T orch
R eason .
of
‘ TRUTH BEARS THE TORCH IN THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH.” - ^
VOL. 4.
^
^
SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, MARCH 15, E. M. 300 (A. D. 1900.)
G iordano B runo.
.
NO. 10.
At first, the term was taken to ritating error, or the caprice of a
wonder. I am aware that the as­
he
a
“mask”
concealing
sinister
restless
mind,
is
to
be
encouraged.
BY AUGUSTUS WATTERS.
features—a “new name for an old It is necessary to promote inde­ sumed instinctive belief in God has
been used by many persons as an
thing”—or
as
a
substitute
term
for
pendent thought—whatever its
he last day ! Tomorrow, as the morn
doth break,
,
skepticism or atheism. If impres­ manner of manifestation—since argument for his existence. But
this is a rash argument, as we
This breathing, sensient, fleshly sions were always knowledge, men
temple—
there can be no progress without it. should thus be compelled to believe
This weird alxxle of sorrow and of joy— would be wise without inquiry, and A Secularist is intended to be a
in the existence of many cruel and
Will fall as leaves before the autumn explanations would be unneces-
reasoner,
that
is,
as
Coleridge
de­
blast.
malignant spirits, only a little
Well, lie it so. To ripen precious grain, s^yr. The term Secularism was fined him, one who inquires what a
more powerful than man, for the
That feeds the toiler and renews his chosen to express the extension of
thing is, and not only what it is, belief in them is far more general
strength,
The shining leaves must fall and turn to Freethought to ethics. Freethink­ but why it is what it is.
than in a beneficent deity. The
dust.
ers
commonly
go
no
further
than
“One
of
two
great
forces
of
Jn far-off, happy days, the blood now
shed
saying, “We search for truth.” opinion created in this age is what idea of a universal and beneficent
«reator does not seem to arise in
Will rise again in freedom’s deathless Secularists say we have found it—
is known as atheism, which de­ the mind of man until he has been
boughs,
And in their shade the ransomed world at least, so much as replaces the prives superstition of its standing
elevated by long-continued culture.
wrill laugh.
chief
errors
and
uncertainties
of
ground
and
compels
theism
to
And other worlds, which madmen now
He who believes in the advance­
theology.
deny,
reason
for
its
existence.
The
other
ment of man from some low organ­
Will shed a benison upon my tomb.
Harriet
Marlineau,
the
most
in­
force
is
materialism,
which
shows
And yet, to live is sweet. Alas, how oft,
ized form will naturally ask, How
When Spring hath broken into rosy trepid thinker among the women of the physical consequences of error,
does this bear on the belief in the
smiles,
her
day,
wrote
to
Lloyd
Garrieon
a
supplying,
as
it
were,
beacon
lights
And sparrows chirped about the cottage
immortality of the soul? The bar­
letter (inserted in the Liberator, to morality.
eaves,
barous races of man, as Sir J. Lub­
Have I resolved that I would fight no 1853) approving “the term Secu­
“Though respecting the right of bock has shown, possess no clear
more.
I did not long for what the bigots dream, larism as including a large number the atheist and theist to their the­
belief of this kind; but arguments
A city built of amethyst and gold,
of
persons
who
are
not
atheists
and
ories
of
the
origin
of
nature,
the
With gates of pearl engirt with crystal
derived from the primeval beliefs
uniting them for action, which has Secularist regards them as belong­
seas,
of savages are, as we have just
For heaven did greet me in each sunny Secularism for its object. By the
ing to the debatable ground of seen, of little or no avail. Few
nook.
I asked no comrades but the birds and adoption of the new’ term, a vast speculation. Secularism
neither persons feel any anxiety from the
flowers,
amount
of
prejudice
is
got
rid
of.”
asks nor gives any opinion upon impossibility of determining at
And brawling streams that leap beneath
At length it was seen that the “new them, confining itself to the en­
the pines,
what precise period in the develop­
And kindly peasants that forestalled my term” designated a new conception.
tirely independent field of study— ment of the individual, from the
needs.
Secularism is a code of duty per­ the order of the universe. Neither
I craved not gold, nor frescoed living
first trace of a minute germinal
tom bs,
taining
to
this
life,
founded
on
asserting nor denying theism or a vesicle, man becomes an immortal
Nor hollow joys that stultify the heart.
