R eason .
VOL. 3.
Stand Up For Freedom.
TAND up! Stand up for freedom,
Ye soldiers of Freethought;
Raise high the noble banner,
Neath which our fathers fought.
From victory unto victory—
The people we will lead,
Till every wrong is righted
And Justice reigns indeed.
S
<tand up! Stand up for freedom
Against the tierce array
Of Ignorance and Bigotry,
Which strive the truth to slay.
No frowning gods fill us with awe,
Our minds are free as air;
The terrors of the Christian law
For freedom’s cause we dare.
Stand up! Stand up for freedom,
Till we remove the stain
Of the blood of noble martyrs,
Whom Bigotry has slain;
Till kings and priests shall lose the power
Our leaders to consign
To scaffold or to dungeon tower,
Or dark Siberian mine.
Stand up! Stami up for freedom,
Tis the noblest cause to serve;
The music of our onward march
Ourarts and arms shall nerve!
To raise Truth’s spotless banner,
And keep it still unfurled—
Emblazoned with the hallowed names
Of the saviours of the world.
Stand up! Stand up for freedom,
We know our cause is just ;
And clothed in Reason’s armor,
We smile at every thrust
Which Falsehood aims against the life
Of our humanity ;
And onward press thro’ all the strife,
Till all mankind are free.
[Secular Songs.
For the Torch of Reason.
What Shall the Verdict Be?
RY CH A R LES K E N T T E N N E Y .
IS head and his hairs were
white, like wool, and white
as snow; and his eyes
were as a flame of fire; and his feet
like unto fine brass, as if they
burned in a furnace; and his voice
as of the sound of m any waters;
and he held in his right hand seven
stars; and out of his mouth went a
sharp, two-edged sword; and his
countenance was as the sun shineth
in his strength.” Rev. 1:12-16.
This is God’s description of his
personal appearance as revealed
through John. Of such a strange
personal appearance, is it su rp ris­
ing th at he should feel em b ar­
rassed, and to prevent criticism by
unfeeling infidels have issued his
second com m andm ent: “ Thou sh alt
not make unto thee any graven
image, of any likeness of an y th in g
that is in heaven” ; and for viola­
tion of this injunction, “ I, thy
Lord God, visit the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children, even
unto the third and fourth genera­
tions of those th at hate me, and
showing mercy unto thousands of
them th at love me and keep my
com m andm ents.”
This is the word picture of the
( hristian God as revealed by h im ­
H
S IL V E R T O N , OREGON , T H U R SD A Y , MAY 18, 1899.
self; the God who m ade the heav­
ens and earth , and all th a t is ab »ve
and beneath it, in six days, and
rested on the seventh. T his is the
C hristian ruler of the universe; the
personal director of all things
which happen therein; the great,
good and beneficent father who
keeps an accurate account of all
our thoughts and actions in the
most m inute detail, and which is
to be brought out for inspection or.
the last day.
“ This m ay or inay not be true,"
says the agnostic. “ I do not know.
“ N othing else would seem sufficient
upon which to base a code of ethic.-,
or m o rality .” “ The logical conse
quence of disbelief would be sui­
cide.” “ I have no faith, what
ever, in the C hristian God. The
claim is absurd, repugnant t<
reason, impossible, yet there may
be such a supernatural person; ’
don’t know .”
As well said by B rother W ett-
stein, in your issue of April 6th,
there is no m iddle ground between
the personal God and m aterialism ,
between spooks and n atu ral order,
uo purgatory or tw enty-m inuU a-
for-refreshm ents stop between the
su p ern a tu ral and
the n atu ral.
E ith er the universe is ruled and
governed in a perfectly n atural
way, or by legerdemain. There
m ay be, as suggested by B rother
VVettstein, some devil, or God, hid­
den behind the moon, or Neptune,
or some other remote star, who is
directing all the work of an ever-
active and lim itless universe, or
m ay be concealed in heaven, which
is divinely described in Revela­
tions as a city “ whose foundations
are garnished with all m anner of
precious stones”; a perfect cube,
1658 miles in every direction,
“ with a jasper wall around it 262
feet high.” (T his is the first in ­
stance where a wall was ever built
around all sides of a cube, and it is
really too bad our astronom ers
have not yet located this rem ark­
ably-shaped heavenly body.) But
is there any rational reason for be­
lieving any such thing when it is
certain th a t m atter acting on m at­
ter will produce the exact result
which exists? W hy sh u t our eyes
to facts and accept an irrational
and childish theory?
