VOL. 3.
SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 1899.
NO. 11.
Don’t Shirk.
phy divested of supernatural fea­ er profound philosophic minds have ot some self-constituted leaders, or
tures, and capable of supplying the given to the world positive thought the eriatic conduct of cranks who
• « • a
BY IL L A WHEELER WILCOX.
motives and the basis of moral rect­ which 1 has 1 been received
by thous- are attracted to free platforms, or
itude and social order. Many are ands and is percolating down the loose theories and moral de­
KNOW not whence I cam e,
formities of some men found in the
I know not w h ith er I go,
in the ranks of Skeptics and Free- through the intellectual strata of
ranks of Liberalism. Human na­
B ut th e fact stan d s clear
thinkers,
not
because
of
any
deep
enlightened
lands.
A
number
of
T h at I am here
ture is- not perfect. The average
or earnest thought they have given ! the best representatives of Liberal-
In th is world of pleasure and w oe;
man has but a thin coating of in­
the
subject
of
religion,
but
because
ism
have
emphasized
the
positive
And out of th e m ist and m urk
A nother tru th shines p lain—
they have been drawn into a strong side of liberal thought, and now and tellectual culture, beneath which is
It is in m y power
current of thought and borne along then has appeared a journal or pe- solid savagery. The progress of
E ach day and h o u r
the race has been marked in every
To add to its joy or pain.
like so much driftwood ou its sur- riodical that has endeavored to
face. A large proportion of them gain attention and get support as age by changes which seemed to
I know th a t th e e a rth e x is ts ;
many to involve the most ruinous
I t ’s none of m y business w hy.
are still very strongly under the in­ an organ of p »sitive Liberalism.
I can not find ou t
consequences, but which are now
fluence of their early theological
But a large class, to which we
W hat i t ’s all ab o u t—
I would w aste b u t m y tim e to try .
teachings, and are full of inherited have alluded in this article, are not seen to have been but necessarv
incidents in great intellectual and
My life is a brief, brief th in g ;
superstitious tendencies, which are in a condition to be reached by
moral movements. We must not
1 am here for a little space;
far deeper than the disbelief or these authors and publications, ex­
And w hile I stay ,
expect that progress will continue
I would like, if I m ay,
doubt which they now proclaim. cept indirectly and slowly, as all
without any exhibition of weakness
To brig h ten and b e tte r th e place.
Hence, the inconsistency, credulity, cl. sses are ultimately made to feel
and selfishness during transitional
The trouble, I th in k , w ith us all
intolerance,
indifference
to
science,
the
influence
of
great
discoveries
Is lack of high co nceit;
periods, when changes occur more
and practical disregard and dislike and reforms. The demand among
If each m an th o u g h t
rapidly than some minds can ad­
He was sent to th e spot
of
scientific
methods,
desire
for
such
is
for
cheap
pamphlets
criti­
To m ake it a b it m ore sw eet,
just themselves to the new condi­
“leaders” and readiness to be led cising the Bible, not for works like
tions.
How soon we could gladden th e world,
in the name of liberty and reform Spencer's “Data of Ethics,” Dar­
How easily rig h t all wrong,
If nobody shirked
by démagogues, exhibited by so win’s “Origin of Species,” Lubbock’s Absurdity of Pretended fliracles.
And each one worked
many professed Liberals.
“History of Civilization,” Mill’s
To help his fellows along.
It is fortunate that the average “Liberty,” or Lecky’s “History of
BY .JEAN ME8LIER.
man
can
not
suddenly
relieve
him­
Morals”. While there has been
The Decay of the Old Faith.
self of the influences of early belief; the past dozen years a steady and
N attempt is made to per­
for,
however
erroneous,
since
it
is
enormous increase in the number
suade us that men who
BY B. F. UNDERWOOD.
intimately associated in his mind o* iutvlligent and educated
have been favored by the
with moral ideas and feelings of thinkers, it is also true that the most high have received from him
HE decay of theological be­ obligation, its total destruction, be­ number of superficial, ignorant peo­
the power to perform miracles; but
lief in this country the past fore correct beliefs could be accept­ ple—who are in an anarchical con­ in order to perform a miracle it is
twenty-five years has been ed and their influence could be dition of thought, whose Liberal­
necessary to have the faculty of
very rapid.