My crowning heresy was to love man considerations purely human, and future life, having no sufficient
being: and there is no greater
kind.
intended
mainly
for
those
who
find
reason to give if called upon, the cause for anxiety because the
Because I could not brook tfie fawning
theology indefinite or inadequate, fact remains that material influ­
knave,
period cannot possibly be deter­
The subtle despot and the jibbering unreliable or unbelievable.
ences exist, vast and available for mined in the gradually ascending
dunce,
Its essential principles are three: good, as men have the will and wit organic scale.
That weave their meshes to destroy the
mind,
1. The improvement of this life to employ them. Whatever may
They’d fain give out that I ’m a spotted
I am aware that the conclusions
by material means.
fiend.
be the value of metaphysical or arrived at in this work [The De­
And so, to die is best. For thoughtful
2. That Science is the available theological theories of morals, util­ scent of Man] will be denounced bv
eyes
That ope before their time in desert Providence of man.
ity in conduct is a daily test of some as highly irreligious, but he
wastes,
3. That it is good to do good, common sense, and is capable of who denounces them is bound to
Ere toiling suns with fierce alembic ray
Have crumbled rocks and touched the
hether there be other good or deciding intelligently more ques show why it is more irreligious to
savage soul,
The way to paradise is through the fire. not, the good of the present life is lion» of practical duty than any explain the origin of man as a dis
.’ J ____
good, and it is good to seek that other rule. Considerations which tinct species by descent from some
I ertain to the general welfare oper lower form, through the laws of
good.
Third Stage of Freethought—
Individual good attained by ate without the machinery of then- variation and nalura, »election,
Secularism.
»»plain the birth of the
methods conducive to the good of logical creed» and over masse» of than
others is the highest aim of man, men in every land, to whom Chris- individual through the laws of
BY G. J. HOLYOAKE.
whether regard be had to human tian incentives are alien, or disre- ordinary reproduction. The birth,
[English Secularism.
both of the species and of the indi-
welfare in this life or personal fit­ gar ed.
“ Nothing is destroyed until it has
~
vidual, are equally parts of that
ness for another. Precedence is
been replaced.”—Madame de Stael.
therefore given to the duties of this Belief in God Not Instinctive, grand sequence df events, which our
eeing this wise maxim in a
life.
minds refuse to accept as the result
paper by Auguste Comte, I
Being asked to send to the In­ BV CHARLES darwin , m . a ., ll . d ., F.R.s. <»f blind chance. The understand­
asked my friend, Wm. de
ing revolts at such a conclusion,
Fonveille, who was in communica­ ternational Congress of Liberal
he belief in God has often whether or not we are able to be­
tion with Comte, to learn for me Thinkers (1886) an account of the
been advanced as not only lieve that every slight variation of
t He authorship of the phrase. Com- tenets of the English party known
as Secularist», I gave the following'
‘'"j.
’’l
m."H‘ 9lructure-
"'r in
structure, ,he
the union of each P
pair
,p answered that it was the Em­ explanation to them:
I, P
the distinctions be- marriage, the dissemination of each
peror’s (Napoleon III.). It first
"Thp Sppillur i. H i n t , k ‘
a " 4 th e <>Wer
"Ppd’ and ° thpr BUCf> «VSntS have
appeared, as I afterwards found, in
1 he Secular is fr.Qtr.ri
that, u the ♦ i, issues , n iR ’ however ’ 1 im n Po88ir)le,
n a « ih lp
i. i.
a • ,
nf whinh nan
a8 we a jj been ordained for some special
the writings af Madame de Stae], of which can he tested by the ex- have seen, to maintain that this nurnose
perience of this life.
belief is innate or instinctive in ?
and more fully expressed by her.
S»df- regarding criticism having
“The ground common to all self- man. On the other hand, a belief
discovered the insufficiency of the­ determined thinkers is that of in- in all-pervading spiritual agencies
Progress is enlightenment. It is
ology for ^ e guidance of man, dependency of opinion, known as seem» to be universal, and appar- daylight instead of darkness. En-
next sought to ascertain what rules I reethought, which, though but an ently follows from a considerable lightenment is knowledge where
human reason may supply for the impulse Of intellectual courage in advance in man’s reason and from once was ignoranoe. It is assured
independent conduct of life, which the search for truth, or an impulse a still greater advance in his facul- fact where once was doubt.—fSus-
is the object of Secularism.
of aggression against hurtful or ir- ties of imagination, curiosity and an H. VVixon.
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o tlin w
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