T orch
of
O R eason .
“TRUTH BEAR5 THE TORCH IN THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH.” — Lucretius-
•S î ï A E K I h N,
VOL. 4.
The Atheist’s Grave.
am ong th e c h u rc h y a rd s’
dead
On a su n n y S ab b ath day,
And I m ark ed a grave w here7th e sexton
said
An A th e is t’s ashes lay.
I
wandered
A h eadstone p ointed th e lowly spot.
In scrib ed w ith his age a n d nam e,
But o th e r m em orial th ere was not
To draw e ith e r praise or blam e.
Yet th e daisy th e re was as fresh in its
hue,
T he elm did as lig h tly wave,
And th e sp rin g tid e grass as greenly grew
As over th e C h ris tia n ’s grave.
And I m ark ed th a t th e sun beam s through
th e trees
Fell as lig h tly on th e sod
As if its in m a te h a d been of these
W ho had lived in th e faith of a God.
And over m y m ind th e reflection cam e
Of a new an d sta rtlin g k in d ,
’Twas w hispered w ithin me th a t m an
m ay blam e
W here n a tu re no fau lt can find.
The b ig o t’s curse from th e G o th ic pile
On th e sk ep tical few m ay fall,
But N a tu re e x te n d s, w ith a m o th e r’s
sm ile,
H e r p ity an d love to all.
—[T ru th Seeker.
Man.
BY P R O F . L U D W IG B U C H N E R , M . D .
T here are m any m arv els—b u t th e re is
no g reater m arvel th a n M an.—Sophokles.
God was m y first, R eason m y second,
Man m y th ird a n d last th o u g h t. M an
alons is an d sh all be our God. O utside
m an is no sa lv a tio n .—L. F e u e rb a ch .
H E sam e laws which in the
m acrocosm , or universe,
rule also in the microcosm,
or the world of m an, in whose
existence, being and th in k in g the
universe is, as it were, reflected and
contem plated. T h a t m an with all
his em inent q ualities and faculties
is not a work of God but a product
of N ature, like all his fellow-
creatures, and has proceeded from
a natural and g radual evolution and
self-education — th is
m om entous
and notorious tru th can only be
doubted a t this day bv the ignorant
or deliberately obstinate. D uring
the short space of scarcely more
than forty years the researches on
the early history of the hum an
race on earth have grown into a
com prehensive science and have
shown th a t m ankind has behind it
a past in com parison with which
the historical period is but very
brief.
As regards the biblical
m yths an d fairy-tales about the
world and man having been created
some 5000 or 6000 years ago by a
creative fiat, they are really too
radically a t variance with the m ost
notorious facts and results of the
whole geological, archaeological and
archaeogeological science, to be
made the subject of a serious con
T
troversy. Not only has it been
shown by the results of countless
excavations, as well as by the
investigations of E gyptologists,
based on the reading of hieroglyphic
scrolls, th a t in the venerable land
of the Nile an adm irable and hig h
ly developed cu ltu re and civiliza
tion existed at a period to which
the Bible only traces the creation
of the first m an; but the researches
of archieogeology as the union of
geological and archaeological science
is called, have proved beyond doubt
th a t m an was a contem porary of
the huge m am m als of the D iluvian
age, which are now either extinct
or have em igrated from Europe;
th a t he existed in one of the earlier
periods of the form ation of our
ea rth , d u rin g which part the
surface of the globe had a very
different geographical configuration
and was subject to different clim atic
conditions from those th at exist at
the preseut tim e. Nay, there are
a num ber of theoretical argum ents,
the full exposition of which would
take up too much space, and which,
taken in conjunction with the
results of m any archaeogeological
researches— though there m ay yet
be some controversy on the in
ferences to be draw n from these—
make it appear in the highest
degree probable th at the existence
of m an, or ra th e r of his earliest
beginnings on earth , goes back to
a time th at m ust be com puted by
geological, and neither by historic
nor
prehistoric stan d ard s
of
m easurem ent. By all appearances
it will not be long before the
existence of the so-called tertiary
m an— th a t is to say, of a hum an
or anthropoid creature, existing in
a later or earlier division of the
last g reat period of form ation of
e a rth —will be looked upon with as
much certainty as is now th e
existence of the prehistoric or
diluvial m an which had been
doubted for such a length of time.
