“ TRUTH BEARS THE TORCH IN THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH.”—
VOL. 3.
S IL V E R T O N , OREGON, T H U R SD A Y , N O V EM BER 2, 1899.
Robert Q. Ingersoll.
NO. 43.
in which the passions, assum ing a
Errors of Doctrine.
th a t which we do not believe. Our
thousand new forms, have g en erat
C hrist - w’orshipers condem n the
BY HYLAND G. KIRK.
ed a continued chain of m isfor
BY JEAN MESLIER.
blindness of the ancient Pagans,
tunes.
who worshiped several Gods; they
nto th e realm of fam e’s deserving
T hus the same s*df-love which,
g reat
he C hristian A postolical Ro deride genealogy of those Gods,
A friend has gone—
m oderate and prudent, was a p rin
m an Religion teaches, and th eir b irth , their m arriages, and the
To dw ell w ith in a hom e im m aculate,
ciple
of
happiness
and
perfection,
x The palace of his genius, gleam ing in
compels belief, th a t there is generating of th eir children; yet
each p a rt
becoming blind and disordered, was
they
but one God, and, a t the sam e tim
e, do not observe th a t they th em
W ith flashes of his in tellect an d k in d transform ed into a corrupting poi
ness of his h e a rt,
th at there are three Divine persons, selves sav things which are much
son; and cupidity, offspring and
W hile tim e goes on.
I com panion of ignorance, became the each one being God. This is ab more ridiculous and absurd.
B e lo v e d th e e a rth and w hat th e earth
surd; for if there are three who are
If the Pagans believed th at there
co n tain s,
cause of all the evils th a t have des
j truly God, then there are three w’ere Goddesses as well as Gods,
’Tw as all he k n e w ;
And n e ith e r place nor m ercenary g a in s; olated the earth.
G«»ds. It is false, then, to say th at th a t these Gods and Goddesses
The w hispers of a m b itio n nor p lau d its of
Yes, ignorance and cupidity!
there is but one God; or if this is m arried and begat children, they
th e th ro n g ,
Could move his soul, as know ledge of these are the tw in sources of all the true, it is false to say th a t there are thought of nothing, then, but what
th e wrong,
torm ents of man! Biased by these
really three who are God, for one is natural; for they did not be
To dare and do.
into false ideas of happiness, he
The sim ple tr u th —devotion to th e rig h t, has m istaken or broken the laws of and three canr.ot be claim ed to be lieve yet th a t the Gods were
W as h is whole creed ;
one and the sam e num ber. It is without body or feeling; they
And if he seem ed too b itte r in th e fight, nature in his own relation with e x
’Twas b u t to b e tte r free th e h u m an m ind tern al objects; and injuring bis also said th a t the first of these pre believed they were sim ilar to men.
By frig h ten in g p h a n to m s th a t beset our
tended Divine persons, called the W hy should there not be females
own existence, has violated individ
k in d ,
F ath er, has brought forth the sec as well as m ales? I t is not more
A nd n o t from greed.
ual m orality; sh u ttin g through
ond person, which is called the Son, reasonable to deny or to recognize
No bells need toll n o r solem n black be these his heart to com passion, and
and th a t these first two persons to the one th an th e other; and sup
w orn
his
m
ind
to
justice,
he
has
injured
F o r his re p o se ;
gether have produced the th ird , posing there were Gods and God
His croivn, though woven of th e big o t’s and afflicted his equal, and violated
which is called the H oly Ghost, desses, why should they not beget
scorn,
social
m
orality.
From
ignorance
Ts lu stre -b o n g w ith sm iles and gentle
and, nevertheless, these three p re children in the o rd in ary way?
deeds
and cupidity, man has arm ed
tended Divine persons do not de There would be certain ly nothing
Culled from th e suffering and th e ir v a n
against
m
an,
fam
ily
against
fam
ished needs,
pend the one upon the other, and ridiculous or absurd in this doc
Down to life’s close.
ily, tribe against tribe; and the
even th a t one is not older than the j trine, if it were tru e th a t th eir God
So, in th e realm of fam e’s deserving earth is become a th eater of blood,
other. Phis, too, is m anifestly, ah- existed. But in the doctrine of our
g reat,
of discord and of rapine. By igno
A t d e a th ’s behest,
surd; because one thing can not re C hrist worshipers there is some
Am ong th e au g u st m ansions of th a t fate rance and cupidity, a secret war,
thing absolutely ridiculous and ab
W hich sy m p a th y , beyond th e to ile r’s ferm enting in the bosom of every ceive its existence from another
ken,
thing w ithout some dependence on surd; for, besides claim ing th a t one
state, has separated citizen from
Is building ever for all h o n est m en,
this other; and a thing m ust nec God forms Three, and th a t these
H e ’s now a t rest.
