T
OECH OF
S IL V E R T O N , O REGON , TH U R SD A Y , JU L Y 6, 1899.
VOL. 3.
NO. 26.
the m oral characteristics of their The Metaphysics of Buddhism. is a nursery. People unable to sup
port them selves fill th e tenem ents,
dogma-God. According to the ac
the huts, and hovels with children.
cepted doctrine of the M iddle Ages,
BY HARVEY PORTER LAYTON.
U D D H A never recognized or They de|>end on the Lord, on luck,
1 the ad m in istrativ e principles of
spoke of spirits, or of any- and ch arity . They are not intelli-
,
.
.
th a t God seemed to im ply a degree
th
in g which ««
he could
not gent —
enough
about conse-
PT1HF eulogv is spoken by the tongue
.
'•***•■*
...........
—r.-- to
— think
......... ............~
.......
I Of a flatterer, and naught is said of m oral perversity which even tne substantiate, and he frequently ad- quences, or to feel responsibility
x But grateful words. He tells not poetic license of a »aner age would —
*--J all
” to do a the
----------
: 1 At
** *1
-------------
th - e ' ' -------—
sam e tim *•-------
e they ’* do
n ’t want
vised
same. ” He ----
said,
children,
because
a
child
is
a curse,
—
.- -- r
’
—--—
--- J
I tut mars it with flattery.
have hesitated to ascribe to a fiend. in effect:
“
Busy
not
yourselves
anxiously
a
curse
to
them
and
to
itself.
The
He leaves my friends to study ray life,
T h e sam e d e ity w hom th e creed of
Por he baa gotten nothing from it,
,
,
babe is not welcome, because it is a
and unprofitably
Vnd it is the eulogy 6poken over others the Galilean church m akes the
“ About other worlds, gods, souls, burden.
of my clan. May my friends
om niscient creator of all the phy- spirits, or dem ons;
These unwelcome children fill
fiiink no longer of it, and let it pass.
sical and m oral instincts of hum an
“ Of thy coming hither and the ja ils and prisons, the asylum s,
and hospitals, and they crowd the
With my mortal remains,
nature, nevertheless was supposed whence; of the soul’s existence;
They gaze upon my dormitive face
A few are rescued by
“ And if it be, of its going hence, scaffolds
to punish with endless torture
fhat lias no smile’for them—
chance or ch arity , but the great
when and unto where.
Xor look of scorn to life’s departure—
nearly every free gratification of
“ N aught is proven; all is un m ajority are failures. They become
.io! my lips move not,
those
instincts,
and
dem
and
a
vol
Vicious, ferocious. They live by
known and unknow able,
Nor does my tongue speak,
And my eve’s, sealed with a sedative,
u n ta ry renunciation of a world
“ W hilst the duties of life are sub fraud and violence, and bequeath
Will not open to meet the vision
their vices to their children.
which his own bounty had filled stan tial and urgent.”
of my weeping friends, who sadly
Against this in u n d atio n of vice
He certainly “ knew of no spirit
\nd quietly tread, that the dead
with every blessing and adorned
the
forces of reform are helpless;
en tity in m an, so there could he no
Might not hear their footsteps.
with
every
charm
of
loveliness.
My friends who see me stilled
such thing as anim istic vision in and charity itself becomes an u n
Will think of deedsdone, seed sown.
The God who endowed us with (true)-B uddhism .” “ A sublim ated conscious prom pter of crim e. In
Some touched heart may hesitate
faculties of reason, of which a mod- edition of m an located in the skv is telligence is the only lever capable
At the casket’s side and stoop
Above my cold form to drop a tear,
erate share is sufficient to perceive entirely foreign to true Buddhism; of raising m ankind. The question
An unnoticed tear upon my face.
G otam a deprecated is, can we prevent the ignorant and
the absurdities of the C hristian and . . . .
as futile all speculations into the the poor anil the vicious from fill
My mother will not be there
dogma, nevertheless avenges the u ltim ate origin of things.” “ Budd ing the world w ith their children?
Where mourners tread, for it would be
repudiation of th a t dogma as an hism therefore know s nothing of Can we prevent this Missouri of ig
A mother w’ho would feel the sorrow,
Deepest sorrow for her child.
“ unpardonable sin against the a u any im m aterial existence,” i.e., of norance and vice from em ptying
All think as they see me motionless
thority of his sacred word.” The an y th in g sp iritu al or theistic d i in to the Mississippi of civilization?
Within the casket’s snowy brim,
Must the world forever rem ain the
That they soon shall sleep
most n atu ra l action, the eating of vorced from m atter.
Its great doctrine of K arina, as victim of ig n o ran t passion? Can
The peaceful sleep of death,
an
apple,
is
m
ade
the
pretext
of
For the tints upon their cheeks shall
now volum inously w ritten about, the world he civilized to th a t degree
fade,
the supposed fall of m an and o' , has become, says Prof. Rh vs Davids: th a t consequences will be taken
And lips grow pale to worthless waste.
penalties affecting not only his “ A desperate expedient, a w onder into consideration by a ll? Passion
The lid is laid upon the casket
progeny, but all ins fellow crea ful hypothesis, an airy nothing, an is, and always has been, deaf.
