2
THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, FEBRUARY 1, 1900.
war, ai.d perhaps political intrigue, and which bring peace and content
Genoa, which had long held the ment to the great mass of strug
False Pretences.
commercial supremacy of the Med gling and toiling humanity, which
iterranean, was rapidly being out has not been, in its inception, and
BY C H A R L E S K E N T TEN N EY .
stripped by its rival Venice. “ With for long years after, bitterly fought
Not many years ago, by compar ruin before it, and unwilling to and resisted by the churches? Yet,
ison with the years through which yield its Eastern commerce,’’ says when the goal is reached, after
it has passed, the earth, according Prof. Draper, “it was thought nec these long, weary year« of ceaseless
to true Christian doctrine, was flat, essary to look elsewhere for trade.” strife, after these many centuries of
and around it revolved the sun and There were many of its citizens who darkness, ignorance and woe, after
stars, and over all was a huge were well acquainted with the all the battlements have been
cover, the sky lights of which were globular form of the earth. Why taken, and the battlefields strewn
sometimes opened to let the rain not reach the East Indies from the with unnumbered dead, after all
fall through. To question this west? By the church this sugges this has been accomplished by Free-
Christian arrangement of nature tion was received with little favor. thought and Science, we are serene
was death bv most cruel torture. It gave no encouragement, because ly told that modern civilization is
Yet we are informed that to Christ such schemes were unsuited to its entirely due to Christianity. Such
ianity alone is due modern learning former arguments. It was disliked colossal cheek ‘‘surely passeth un
because of its irreligious nature. derstanding.”
and civilization.
Madison, Wisconsin.
There is no known scientific fact This globular form had been con
which the Christian church has so demned by the holy fathers. By
strenuously resisted as the rotund the Patristic geography the earth is F o r the Torch of Reason.
ity of the earth, and that it revolves a flat surface, bounded by the
What Is Science?
upon its axis and around the sun; water« of the seas, on the yielding
no tortures too cruel or horrible for surface of which rests the crystall
BY C H A R L E S CLARK M IL L A R D .
the exponents of such theories. The ine dome of the skies. These doc
thumb screw, the rack, and the fire trines were supported by passages
In controversial writings, it is
were its opposing arguments. To from the holy scriptures. This
doubt was cruel death. Such were geography had been the authority frequently asserted that Science
the methods of those who are said of the church for more than eight teaches whatever it is that the
to have been the fathers of our pre hundred years, and of course settled writer wishes his readers to believe,
the matter. Something must, how and thus the most unscientific spec
sent civilization.
Before Christianity there had ever, be done for Genoa, and Col ulations and the wildest imagin
existed a very respectable civiliza umbus took up the idea. He knew ings are supposed, by many uncrit
tion. By the dark methods of the earth was globular in form. ical readers, to be vouched for by
Christianity this early civilization Receiving no encouragement or that vague, undefined thing called
had almost ceased to exist in so- substantial aid at home, he sought Science; and when such specula
called Christian countries.
To the support of Ferdinand and Isa tions and imaginings become asso
maintain its power, and to pre bella, who, seeing great possibili ciated and classed with scientific
vent men from thinking in any line ties for their kingdom from such a facts, their truth seems assured.
other than promulgated by it.- cor route, gave him their support, and But a clear understanding of what
rupt and venal head, it, for nearly he made the voyage. liven then is and what is not Science will
fourteen hundred years made the the church would not renounce its eliminate this source of error.
Science is “classified knowledge.”
acquiiing of knowledge and educa theory of the flatness of the earth,
tion a crime, with punishment and it was not until Magellan had But since we only know things by
which would have brought tears to actually circumnavigated the earth, classifying them, it follows that all
the eyes of the lowest savage. By and returned to the port from knowledge is classified knowledge,
its remorseless persecutions it stran which he sailed, that it reluctantly although the term is commonly
gled all former traces of civilization let go. The influences of the restricted to that part of human
during this time, and left our an church in the discoveries of Colum knowledge which is arranged sys
cestors in abject ignorance, wretch- • bus and Magellan, like many other tematically and published in books.
edness and poverty. Yet almost things, are only apparent to Christ- j But, using the word in its widest
any Christian will tell us that the ians. The discovery of America,' sense, Science includes only what is
Christian church is the mother of aided by the remains of civilization known. True, Science has its fic
so faithfully preserved and guarded tions and theories, but these are not
present civilization.
