m
OECH OF
“TRUTH BEARS THE TORCH IN THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH.”— Lucretius.
VOL. 3.
SILVERTON. OREGON. THURSDAY. OCTOBER 19, 1899.
F or th e T orch o f Reason.
Ingersoll Is Dead.
RY ISAAC A . POOL.
o sang th e C h ristia n b a rd :—“ G re at
P an is d e a d !”
W hen from th e silence Jesu s rais-
x
\
ed his h e a d ;
For changeful m en , in th ese long v a n ish ­
ed davs,
Ign o red th e old and gave th e new th e ir
praise.
B ut still, w hen th ro u g h th e forest glens
stra y ,
Old P an upon h is pipe of reeds will play,
Till held and wood a n d m o u n tain peak
will sing
T h eir pteans joyous to old P an th e ir king.
S
No c h a n t, N ew tonian, can th e ir ra p tu re
drow n,
Nor fear of hell, nor hope for golden
crow n.
M en, tru e to N a tu re ; still adore th e R ig h t,
And sh u n th e creeds for h e r celestial light.
She, tru e to R eason, holds th e scales
a ’beam ,
W here flashes from th e Sword of Ju stic e
g le a m ;
The T ru th an d R ig h t shall 6till th e ir
lu stre shed,
T hrough com ing tim e, though Ingersoll
be dead.
W hen M editation th ro u g h th e w oodland
w alks,
W here ro b in -re d b rea st to th e daisy ta lk s,
W here nodding bluebells ring th e ir p a ss­
ing chim e,
For H im whose ashes m ark th e shores of
T im e ;
T hrough e v ’ry fibre she shall feel th e
th rill
T h a t th is dead Ingersoll is living s t i l l !
H is te n d e r w ords, his tr u th s shall still
be read,
Im m o rtal th ey , tbough Ingersoll b ed ead .
Nay, th a t is life. T he pulse of b rillia n t
th o u g h t
Can n ev er to th e silen t grave )>e b ro u g h t.
T hese are th e C h rists whose fam e im ­
m ortal springs.
(W hile only “ an g els” m ay assum e th e
wings
T ospeed aw ay to realm s we never knew .)
W ith e a rth co n ten ted , u n to M anhood
tr u e :
T his, consolation for bereav em en t g iv e s :
Though Ingersoll be dead, y e t Ingersoll
still lives!
Aug. 7, 1899.
Origin of Religion.
BY R. G. INGERSOLL.
an ,
in his ignorance, sup­
posed that all phenomena
were produced by some in­
telligent powers, and with direct
reference to him. To preserve
friendly relations with these pow­
ers was, and still is, the object of
all religious. Man knelt through
fear and to implore assistance, or
through gratitude for some favor
which he supposed had been ren­
dered. He endeavored by suppli­
cation to oppose some being who,
for some reason, had, as he believ-
ed, become enraged. The lightning
and thunder terrified him. In the
presence of the volcano he sank up­
on his knees. The great forests
filled with wild and ferocious beasts,
the monstrous serpents crawling in
mysterious depths, the boundless
sea, the flaming comets, the sinis­
M
»»-»■til
NO. 41.
ter eclipses, the awful calmness of Religious Prejudice in the Way culties than the explanation of a
the stars, and, more than all, the
of Science.
certain number of facts will cer­
perpetual presence of death, con­
tainly reject the theory. A few
vinced him that he was the sport BY CHARLES DARWIN, M.A.,LL.D.,F.R.S. naturalists, endowed with much
and prey of unseen and malignant
flexibility of mind, and who have
hy , it may be asked, until already begun to doubt the immut­
powers. The strange and fright­
recently did nearly all ability of species, may be influenc­
ful diseases to which he was sub­
the most eminent living ed by this volume; but I look with
ject, the freezings and burnings of
naturalists and geologists disbelieve
fever, the contortions of epilepsy,
confidence to the future, to young
the sudden palsies, the darkness of in the mutability of species? It and rising naturalists, who will be
night and the wild, terrible and cannot be asserted that organic be­ able to view both sides of the ques­
fantastic dreams that filled his ings in a state of nature are subject tion with impartiality. Whoever
brain, satisfied him that he was to no variation; it cannot be prov­ is led to believe that species are
haunted and pursued by countless ed that the amount of variation in mutable will do good service by
spirits of evil. For some reason he the course of long ages is a limited conscientiously expressing his con­
supposed that these spirits differed quantity; no clear distinction has viction; for thus only can the load
in power—that they were not all been, or can be, drawn between of prejudice by which this subject
alike malevolent—that the higher species and well-marked varieties. is overwhelmed be removed.