And fastened for an eternal end,
im aginary cause beyond the reach These weapons of reform are sub
tures,
and
even
the
lower
products
And with slow and easy step
useless.
Crim inals,
of reason,” and is therefore clearly stan tially
My carriers consign me to my grave.
of organic n atu re; while the great not w hat B uddha tau g h t or in tram ps, and beggars and failures
The mound and the marble
The
est of all im aginable crim es, a dei- tended. It is now a m etaphysical are increasing every day.
Conceal and reveal the beginning
prisons,
jails,
poorhouses,
and
asy
And the finish of a mortal
cide, the cruel m urder of a god, is ab stractio n — a confused com bina
Who loved life dearly,
Religion is
accepted as a basis of redem ption. tion of the doctrines of H eredity lums are crowded.
For it was hi9 soul.
helpless. Law can punish, hut it
The doctrine of salvation by grace and W orks, teaching th a t the accu can neither reform crim inal nor
m ulated effects or results of our
m ade the distribution of punish lives pass down to all future tim es— prevent crim e. The tide of vice is
Justice.
m ents and rew ards a m atter of surely the grandest incentive to a rising. The war that is now being
IN FIVE PARTS.
mere caprice. T he dogm atists of diligent, good and noble life offered waged against the forces of evil is
as hopeless as the battle of the fire
predestination distinctly taught to m an in any religion.
The foundations of B uddhistic flies against the darkness o f night.
th
a
t
th
e
“elect”
were
not
saved
by
BY F. L. OSWALD.
Títere is hut one hope. Ignor-
literature rest on the assum ption
their own m erits, but by an in th a t life is worth living . . .
ance, poverty and vice m ust stop
scrutable, incalculable and g ra tu i th a t only ignorance leads to pain populating the world. This cannot
PART I I I .— PERVERSION.
tous act of divine favor, while and sorrow, and th a t knowledge he done by m oral suasion. T his
leads to their extinction. “ I am cannot be done by talk or example.
USTICE, in the pristine pagan others were as inevitably fore
r.ot aw are,” says General Strong, This cannot be done by religion or
doom
ed
to
an
etern
ity
of
woe.
By
sense of th e word, was too
“ th at the joys of life are wholly ig law. by priest or hangm an. This
n atu ral an d too m anly a faith alone, or by faith and the nored by B uddhists. I may add, cannot be done by force, physical or
virtue to find much favor with the cerem puy of im m ersion, the guilt of after living seven years in B urm a— m oral. To accom plish th is there is
hut one way. Science m ust make
whining m oralists of A u tin atu ral- a sinful life could, w ithal, be can a land of the purest Buddhism in woman the owner, the m istress, of
the w orld—th a t there is no better
ism. The tru th which a m odern celled in th e eleventh hour, while
or happier race th an the Burm an. herself. Science, the only savior of
the
omission
of
th
a
t
cerem
ony
philosopher has condensed in the
The priest, or ra th e r P hungyi, is an m ankind, m ust put it in the power
doomed
even
children,
nay,
new
sarcasm th a t “ au honest god is the
ascetic, but, unlike the H in d u and of woman to decide for herself
noblest work of m an ,” was recog born babes, to the abyss of hell C hristian saints, B uddhists attach w hether she wdl or will not become
a m other. T his is the solution of
nized already by the ancient his fire. “ There is no d o u b t,” the Sol- no m erit to such practices, unless the whole question. This frees
they conduce to the banishm ent of
torian who observed th a t “ every omou of the P atristic Age assures ignorance. Asceticism as a th in g woman. The babes th a t are horn
nation makes its gods the em bodi us, “ th a t infants, only a few spans in itself is useless; only life and will be welcome. They will he
ments of its own ideals,” though, in length, are craw ling on the bot conduct, not creeds, rites, or profes clasped bv glad hands to happy
breasts. They will fill homes with
happily, it is not alw ays true th a t tom of bell,” a doctrine which the sions, here av ail.”— [E x.
light and joy. I look forw ard to
“ no worshiper is better th an the historian of R ationalism justly
the time when men and women, by
Unwelcome Childien.
object of his w orship.” To some stigm atizes as “ so atrocious, and a t
reasou of th eir know ledge of conse
the
same
tim
e
so
ex
trav
ag
an
tly
ab
quences, of the m orality born of in
degree, however, the moral sta n d
OR
thousands
of
years
men
surd,
th
a
t
it
would
be
sim
ply
im
telligence, will refuse to perpetrate
ards of the M editerranean pagans
and women have been tr y disease and p a in —will refuse to
were undoubtedly prejudiced by the possible for th e im agination to su r
the world
with
failure.-.
ing to reform the world. fill
lewd propensities of th eir Olym pass its in sa n ity .” Yet for more
W hen th a t time comes the prison
pians, and it is equally certain th a t th a n twelve h u n d red years Chris W hy have the reform ers failed? I walls will fall, the dungeons will be
the extravagant injustice of C hris tian s were in danger of being burnt will tell them why.
flooded with light and the shadow
Ignorance, poverty, and vice are . of
— the
— scaffold
------- --- will
— cease to curse
tian fanatics can be partly ex at the stake for refusiug to attrib
plained, as well as condoned, by ute such infam ies to their creator. populating the world. T he g u tter > the e a rth .—[R obert G. Ingersoll
When Life is Fled.
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B
9
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F