All scientific investigation in its by the Mohammedan Arabs of put forth as facts, they are only
beginning, in astronomy, geology Spain, was the beginning of our the means used to discover facts, or
and all other sciences requiring present civilization. America was the unfinished product of the work
such investigation, has been uni discovered by the demands of com er in Science, which may yet be
formly strenuously resisted by this merce at Genoa; not by the church, altered, mended or rejected alto
would be civilizer. Alchemy, the but egainst its most strenuous gether.
Science is based upon the experi
mother of chemistry, was permitted opposition. The Moorish civiliza
only because the church thought it tion of Spain, from whom we de ences common to all normally con
saw the possibility of making arti rive many of our most useful in stituted human beings, and the pro
ficial gold. The early physician, ventions, and some of our most im positions—axioms—which are self-
to whom modern civilization owes portant knowledge of the past, W
’as evident to human reason; and the
so much, was frowned upon, and not preserved by the church, but highest, or most far-reaching con
the practice of his profession for that most enlightened people were clusions cannot be more certain
bidden. In case of sickness, only actually exterminated by it, through than these basic experiences and
the use of shrines, or saints’ bones, the instrumentality of Ferdinand axioms. On this humble and sure
were permitted, and the price for and Isabella, who had so materially foundation rests all truth ; and other
such use regulated by the so-called aided Columbus.
foundation can no man lay. Every
civilizer. The debt of gratitude
Since the days of the Christian scientist must begin with simple
due from modern physicians and church, has there ever been any ad truisms, which even the uneducat
surgeons to this great civilizer can vance in human liberty, has there ed can comprehend; and increase
surely never be paid.
ever been any advance in human his knowledge by extending his
There were, however, other forces knowledge, has there ever been any experience, observing phenomena,
at work which the church, with its advance in Science, or has there and reasoning from the known to
ever watchful eye, had not reckoned ever been any advance in the ways the unknowu. Of course, in doing
upon. Through the misfortunes of which make men’s burdens lighter, this he borrows and uses the know
For th e T orch o f Reason.
ledge others have acquired and
made a part of Science.
The facts of Science may be div
ided into primary and secondary
facts, according to the means by
which they are acquired, the second
class always being connected by a
chain of reasoning with the first,
and depending upon the primary
facts and the chain of reasoning for
its certainty. At each link of the
chain an error in logic is possible;
and therefore the longer the chain
the less certain is the ultimate con
clusion, and vice versa. If the rea
soning is logical and it leads back
step by step to primary facts, then
the ultimate conclusion is true and
a part of Science.
But the reasoning may proceed
from assumed fact. Many assump
tions have been put forward as
primary or secondary facts of sci
ence, but comparatively few have
been able to hold a place within her
sacred domain. Her pathway down
through the ages is strewn with re
jected and ejected assumptions
which were not able to stand the
test of truth. If a proposition is
assumed as true and an argnment
based thereon, and there is no fault
in the logic, the conclusion arrived
at is true if the assumption is a
fact, and false if the assumption is
false; and in such a case nothing is
gained by the argument.
Christian historians deal largely
in this kind of argument. They as
sume that an intelligent being gov
erns the world for the best inter
ests of mankind; and using this as
a major premise, it is easy to prove
that in every act of the historic
drama, every crisis in human
affairs, and in every great contest
between nations,right has triumph
ed, and that no other result would
have been of so much benefit to the
human race. And as all minor
acts helped to bring about the final
result, all was for the best because
it was the “will of God”.
The fatal defect in this argument
is, that the major premise is not a
primary fact, and as it cannot be
established by testimony nor by
argument, it is not a secondary
fact. It cannot be established by
reasoning, because the conclusion
covers all the experiences of man
kind, and these same experiences
must be used to prove the major
premise; the conclusion depends on
the premise, the premise must be
supported by the conclusion and
there is no escape from the “vicious
circle”. This explains the fact that
all arguments for the existence of a
god are unsatisfactory; and also
the further fact that every religion
depends upon faith or belief in a
god or gods.
A “Religion of Science” and a
science of religion are equally im
possible except as products of the
imagination. All material things
— entities— with their properties
and relations may be included in
science, and nothing more. Every