Of course this would not affect the
ancient belief in the principle of
perfection, according to which man
is the last and as yet highest o u t
come of the organic process of
evolution or graduated progression
i on the stage of existence; for a l
though, as scholars are now forced
to adm it, the an tiq u ity of man on
earth m ust be
m easured
by
hundreds of thousands of years,
this period is yet but exceedingly
brief when com pared with the
m any m illions of years which the
earth , with her organized
in
hab itan ts, has lived through, in her
gradual progress of developm ent;
NOT - T
so th a t the existence of m an on
earth m ust upon all hands be con
sidered as com paratively
very
short. Then again, m odern science
ranges among exploded fables th a t
idea th a t used to be en tertain ed on
the strength of religious m yths,
and according to which m an cam e
out of the creato r’s hand as a readv-
m ade product, endowed with all
the qualities of the race. The u n
changeable principle of the order
of the world, based upon n atu ral
and m echanical causality, acts and
works in the same way in the
gradual genesis and form ation of
the highest of all organized beings
as it does in the form ation of the
least and lowliest.— [Force and
M atter.
flotives.
RY H O R A C E S E A V E R .
T IS the m otive, more than
an y th in g else, th at renders an
action good or bad. However
fair the appearance of an action
m ay be, if the rig h t m otive be
w anting, th e action is hollow; if
the m otive be a bad one, the action
is rotten to the core. Who cares
for an outw ard seeing, or show of
affection unless th e heart be also
on the sam e term s? W ho does not
prize a rough outside, when it covers
an honest inside,m ore than the most
fawning fondness from a h eart th at
is cold and false? T hus it is right
to insist on the principles for their
own sake, because the principles
give their value to th e action, not
the action to the principles, for
tiiey are but dross. The principles
are the gold on which is to be
placed the stam p, and if the gold
is not good, the stam p, though it
often deceives the people, gives it
no real worth; as he who gives the
queen’s im age on base metal is
punished for his forgery.
I
An Imagined, Invisible King.
BY JE A N M E S L IE R .
H E R E is a vast em pire
governed by a m onarch,
whose conduct does but
confound the m inds of his sujects.
He desires to be know n, loved,
respected, and obeyed, but he never
shows him self; everything tends to
m ake uncertain the notions which
we are able to form about him.
The people subjected to his power
have only such
ideas of the
character and the laws of their
invisible sovereign as his m inisters
give them ; these suit, however, be
T
cause they themselves have no idea
of their m aster, for his ways are
im penetrable, and his views and
his qualities are totally incom
prehensible; moreover, his m inisters
disagree am ong them selves
in
regard to the orders which they
pretend
em anated
from
th e
sovereign whose organs they claim
to be; they announce them diverse
ly in each province of the em pire;
they discredit and treat each other
as
im postors
and liars;
the
decrees and ordinances which they
prom ulgate are obscure; they are
enigm as, m ade not to be u n d er
stood or divined by the subjects
for whose instructions they were
intended. The laws of the invisible
m onarch need interpreters, b ut
those who explain them are alw ays
q u arrelin g am ong them selves about
the true way of u n d erstan d in g
them ; more than this, they do not
agree am ong them selves; all which
they relate of their hidden prince
is but a tissue of contradictions,
scarcely a single word th at is not
contradicted at once. He is called
suprem ely good, nevertheless not a
person but com plains of his decrees.
He is supposed to be infinitely
wise, and in hi3 ad m in istratio n
everything seems contrary to reason
and good sense. They boast of his
justice, and the best of bis subjects
are the least favored.
We are
assured th a t he sees everything,
yet his presence remedies nothing.
It is said th a t he is the friend of
order, ar.d everything
in his
universe is in a state of confusion
and disorder; all is created by him ,
yet events rarely happen according
to his projects. H e foresees every
thing, hut his foresight prevents
nothing. He is im patient if any
offend him; at the sam e tim e he
puts every one in the way of offend
ing him. His knowledge is adm ired
in the perfection of his works, but
his works are full of im perfections,
and of little perm anence. He is
co n tin u ally occupied in creating
and destroying, then repairin g
w hat be has done, never appearing
to be satisfied with his work. In
all his enterprises he seeks b u t his
own glory, but he does not succeed
in being glorified. H e works but
for the good of his subjects, and
most of them lack the necessities
of life. Those whom he seems to
favor, are generally those who are
the least satisfied with th e ir fate;
we see them all co n tin u ally rev o lt
ing against a m aster whose g reat
ness they adm ire, whose wisdom
they extol, whose goodness they
worship, and whose justice they
fear, revering orders which they
never follow. This em pire is the
world; its m onarch is God; H is
m inisters are the priests; th eir
subjects
are
m e n .— [Common
Sense.