“ 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
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