The m aterialist contends th at he
knows with certainty th a t con­
ditions are the result of natural
order. He knows it from the facts
which are within his knowledge,
and which are within the knowl­
edge of every one who will seek and
exam ine them with unprejudiced
care. He knows it, because every
NO. 19.
other theory is foolish. He will > ur-j u i j u m en origin in the care
not find them , however, if there re­ of the parent for its young. T heir
m ains within him a lingering fear advances are slow, but upw ard;
th a t there m ay be a gentlem an and th eir highest state of develop­
with cloven feet and a three-tined m ent is found in our highest civili­
fork to forever torture him if he in ­ zation. O ur stan d ard of m orality
vestigates and thinks.
today is a thousand per cent higher
Man was not m ade in the garden th an d uring the dark ages, a l­
of Eden, but is the slow7, gradual though our belief in the super­
result of m atter acting on m atter, n atu ral is a thousand per cent less.
an evolution from the original pro­
No one has yet com m itted su i­
toplasm ; and it, too, was the re­
cide because he could not swallow
sult of m atter acting on m atter
enough superstition. O ur insane
under the then existing conditions. asylum s are full of those who have
He knows the earth , sun, moon and taken too large a dose. F ear of
stars were not m ade in six days,
the su p ern atu ral m ust go; it has
but were born and have gone
controlled m an ’s actions far too
through their infancy and youth,
long. Unprejudiced th o u g h t will
and will go through their middle prevail.
and old age and will at last cease
Madison, W isconsin.
to be as such. The telescope re­
veals these objects in all stages of
developm ent. W hy, then, should
Opinions.
there be a m an with white, woolen,
sheep-like head and h airs and
RY H O RA CE S E A V E R .
brass feet, or any other kind of a
m ake-up, to do th a t in an u n ­
N no case can m an be ju stly re­
natural way which can he done in
warded or punished for his
a perfectly n a tu ra l and orderly
opinions; they originate not
way?
M an’s egotism and conceit has in the will, but in the u n d e rsta n d ­
ever stood in the way of his a d ­ ing. They are in v o lu n tary , and
vancem ent. The universe was not not crim inal. W hen the m ind p er­
m ade for him; he is but an inci­ ceives a sufficient reason nr cause
dent of creation and conditions, a for believing a proposition, it is
m ere parasite upon the e a rth ’s s u r­ evident it m ust believe it; it would
face. H e has no more to do with be absurd to say one bad seen a
it th an so much m atter belonging sufficient reason for believing a
to it. It is a very long tim e since statem ent and could not believe it.
he existed as a m onkey, but the On the other hand, when the m ind
tim e is as yesterday to the time perceives a reason or cause for be­
which elapsed between the monkey lieving a proposition untrue, the
and the protoplasm . Man was not m ind m ust believe it u n tru e be­
created by the slight-of-hand per­ cause it has seen a sufficient reason
form ance of a mar. with a sharp, I [ for it.
The tru th of these observations is
two-edged sword in his m outh, but
is the result of m atter acting on evident from the absurdity th a t
m atter through infinite tim e. I t is would follow the contrary suppo­
m any m illions of years from the sition, which would he to ad m it
gill-breathing anim al with a tail to th a t the m ind was capable of p er­
the fully developed man and beau­ ceiving a proposition to be false,
tiful woman. Man and woman and while at the same tim e it concluded
all life were not created by magic, it to be tru e; or of disbelieving
n eith er was the earth or planets, w hat it had reason to believe.
or lim itless num bers of p lanetary Here it is evident th a t belief of any
system s. All are orderly and kind, or unbelief of any kind, does
n a tu ra l creations. Magic has no not imply m oral guilt. We m ust
place in nature. In view of a d ­ believe what our judgm ent tells us
vanced knowledge, it alm ost seems is true, disbelieve w’hat our ju d g ­
childless to adhere, in any degree, m ent tells us is untJue, and doubt
to the su p ern atu ral theory. The w hat our judgm ent has not per­
S an ta Claus superstition is, per­ ceived sufficient reason for believ­
haps, well enough for children, but ing to be either true or false.
not for grown people.
T here is no crim e w ithout a
T h a t ethics and m orality rest breach of some m oral law. B ut
upon the foundation of any p a r­ here there is no breach of any
ticu lar belief, and especially a be­ m oral law, but th e fulfilm ent of an
lief in the su p e rn a tu ra l, is mere im perious law of n atu re, which im ­
nonsense. They are th e product of pels us to disbelieve what we do
evolution; they exist, in a greater not see reason for believing.—[Oc­
or Lss degree, in ail anim al life. casional Thoughts.
I