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yet repealed— proves the correct­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