R eason .
VOL. 3.
S IL V E R T O N , O REG O N , TH U R SD A Y , AVGUST 10, 1899.
W h a t is God?
BY ALLEN DAVEOPORT.
ou ask me, W h at is G od? an d I
Ain no wav puzzled to replv.
My i nw ard lights so clearly sh in e,
T h a t heavenly th in g s I can define,
And th o u g h but a finite c re a tu re ,
Tell w hat is God an d w hat is N ature.
W h atev er can be seen or felt,
W h atev e r can be h eard or sm elt,
W h atev er can be ta ste d , an d
All th a t th e m ind can u n d e rsta n d ,
All th a t o u r w isdom can conceive,
All th a t in w hich we can believe,
All o ’e r w here fancy ever trod,
Is N a tu re ; all th e rest is G od.
Y
—Freethought Readings.
T he R ig h t To E x p ress O pinions.
BY HORACE SE A V E R .
of th e most im portant
rights which hum an beings
possess, ab stractly , and
which ought to be guaranteed to
them by th e society of which they
are m em bers, is the rig h t to ex
press opinions, w ithout fear or mo
lestation. T h at men o u ght to pos
sess this right, not only as a m atter
of ab stract justice, but as a m atter
of political expediency, is a propo
sition which carries its own evidence
along with it. The rig h t to th in k
freely upon all subjects belongs to
us n atu ra lly , and no governm ent
can deprive us of it. Now the right
to th in k involves the rig h t to ex
press our opinions; for if we were
to be deprived of the power of com
m unicating our ideas to tach other,
we should be unable to benefit
society by developing tru th s which
we m ight discover.
The right to express opinions on
all subjects, save religion and poli
tics, is conceded by alm ost all gov
ernm ents to th eir people. The a u
tocracy of R ussia, and th e p atern al
despotism of A ustria, prohibit d is
cussion am ong the people on politi
cal affairs, and E ngland and our
own country som etim es punish
those who d are to express opinions
derogatory to C h ristian ity .
The
persecution of Abner K neeland for
blasphem y — the sta tu te against
which u n m ean in g crime is not even
yet repealed— proves the correct
ness of th e la tte r statem ent. A
brief ex am in atio n of th e principal
arg u m en ts usually urged in defence
of such prosecutions, m ay suffice to
show th eir irju stic e , and to place
the rig h t of m an to the unrestricted
expression of opinion in a cleai
lig h t:—
1.— It is said th a t if men were
perm itted to publish opinions de
rogatory to religion, the public
would be induced to regard it with
contem pt. To this it m ay be re
plied, th a t religion m ust be a thing
which are obuoxious to reason, and
contrary to common sense? Does
ne
O
in its self contem ptible, or the pub
lic intellect m ust be very defect
ively educated, or such an effect
would never be produced. Every
prosecution for the »indefinable
crim e of blasphem y, therefore, is a
tacit acknow ledgm ent th a t the gov
ernm ent and the priesthood have
not done th eir du ty in educating
the people; or it is a tacit acknow
ledgm ent th a t religion is not found
ed in argum ent, and th a t it requires
the terrors of corporal punishm ent
for its support. Hence all such
prosecutions are the m ost b itter and
galling satires which could be
launched against the governm ent,
priests, and religion.
2.— It has been urged th a t the
m oral sense of the com m unity is
outraged by the publication of libels
on religion, and th a t it is fitting and
right th a t the publishers of such
libels should be prosecuted. We
see no force in this argum ent, be
cause alm ost everything th a t a m an
m ight say of religion, while ex er
cising his right of free inquiry,
could be construed by the law and
the church into a libel. Now it is
well known th a t free inquiry has
been in stru m en tal in establishing
science, in reform ing jurisprudence,
and in effecting the p artial aboli
tion of superstitious absurdities. It
cannot therefore, do any harm to
religion, if religion is founded in
tru th ; and if not, free inquiry will
expose its errors, and consequently
ought to be encouraged. Moreover
the nature of belief is in v o lu n tary
and proportionate to the am ount
and clearness of the evidence pre
sented to the m ind; hence it is un
ju st to punish a man for e n te rta in
ing any opinion. Besides, as the
individual right to inquire after
tru th obviously im plies the right to
express w ithout fear the results of
inquiry; so it m ay be argued th a t
those who could restrict the free ex
pression of opinion m ust either
deny the abstract right of m an to
inquire after tru th , or act incon
sistently by denying in practice the
right which the former involves.
And finally, as tru th is alw ays
beneficial, and error alw ays per
nicious to society, and as inquiry is
the only mode by which we can
ever arrive at tru th , so all attem pts
to restrict inquiry are wrong and
unjust.
These are some of the grounds
upon which the right to free in
quiry and to the free expression of
opinion may be defended. And in
view of them we m ay ask, why
allow statu tes to rem ain unrepealed
C hristianity require the strong arm
of the law to prop it up?