citizen; and the sam e society has
— [F re e th o u g h t M agazine.
essarily exist in order to give birth Three form but One, they pretend
divided itself into oppressors and
to another. If, then, the second th at this T riple and Unique God
oppressed, into m asters and slaves;
Sources ot the Evils of Society. by these, the heads of a nation, and the T hird persons of D ivinity has neither body, form nor face;
have received their existence from th a t the First person of this T riple
sometimes insolent and audacious,
the F irst person, they m ust neces and U nique God, whom they call
BY C. F. VOLNEY.
have forged - its chains w ithin its
sarily depend for their existence on the F ath er, begot of him self a Sec
own bowels; and m ercenary av a
ond person, which they call the
N tru th , scarcely were the fac rice has founded political despotism. this F irst person, who gave them
Son, and which is the sam e as H is
ulties of men developed, when, Som etim es hypocritical and cu n birth, or who begot them , and it is
F ath er, being, like H im , w ithout
inveigled by objects which g ra t ning, they have called from heaven necessary also th a t the F irst person
body, form or face.
If th is is
ify the senses, they gave themselves a lying power and a sacrilegious of the D ivinity, who gave birth to
true, why is it th a t the First one is
up to unbridled desires. The sweet yoke; and credulous cupidity has the two other persons, should have
called F ath er ra th e r than m other,
sensations which n atu re had a t founded religious despotism . By existed before them ; because th at
or the Second called Son rath er
tached to th eir real wants, to en these have been perverted the ideas which does not exist can not beg^t
Nevertheless, it is re than daughter? For if the F irst
dear to them th eir existence, no of good and evil, ju s t and unjust, an y th in g .
one is really father instead of m oth
longer satisfied them. Not content vice and virtue; and nations have pugnant as well as absurd to claim
er, and if the Second is son instead
with the abundance offered by the w andered in a lab y rin th of errors th a t a n y th in g could be l»egotten or
born w ithout having had a begin of daughter, there m ust be some
earth or produced by in d u stry , they and calam ities.
ning. Now , according to our C h rist- th in g in both of these persons which
wished to accum ulate enjoym ents,
The cupidity of man and bis ig
causes the one to be father ra th e r
and coveted those possessed by norance— these are the evil genii w orshippers, the Second and T hird
th an m other, and the other to be
their fellow men. The strong m an which have wasted the earth! These persons of D ivinity were begotten
son rath er th an daughter. Now,
rose up against the feeble, to take are the decrees of fate which have and born; then they had a begin
who can assert th a t they are m ales
from him the fruit of his labor; the overthrow n empires! These are the ning, and the F irst person had none,
and not females? But how should
feeble invoked the aid of another celestial anathem as which have not being begotten by another; if
they be rath er m ales th an females,as
feeble one to repel the violence. sm itten these walls once so glori- ( therefore follows necessarily th a t
they have neither body, form nor
ous, and converted the splendor of one existed before the other.
Two strong ones then said:
face? T hat is not an im aginable
a populous city into a solitude of
O ur C hrist-w orsh'ipers, who feel
“ W hy fatigue ourselves to pro
m ourning and of ruins! But, as in
thing, and destroys itself. No m at
duce enjoym ents which we m ay the bosom of man have sprung all these absurdities a n d e a n not avoid
ter, they claim th a t these two Per
find in the hands of the weak? Let the evils which have afflicted in his them by any good reasoning, have
sons, w ithout body, form or face,
us join together and despoil them ; life, there he also is to seek and to no other resource than to say th a t
and, consequently, w ithout differ
they shall labor for us, and we will find their remedies.—[R uins ol E m we m ust ignore hum an reason and
ence of sex, are nevertheless F ath er
pires.
hum bly adore these sublim e m ys
enjoy w ithout labor.”
_
• I
teries w ithout wishing to u n d er and Son, and th a t they produced
And the strong associating for
It is said th a t a desire for knowl stand th em ; but th a t which they by their m utual love a T hird per
oppression, and the weak for re
edge lost us the Eden of the past; call faiih is refuted when they tell son, whom they called the II“ ly
sistance, men m u tually afflicted
but w hether th at is true or not, it
Ghost, who has, like the other Two,
each o th er; and a general and fa will give us the Eden of the future. us th a t we m ust subm it; it is tell
ing us th a t we m ust blindly believe
C ontinued on 6th page.
tal discord spread over the earth, —[Ingersoll.
I
I
T