T H E TORCH OF REASON, SILV ER TO N , OREGON, AVRIL 6, 1899. For the Torch of Reason. H a tte r o r Spook? by otto wettstein . 3 period of your intellectual develop so forever in the fu tu re. And m a t aggregation of worlds, suns and m ent. You have not quite reached ter, strictly w ithout the aid of ex system s constituting the universe. All suggestions in the line of the goal of scientific and rational traneous agencies, causing all phe M aterialism beyond which the hig h nom ena falling directly un d er ou> “ suprem e causes”, “suprem e be est intellect cannot go— because be observation here, proves beyond ings”, gods, etc., are lam entably 1« there one suprem e pow er, nr are th e yond this is intelleotual confusion, cavil th a t m atter, solitary and inadequate to explain the innum many powers co-equal? M a tte r acts on alone, is the cause producing sim i erable and diversified phenom ena nothing. You m atter, but w hat is th e cause? “ A god, ’ phantasm agoria, lar phenom ena every where th ro u g h of nature, because a solitary cause thinks th e h e a th e n ; “ M a tte r,” th in k s have not quite outgrown inherited out the boundless realm s of space. or m ind could not possibly ex our friend (C harles K . T e n n e y ); b u t we tendencies and m ethods which If gods, suprem e agencies, etc., or plain or account for infinite p h e KNOW th a t WE DO NOT know .—[Torch of prom pt you to concede your ig n o r Spencer’s “ unknow able”,were need nom ena; but infinite causes which Reason. ance concerning final causes, and ed way off behind Sirius or the far co-exist in and with infinite phe But we Ho know th a t “ m atter th at “ there may be” unknow n pow thest stars, ami existed th ere of ne nom ena, in the constituents of the acting on m atter” is absolutely the ers or agencies behind ( never be cessity to produce phenom ena,such m atter constituting all phenom ena, sole cause of all the in n u m erab le fore ) the sun, behind Sirius, Arc- factors would be needed and exist this alone is a rational explanation natural phenom ena of nature, and tu ru s or some other cosmic body here to produce phenom ena known of all prevailing cosmic phenom e more powerful and cogent th an all to us. But we know th a t such na and life. nothing else. We know this sim th e potencies of m atter com bined, And so the finite segregate m at ply because we know nothing to the and which are the p rim ary causes agencies positively do not exist here. All known phenom ena is ter is the cause of all m inor phe contrary. Our knowledge stops af of m atter acting upon m atter. And known to he caused by “ m atter a c t nom ena, while the vast infinite ag ter we have discovered “ m atter a c t these causes you im agine to be out ing upon m atter” , ami beyond this gregate may he properly called the ing on m atter” — all else is vague of sight and beyond the reach of our knowledge ends. And by p ar “ supreme power”, though the sum assumption, idle conjecture— su p e r science and are such suprem e causes ity <>f reasoning we also know th a t total of all existence is and m ust by virtue of being out of sight and stition. because such agencies do not exist forever remain simply m atter. Don’t you see, dear Torch, th a t beyond our knowledge, because if here, they are not needed and do The absurdity of the theistic h y conceding th a t som ething, not m a t in sight and knowable you could not exist anywhere. pothesis or of any other notion ter, may act upon m atter, you put in sta n tly classify them with all These agencies were conjectured suggesting “ suprem e power” , “ in yourself squarely in the category other m aterial causes and discover in the dark ages of ignorance be finite personal potency” , “ alm igh of theists or other spookists, who them to be “ m atter acting upon cause they w ere supposed to be a ty energy” , etc., etc., will be a p pretend to solve the problem of ex m a tte r” after all. parent when we subject these sever You ask: “ But w hat is the cause” logical necessity and a need to ex istence by positing an unknow n plain existence and life; but now, al concepts to b u t a casual exam agent or unknow n agencies as the ot m atter acting upon m atter? ination. N ot one of these god- cause or causes of n ature and its M atter is th e cause— it is itself the when science explains nearly all upon a purely physical basis, the creators can point to a solitary fact infinitely varied phenom ena? You sole cause of all cosmic phenom ena need of such agencies vanishes,and, in n atu re which in the least corre- repudiate a personal god as you do and organic life. It is a fundam en as Bro. Pentecost once said, “ a use responds to these infantile concepts. a ‘‘Mother Goose” story, but still tal characteristic and a ttrib u te of The god in trousers-and-m antie insist th a t an “ unknowable suprem e all m atter to be active, forever less god is no god at a ll” . The fable has long since been repudi cause”— not m atter— “ m ay exist or acting upon m atter. T h a t m atter need of such agencies now not be ing apparent, consigns them all to ated by all thoughtful m inds, but may not exist” , you “ don’t know!” is dead and needs outside agencies these im personal deities of all oblivion. K indly perm it me to show you to aid, assist and m anipulate it to To insist, then, d ear Torch, th a t s p o o k s a r e th e most a b s u r d . the weakness of your position, of assum