We
should th in k not, if it is from
Heaven. W hy then, do professed
C hristians persecute unbelievers?
F or no other purpose, it would
seem, th an to gratify a th irst for
vengeance, which their principles
and religion are unable to repress.—
M an ’s P a s t an d P re se n t.
NO. 31.
scopes of more advanced construc
tion th an any known in Europe,
BY DR. L. BUCHNER.
and other indications of perfection
in the arts and sciences, such as the
M an, created by G od, passed from
nineteenth ce n tu ry has not yet w it
th e h a n d s of th e c re ato r as a perfect
w ork, com plete in body and s p irit.
nessed.
Still farther would the
W h atev er m ay l)e th e d eg rad atio n of
triu m p h of inventive genius be
m any m en, civilization is th e ir final
goal, as it was th e ir original s ta te .—
found to have been carried, when
C ount de Salles.
the later deposits, now assigned to
T is difficult to conceive,” says the ages of bronze and iron, were
Quatrefuges, “ upon w hat facts formed. V ainly should we lie stra in
this au th o r relies.” In point ing our im aginations to guess the
of fact, such an opinion as this possible uses and m eaning of such
having sprung solely from theoret- relics—m achines, perhaps, for nav
ii al considerations, can only appeal igating the air or exploring the
to theoretical grounds, whilst it is depths of the ocean, or for calcu
in the plainest contradiction to ev lating arithm etical problem s, be
ery known fact. If the men now yond the wants or even the concep
I
living were really only the degen tion of living m ath em atician s.”
erate and p artially corrupted de
Now we do not find in th e d ep th s
scendants of a former higher and of the earth such th in g s as are here
better race, it would he difficult to described by L yell, h u t in all cases
understand how the hum an race just the reverse, and we m ust th ere
could still exist, as it is a law g e n fore feel convinced th a t man did
erally recognized and proved by not, in accordance with this op in
experience th a t degenerate or de ion which we find com ing to the
graded tribes and individuals are surface from tim e to tim e, com
never of long d u ratio n , but th a t mence with great things to end with
they g rad u ally disappear.
I sm all, but th at beginning with
Lvell argues ad m irab ly ag ain st sm all things, he has ended with
this view in the following words: great, as indeed is the rule in a l
“ But had the original stock of m an most all hum an affairs.
kind been really endowed with such
W hich of the opinions here de
superior intellectual power and with scribed is not merely the more
inspired knowledge, and had they probable, but the more encouraging
possessed the same im provable n a and satisfactory, the au th o r may
ture as their posterity, the point of well leave to the judgm ent of the
advancem ent to which they would reader. It is only by a complete
have reached ere this would be m isapprehension of the tru th an d
im m easurably higher.
We cannot of right sentim ents th a t so m any
ascertain a t present the lim its, men have been induced to reject
w hether of
th e beginning or the view here developed of the a n
of
the
end,
of
the
first tiq u ity and origin of our race upon
stone period, when man co-existed the earth as being repulsive and
with the extinct m am m alia, but discouraging, and to im agine th a t
th a t it was of great duration we if it be adopted the elevated se n ti
cannot doubt.
D uring those ages m ent of the dig n ity of hum an n a
W e do
there would have been tim e for ture m ust he endangered.
progress of which we can scarcely not know how to com bat this false
form a conception, and very differ pride which regards a lowly origin
ent would have been the character as som ething contem ptible and d e
of the works of a rt which we should grading better th an in the a d m ira
now be endeavoring to in te rp re t,— ble words of Prof. H uxley, who
those relics which we are now dis speaks as follows in his rem arkable
in terrin g from the old gravel-pits of m em ior on th e “ Place of Man in
St. A cheul, or from th e Liege caves. N atu re” : “ T houghtful men, once
In them , or in the upraised bed of escaped from the blinding influence
the M editerranean, on th e south of trad itio n al prejudice, will find
coast of S ardinia, instead of the in the lowly stock whence m an has
rudest pottery or flin t.to o ls so ir I sprung tho best evidence of the
regular in form as to cause the u n of the splendor of his capacities;
practiced eye to doubt w hether they and will discern in his long pro
are u n m istak ab le evidence of de gress through the past a reason
sign, we shoufd now be finding able of faith in his a ttaim en t of a
sculptured forms, surpassing in nobler fu th re .”
In reality the hum bler our o ri
beauty the m asterpieces of P hidias
or P raxitiles; lines of buried ra il gin, the more elevated is our pres
ways or electric telegraphs, from en t place in nature! the sm aller the
which the best engineers of bur day com m encem ent, the g reater is the
m ight gain invaluable hints; a s tr o term ination! the h ard er the strug-
uomical in stru m en ts and m icro
( in clu d ed on 6th page.
I