Immense numbers woven into the mental structure, ism goes no farther than disbelief
creating new causes capable of pro­
have been reached and sensibly in­ would leave him in an undesirable in the orthodox doctrines in which
ducing effects opposed to those which
fluenced by lectures and writings and unsafe condition. For, even they were educated — has likewise
ordinary causes can produce. Can
directed against the popular faith, in spite of the resistance offered by increased.
we realize how God can give to men
and a multitude of causes have old beliefs and inherited tendencies,
That there is anything in mod­ the inconcievable power of creating
combined to destroy or diminish transitions have been so rapid as ern liberal thought which, when
causes out of nothing? Can it be
confidence in the creeds, and to dif­ to involve a temporary loosening fully understood, tends to encour­
believed that an unchangeable god
fuse unbelief far and wide.
of moral restraints. In such times age immorality, or to sap the foun­ can communicate to man the pow­
Many who have been atfected by the old standards are destroyed dations of character, has never been
er to change or rectify his plan, a
these influences, without a scien­ faster than the new ones can be shown, although this is constantly
power which, according to his es­
tific education, unschooled in sys­ evolved out of the confusion result­ affirmed by theological writers.
sence, an imortal being cannot
tems of thought, and unaccustomed ing from the mental break-up. Even if the transition of thought in
have himself? Miracles, far from
to much, if any, reflection on the I hat which has been considered
this country has been accompanied doing much honor to God, far from
foundation of morals, have no well- the foundation of everv virtue is
by moral disturbance along the line proving the divinity of religion, de­
•r
defined or well-grounded ethical disbelieved or doubted ere the mind of l^ast resistance, where the old
stroy evidently the idea which is
philosophy; while nearly all have has come to understand the more restraints are the most weakened
given to us of God, of his immuta­
been taught from infancy to regard rational views, and especially be­ and where the violence of passion
bility, of his incommunicable a t­
iheology and morality as insepara­ fore it has acquired the habit and
is quick to manifest itself, we have tributes, and even of his omnipo­
ble, the latter, indeed, as depend­ the aptitude practically to connect
here only what occurred in France tence. How can a theologian tell
ent upon and secondary to the motive and conduct with these but during the early years of the Re­
us that a god who embraced at once
former.
partially assimilated views.
formation. And it would be as un­ the whole of his plan, who could
It is therefore a matter of regret
In this country, the past few just to ascribe the increased licen­ make but perfect laws, who can
th a t the decay of faith has not been years, the work of destructive criti­ tiousness in France during -that
change nothing in them, should be
accompanied by an equally marked cism among the pronounced Liber- period to the great principles.of the obliged to employ miracles to make
acquaintance with and acceptance' als has been more extensive and Reformation as to ascribe similar his projects successful, or grant to
' ’bat positive thought upon which more felt than the labors of the evils to the liberal thought of today, his creatures the faculty of perform­
modern thinkers rely to furnish the comparatively few who have de- In both cases the irregularities may ing prodigies, in order to execute
needed guarantees of a moral life voted their efforts to constructive be due to the unsettled mental con- his divine will? Is it probable that
a* d the incentive to a lofty moral work in the domain of thought. It dition resulting from the rapid God needs the support of men? An
character. It is unquestionable is true that in the field of science, change from the old faith to the
omnipotent being, whose wishes are
that thousands have discarded the Darwin, Haeckel, Huxley, Tyndall new.
always gratified, a being who holds
'•tb with which they were taught and others have, by their discover-
Let no one be disheartened by in his hand the hearts and minds
to associate all their best concep- ies and reasonings, profoundly in- the repulsive characteristics of
of his creatures, needs but to wish
1 ’ns of character and conduct, fluenced thinkers and modified pop- some self-styled reformers, or by I
in order to make them believe all
1 uit understanding a philoso- ular belief. Mill, Spencer t nd oth- the superficiality and demagogisin * he desires.
I
A
T