e its innum erable aspects, is W here for instance in natu re do we “ don’t know ” is irratio n al and Agnosticism ,as a stopping-place be one of the three g ian t delusions of debasing—“ a concession to ortho we find personal attributes and tween Rom anism, C alvinism , Tal- th e world— the others are the belief dox prejudice” , as editor A rm strong functions in the absence of person madgeism and radical, rational, in a “ suprem e being” and in per says, because it tacitly adm its th a t al or anim al structure? The two scientific M aterialism and, in cid en t sonal im m ortality. are cause and effect, organism and T y n d all says: “ M atter is not theism and all other m ysticism s ally, of Atheism . There is none. which add extraneous causes to the a ttrib u te , m achine and function— Follow tradition, hereditary ten d en th a t em pty capacity which philos m aterial forces of nature, are as ra one dependent upon the other. In cies, teachings of your ancestors, ophers and theologians have pictur- tional as the solid ground and self- the absence then of anim al stru c t “ the lessons m other ta u g h t” , the tured it, hut the universal mother evident facts of the grand and in ure, w hat rem ains to ma ke a god who brings forth all things as the faith you once held sacred, etc., ami vulnerable science of M aterialism . out o f — air, ether, electricity, to be consistant you should jo: n the fruit of her own womb. N ature is gravity, m agnetism , space, or An assertion irratio n al and not seen to do all things spontaneously first church, cease to reason, resign w hat? Believers in these gro- vour work on the Torch, believe in w ithout the m eddling of the gods.” proven falls to the ground for w ant tesque phantom s or im personal childish sim plicity all T alm adgean A nd, he m ight have added, w ithout of proof. Of course we do not a b gods cannot answ er, and any def harangue, put $1.00 in the co n tri the aid of any extraneous pow solutely know th a t a devil does inition is and m ust be a burlesque not exist behind the moon or in the bution box every tim e you go to er or agency of w hatsoever kind. on common sense. M atter is force, power, potency, molten caverns of the ea rth . Y et meeting, and above all, do not a t You say “ m atter acts on m atter because the idea is ridiculous and and in th e absence of the former tem pt to argue with a philosopher but w hat is the cause?” Let me the latter do not exist. The G er not supported by evidence we free of the stripe of brother Tenney. repeat the plain and only answ er: ly insist th a t we know th at a devil m an scientist Lange defines the Let us see, if such su p ra-m aterial matter ! m atter is the sole cause cause exists, such cause of course universe to consist of atom s and does not exist. If then after due the all-sufficient, the sole om ni must be som ething— an e n tity — or em pty space, and in its last an a ly investigation we find the god idea present cause— the eternal and in it is self-evident it would not exist. sis we find this strictly correct. equally absurd, and not sustained finite cause. N othing else could by reason and facts, why not But if an en tity , what is it if not And this, together with T y n d all’s we know possibly act upon it sim ply because m aterial? If real it is composed of m atured convictions, explains ex adm it frankly th a t nothi ng else exists. M attel is the such a being does not exist. The istence, both organic and inorganic, m atter, if not m atter, it does not great all in all— w hatever is not more ratio n ally th an any other world now is ready for th e whole exist. m atter— solid, fluid, airiform or tru th , let us be fearless men and theory, because it posits the causes Brother T enney’s affirm ation then wom er and express our honest whatsoever kind is nothing. This that “ all phenom ena is the product of all phenom ena to l»e concom itant we know. T his is all we know. thought. w ith and in the constituents of all of m atter acting upon m a tte r” is If you w ant to know the causes Therefore when any m an, school or strictly correct, because if upon fi phenom ena — ever present, never “ why m atter acts on m a tte r” , study church affirms th a t som ething else absent. M atter, of necessity, being nal analysis we discover and dem - physics, chem istry, read H aeckel, acts upon m atter, but does not onstrate the existance of the alleged e te rn a l—the contrary proposition H um bolt, D ’H olbach, Buchner, produce the evidence when called being an ab su rd ity — proves th at Supreme Power, this power or force T yndall and H uxley and you will upon, it is every rationalists du ty in turn m ust also be classified as phenom ena sim ilar to th at which learn th a t m atter purely by virtue to deny the affirm ation on the one of the m aterial potentialities of surrounds us is an eternal series, of its own potentialities causes a n d ground th a t a bald assertion nature and then, don’t you see, an d , consequently was never “ first evolves the crudest forms of life to w ithout evidence falls to the ground would be nothing more th an “ m at caused” to assume cosmic harm ony, when contradicted by the self-evi order and organic life, but hasdone the proudest m an and m ost beau ter acting upon m a tte r” after all. tiful woman, as well as th e infinite dent facts we do know. You are still in the evolutionary so forever in the past and will do I