“ TRUTH BEARS THE TORCH IN THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH.” — L u c re tiu s
VOL. 4.
SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, JULY 5, E. M. 300 (1900.)
Kevin«* *! for the T orch of Reason.
NO. 26.
place one above the other is a mon­ sis respecting the origin of organic ilarly caused. Here and there are
Duty.
strous presumption which destroys beings.
pointed out sedimentary deposits
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the unity of the universe.”—[Force
now slowly taking place. At this
HOU, whose nam e is /»lazoned forth and Matter.
The hypothesis of evolution has place, it is proved that a shore has
On our b a n n e r’s gleam ing fold,
the support of some evidence, in­ been encroached on by the sea to a
Freedom ! thou whose saered w orth
Never y e t has half l>een told,
stead of being absolutely unsup­ considerable extent within recorded
O ften have we sung of thee,
Evolution vs. Special Creation. ported by evidence. Though the
times; and at another place, an
D ear to us as d e a r can be.
facts
at
present
assignable
in
direct
estuary is known to have become
B ut today we sing of one
O lder, graver far, th a n th o u ;
proof that by progressive modifica­ shallower within the space of some
BY IIEBRERT SPENCER.
W ith th e seal of tim e begun
tions, races of organisms that are generations. In one region a gen­
S tam ped upon h e r awful brow ;
Freedom , la te st born of tim e,
apparently distinct may result from eral upheaval is going on at the
HE belief in special creations antecedent races, are not sufficient;
K now est thou h er form sublim e?
rate of a few feet in a century;
of organisms, is a belief that yet there are numerous facts of the
She is D u ty : in h e r hand
while in another region occasional
Is a sceptre, reaso n -b ro u g h t;
arose among men during the order required. It has been shown
H ere th e accent of com m and,
era of profoundest darkness; and it beyond all question that unlike­ earthquakes are shown to cause
H ers th e ever p resen t o u g h t ;
slight variations of level.
H ers upon us all to lay
belongs to a family of beliefs which nesses of structure gradually arise
Appreciable amounts of denuda­
H eavier burdens every day.
have nearly all died out as enlight­ among descendants from the same
tion by water are risible in some
B ut h er bondage is so s w e e t!
enment
has
increased.
It
is
with
stock. We find that there is going
And h e r b urdens m ake us strong ;
out a solitary established fact on on a modifying process of the kind localities; and in other localities
W ings th ey seem to weary feet,
glaciers are detected in the act of
L au g h ter to our lips and song:
which
to
stand;
and
when
the
at­
alleged as the source of specific
F reedom , m ake us free to speed
tempt is made to put it into defin­ differences; a process which, though grinding down the rocky surfaces
W heresoever she m ay lead.
over which they glide. But *the
ite shape in the mind, it turns out slow in its action, does, in time, if
changes thus instanced, are infini­
to be only a pseud-idea. This mere the circumstances demand it, pro­
Spirit (M ind) Dependent on
verbal hypothesis, which men idly duce conspicuous changes—a pro­ tesimal comparedwith the aggregate
M atter.
of changes to which the Earth’s
accept as a real or thinkable hypo­ cess which, to all appearance, would
crust testifies, even in its still ex­
thesis, is of the same nature as produce in the millions of years,
BY PROF. LUDWIG BUCHNER, M. D.
tant systems of strata. If, then,
would be one, based on a day’s ob­ and under the great varieties of
from the small changes now being
HE opinion that spirit has servation of human life, that each conditions which geological records wrought on the Earth’s crust by
created matter,” says the man and woman was specially cre­ imp\v, any amount of change.