controlled the lower, and that his It cannot be maintained that spe­
Several eminent naturalists have
cies
when
intercrossed
are
invaria­
very existence depended upon gain­
of late published their belief that a
ing the assistance of the more pow­ bly sterile and varieties inyariably multitude of reputed species in each
erful. For this purpose he resort­ fertile; or that sterility is a special genus are not real spedles; but that
ed to prayer, to flattery, to wor­ endowment and sign of creation. other species are real, that is, have
The belief that species were immut­ been independently created. This
ship and to sacrifice.
To pacify these spirits was con­ able productions was almost una­ seems to me a strange conclusion
sidered of infinite importance. The voidable as long as the history of to arrive at. They admit that a
poor barbarian, knowing that men the world was thought to be of multitude of forms, which till late­
could be softened by gifts, gave to short duration; and now that we ly they themselves thought were
these spirits that which to him have acquired some idea of the special creations, and which are
seemed of the most value. With lapse of time, we are too apt to as­ still thus looked at by the majority
bursting heart he would offer sume, without proof, that the geo­ of naturalists, and which conse­
the blood of his dearest child. It logical record is so perfect that it quently have all the external char­
was impossible for him to conceive would have afforded us plain evi­ acteristic features of true species —
of a god utterly unlike himself, and dence of the mutation of species, if they admit that these have been
produced by variation, but they re­
he naturally supposed that these they had undergone mutation.
But the chief cause of our natur­ fuse to extend the same view to
powers of the air would be affected
a little at the sight of so great and al unwillingness to admit that one other and slightly different forms.
so deep a sorrow. It was with the species has given birth to other and Nevertheless they do not pretend
barbarian then as with the civilized distinct species, is that we are al­ that they can define, or even con­
now—one class lived upon and ways slow in admitting great jecture, which are the created forms
made merchandise of the fears of changes of which we do not see the of life, and which are those produc­
another. Certain persons took it steps. The difficulty is the same ed by secondav laws. They admit
upon themselves to appease the as that felt by so many geologists, that variation is a ‘vera causa’ in
gods and to instruct the people in when Lyell first insisted that long one case, they arbitrarily reject it
their duties to these unseen pow­ lines of inland cliffs had been form­ in another, without assigning any
ers. This was the origin of the ed, and great valleys excavated, by distinction in the two cases. The
priesthood. The priest pretended to the agencies which we still see at day will come when this will be
stand between the wrath of the work. The mind cannot possibly given as a curious illustration of
gods and the helplessness of man. grasp the full meaning of the term the blindness of preconceived opin­
He was man’s attorney at the court of even a million years; it cannot ion. These authors seem no more
of heaven. He carried to the in­ add up and perceive the full effects startled at a miraculous act of cre­
visible world a flag of truce, a pro­ of many slight variations, accumu­ ation than at an ordinary birth.
test and a request. He came back lated during an almost infinite But do they really believe that at
innumerable periods in the earth’s
with a command, with authority number of generations.
Although I am fully convinced history certain elemental atoms
and with power. Man fell upon
his knees before his own servant, of the truth of the views given in have been commanded suddenly to
and the priest, taking advantage of this volume [Orign of Species] un­ flash into living tissues? Do they
the awe inspired by his supposed der the form of an abstract, I by no believe that at each supposed act
influence with the gods, made of his means expect to convince experi­ of creation one individual or many
fellow man a cringing slave and enced naturalists whose minds are were produced? Were all the in­
hypocrite.—[Prose-Poems and Se­ stocked with a multitude of facts finitely numerous kinds of animals
all viewed, during a long course of and plants created as eggs or seed,
lections.
years, from a point of view directly or as full grown? and in the case of
opposite to mine. It is so easy to mammals, were they created bear­
I think it is wise sometimes to hide our ignorance under such ex- ing the false marks of nourishment
shut up shop and walk in the twi­ spressions as the “plan ofcreation”, from the mother’s womb? Un­
light, and look up at the stars or “unity of design”, etc., and to think doubtedly some of these same ques­
down upon the sea. The end and we give an explanation when we tions can not be answered by those
object of science is, not to print only restate a fact. Any one whose who believe in the appearance or
calicoes, but to brighten up the disposition leads him to attach creation of only a few forms of life,
Conclude«! on 6th page.
more weight to unexplained diffi­
faces of men.—[Sel.
W