, but not as a poet. It is in
and surely there are objects in this love.
does not identify m an with the m a conceivable th a t the hum an m ind
world th at it is well for us to re
terial universe, of which he is the should some day change so as not
vere. Our fathers, mothers, broth
pinnacle and from eternity the goal, to be moved by the wonderful lines
T h e S o lid R o c k .
ers and sisters, our friends, and our
and his intim ations are not in h erit in which the au th o r of “ Childe
Secularism stands on the solid
wives need our veneration. It does
ances from earlier and lower states H arold” moulded his gospel of free
them good for us to venerate them, rock of Science, while C hristianity in the descent of man. but shadow y
dom .—[S unday O regonian.
and we know that they exist W e stands on the decaying foundation recollections of previous spiritual
can show them that, we venerate of m yth and m iracle; and yet existence.
B elated Love.
them , and it will make us stronger, C hristians condemn to everlasting
The beautiful paradox is that By
better and happier men, while the punishm ent those who will not
I have known a husband to neg
ron and Shelley could not believe
worship of the gods weakens the stand with them and sing:
in evolution, but they made evolu lect his wife in his pu rsu it of pleas
intellect, makes men cruel and un
tion possible. U ntil the shackles ure or business, and when finally
“ On C h rist the solid rock I sta n d ;
happy.
All o th e r ground is sinking Band.”
of a false ecclesiasticism had been she died he wrung his hands over
Then, again, we m ust not forget
stricken from the m ind, it could her dead body, called her his angel
th at the function has developed the
“ Celsus, one of Rom e’s greatest
neither discover nor grasp the ori wife, said his heart was broken and
organ, rath er than the organ being historians and most profound reas-
gin of species. U ntil dauntless home desolate, and clim axed the
made for a purpose. Our organs oners, during the reign of H adrian,
workers like Byron and Shelley, whole by having built over the un-
were not evolved for any purpose. 117 to 138 A. C., published two
Gibbon, Goethe and Newton, had conscious body the finest m arble
From the simplest beginning we hooks of criticism s on C hristianity,
prepared the soil, the true story of m onum ent in the graveyard. She
have grown without any purpose in which he cleaily dem onstrated
nature could find no soil in which asked for love and he gave her a
whatever.
The conservation of the absurdity of the C hristian dot*
to take root. Evolution is the stone. And I thought as I ponder
forces—the conditions— have pro trines. Following which, and as a
greatest fact in the intellectual u n i ed over the whole scene th at if
duced us as it has all other things, m atter of history, he proved, from
verse and the most pervasive some of the loving words he was
and we can see no more purpose in C hristian sources and church doc
pouring into the dead ear had been
it than in the development of bac um ents, th a t M ary procured a d i thought that can take possession of
teria, or the union of oxygen and vorce from her husband, and while the mind. It is therefore just to uttered in life, and if some of the
hydrogen to form a molecule of w andering about Judea, fell in love say, perhaps, th a t everything th a t dollars he had spent on the coffin
w e n t b efo re w a s preparatory to it. had been invested in a way to
water. .
with a Roman soldier by the name
It is a fact th a t we exist, but we of P an th era, who was the real fa th And it is a m om entous revelation m ake life and body easier and less
are sim ply little “ whirlpools of the er of C hrist; th a t the hoy, being in th a t laborers like Byron were toil worn, she would have been the
working to an end for which happy faced wife and m other of the
elem ents,” brought about by inher- destitute circum stances, went d o w n , really
,
, ,
,
,
, .
home circle instead of sleeping
,
they
had
no
love
and
no
adapta-
entjforces w ithin themselves. These in to E g v p t to p ro cu re e m p lo y m e n t;
under the cedars an d among
•
’
1 .
... tion. Every man in English civil alone
elem ents and their forces seem tobe th at while
•
there he fell in with
indestructible and eternal, and a Egyptian jugglers, from whom he ization today owes a debt to Byron th e white m onum ents on the h ill
for having prepared the way for side.
god is superfluous.
learned the a rt of working pretend
W hat we want is kindness in life
But w hat is very commonly ed m iracles; th a t on his return to scientific tru th . He m ay he ven
thought to be veneration is n o th Ju d ea he set up a claim to the Mes- erated as a benefactor, therefore, by and not in death. I t is not flowers
ing hut fear. Take away the fear siahship, which he supported by those who have confessed in sorrow scattered on her coffin lid th a t will
of a som ething we have been told his E gyptian system of miracle- th a t they could neither abide bis m ake a woman happy, but a bunch
()f them tied together in the form of
has power to make or break us workings, and that his alleged mir m orals nor adm ire his poetry.
W hat was B yron’s part in this a bouquet and given her with the
here and hereafter—take away all acles were performed privately in
fear of eternal death or eternal out-ot-the-w'ay place.,’ to .lav e., pioneer work for science? Perhaps words, “ I love you.” T h at m akes
punishm ent, how long will there be women and children of the most il " a8 suprem e, because he address- her pulses leap, the crim son come
ed so wide a public. The cultivât- into h#»r cheek, the light come into
veneration for a god?
ignorant class.”
ed few who worshiped Shelley, the her eye and the warm , happy feel
Again, we cannot have a genuine
love or reverence for anyone whose
It is certainly absurd for civilized students of Newton, the scholarly ¡ng rush to her heart.
presence we have never enjoyed and people to longer cling to the idea following of Goethe and Gibbon,
We w ant kindness shown us in
whose venerable qualities we have th a t an ignorant Jew ish miracle may have been aided by Byron, but this life. I hat is w hat our ser-
never experienced. Io be sure we worker,who lived and died nineteen not signally. T h tir susceptibility vants look for; this is w hat the
might th in k well of one who had hundred years ago, is to he relied to his appeal was less, th eir need, children need— they crave to be
been represented by our friends as upon to save our people from the even, was not so keen. But the treated gently and k in d ly in life,
great masses, in whom B yron’s ma- not wept over in death. H earts
w orthy of our love, and we m ight ignorance of our own age.
im agine them with us, but this im-
We m ust drop the baby-play of jestic imagery and protest against every where cry, “ Treat me lovingly
aginary love and reverence for an the ancient religion-m akers and ty ran n y of every form struck a re- now.’’ W hen dead we do not bear
im aginary being in an im aginary unite in educating ourselves in the sponsive chord— to those he was the cries of affection around the
home in an im aginary, far distant good work of making this world a the apostle of a brighter day and a coftiu, nor feel the tears dripping
realm , is more im agination and fear fu dwelling place.
revelation th at should revolutionize from overflowing eyes on our faces,
th an it is veneration.
hum an thought—create, indeed, a Be kind now. — [Sel.
We must all learn to sing:
new heaven and a new earth.
--------------------
Reverence, like other m ental pow
“ On T ruth the solid rock I sta n d ;
ers, n.ay be abnorm ally developed,
W hether we read Byron or not.
Are you acquainted with the
All o th er ground is sinking sand.
ai d it often is. The heathen wor-
All o th er ground is sinking sa n d .”
I then, may. after all. not make much . m erits of the F orstner auger bit?