natural agencies, we may legiti­
anonymous author of the ated—an hypothesis not suggested
Although comparatively little mately conclude that by such
Elements of Social Science, “is an by evidence, but by lack of evi­ attention has been paid to the mat­ natural agencies acting through
utterly groundless
hypothesis, dence—an hypothesis which formu­ ter until recent times, the evidence vast epochs, all the structural com­
founded on no shadow of proof. lates absolute ignorance into a already collected shows that there plexities of the Earth’s crust have
There is not the smallest analogy semblance of positive knowledge. take place in successive generations, been produced; may we not from
in it-s favor, and it would appear as Further, we see that this hypothe­ alterations of structure quite as the small known modifications pro­
if human reason were yet in its sis, wholly without support, essen­ marked as those which, in success­ duced in races of organisms by
childhood. In how much is it the tially inconceivable, and thus fail­ ive short intervals, arise in a de­ natural agencies, similarly infer
least more conceivable that spirit ing to satisfy men’s intellectual veloping embryo—nay, often much that from natural agencies have
should be infinite than that matter need of an interpretation, fails also more marked; since, besides differ­ slowly arisen all those structural
should be? It is indeed much to satisfy their moral sentiment. It ences due to changes in the relative complexities which we see in them?
more, infinitely more inconceivable; is quite incon.- istent with those con­ sizes of parts, there sometimes arise
The hypothesis of Evolution then,
for while we can find no possible ceptions of the oivine nature which differences due to additions and has direct support from facts which,
reason why matter should not be they profess to entertain. If infinite suppressions of parts. The struc­ though small in amount, are of the
infinite, but are forced to that con- power was to be demonstrated, then, tural modification proved to have kind required; and the proportion
elusion by the study of nature, we either by the special creation of taken place since organisms have which these facts bear to the con­
can, on the other hand, find no every individual, or by the produc­ been observed, is not less than the clusion drawn, seems as great as is
possible reason in nature why tion of species after a method akin hypothesis demands—bearsasgreat the proportion between facts and
spirit should be infinite, but are to that in which individuals are a ratio to this brief period, as the conclusion which, in another case,
forced to the conclusion that it is produced, it would be better demon­ total amount of structural change produces acceptance of the conclu­
not infinite. Spirit is a manifesta­ strated than by the use of the two seen in the evolution of a complex sion.—[Synthetic Philosophy.
tion of life, and all life, by the law methods which the hypothesis as« organism out of a simple germ,
of its being, is subject to change sûmes to be necessary. And if bears to that vast period during
The Music of the Future.
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and therefore to death. Spirit is infinite goodness was to be demon­ which living forms have existed on
BY R. G. INGERSOLL.
perishable, for it is absolutely indi­ strated, then, not oidy do the pro­ he Earth.
visions
of
organic
structure,
if
they
visible from the perishable forms
We have, indeed, much the same
are
especially
devised,
fail
to
de­
NFIDELS have opposed the
of matter, and it is a wholly natural
kind and quantity of direct evidence
monstrate
it;
but
there
is
an
Bible not on account of the
force, not foreign to other natural
that all organic beings have grad­
good things in it, but on ac­
forces, but indivisibly bound up enormous mass of them which im­ ually arisen through the actions of
with all other in mutual interde­ ply malevolence rather than be­ natural causes, which we have that count of the bad, and Christians
pendence. The spirit which de­ nevolence.
all the structural complexities of the have upheld it not on account of
Thus, however regarded, the hy­ Earth’s crust have arisen through the bad, but on account of the good.
signs in man is indissolubly bouud
up with a living organized brain. pothesis of special creations turns the actions of natural causes. It And, unfortunately, these Christ­
To maintain that the desiguer of out to be worthless—worthless by may, I think, be fairly said that ians have imagined that the doc­
the cosmical plan is a pure spirit, its derivation; worthless in its in­ between the known modifications trine of inspiration must be upheld
is to argue against all analogy. trinsic incoherence; worthless as undergone by organisms, and the in order that the good things in the
According to our experience, spirit absolutely without evidence; worth­ totality of modifications displayed Bible might be preserved. In this
is, without exception, found in con­ less as not supplying an intellectual in their structures, there is no great­ way they have only succeeded in
junction with a brain, and never need; worthless as not satisfying a er disproportion than between the sanctifying the infamous. Throw
creates matter. To separate mat­ moral want. We must therefore geological changes which have been away this doctrine of inspiration,
ter from spirit, bodies from souls, consider it as counting for nothing, witnessed, and the totality of geo­ and the Bible will be more power­
js to destroy the truth of nature; to in opposition to any other hypothe­ logical changes supposed to be sim­ ful for good and far less for evil.
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