TO K CI I
R eason .
B o u g h t
• üvi
••TRUTH BEARS TH E TORCH IN TH E SEARCH FOR TR U TH .” —¿ u c r e / l M * ’.
VOL. 4.
SILVERTON, OREGON. THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, E. M. 300(1900.)
NO. 30.
■
F ound B ut Once in a W h ile.
m otions and ap- would have been filled up with
pearance of the heavenly bodies, characters
rising
superior
in
BY J . F . COOPER.
afforded additional
m eans
for knowledge to each other; an d those
ascertaining the true stru c tu re of ancients we now so m uch adm ire,
t is easy enough to be p leasant
W hen life flies by in a song,
the universe.
Instead of being would have appeared respectably
But th e m an w orth while is th e one
esteemed for these discoveries, he in th e background of the scene.
who will sm ile
The scientific principles th a t was sentenced to renounce them , But the C h ristian system laid all
W hen every tiling goes w rong.
m an employe to obtain the fore or the opinions resulting from them , waste; an d if we take our s ta n d
F o r th e te st of th e h e a rt is tro u b le,
And it alw ays com es w ith th e years,
knowledge of an eclipse, or of a n y as a dam nable heresy.
about the beginning of the sixteenth
And th e sm ile th a t is w orth th e praise
thing
else
relating
to
the
motion
of
of e a rth
cen tu ry , we look back through th a t
Is th e sm ile th a t shines th ro u g h tears. the heavenly bodies, are contained
If the belief of errors not m orally
long chasm , to the times of the
It is easy enough to he p ru d e n t
chiefly in th a t p a rt of Science bad did no mischief, it would m ake ancients, as over a vast s a n d y
W hen n o th in g te m p ts you to stra y ,
which is called trigonom etry, or no p art of the m oral d u ty of m an desert in which not a sh ru b a p
W hen w ith o u t or w ithin no voice of sin
the properties of a triangle, which, to oppose and'rem ove them . There pears to intercept the vision to the
Is lu rin g your m ind aw ay.
B ut i t ’s only a negative v irtu e,
when applied to the study of the was no m oral ill in believing the fertile hills beyond.
U n til it is tried by fire,
And th e life th a t is w orth th e honor of heavenly bodies, is called a stro n earth was flat like a trencher, any
e arth
omy; when applied to direct the more than there was m oral virtue
Though it is not a direct article
Is th e one th a t resists desire.
course of a ship on the ocean, it is in believing th a t it was round like
of the C hristian system , th a t th is
By th e cynics, th e sail, th e fallen,
called navigation; when applied to a globe; neither was there any
W ho had no stre n g th for th e strife,
world th a t wc in h a b it, is the whole
The w orld’s highw ay is cum bered to the construction of figures draw n moral ill in believing th a t the
of the habitable creation, yet it is
d ay —
by rule and com pass, it is called C reator m ade no other world than
They m ake up th e item s of life.
so worked up therew ith, from w hat
geom etry; when applied to the con this, any more than there was
B ut th e v irtu e th a t conquers passion,
And th e sorrow th a t hides in a struction of plans of edifices, it is m oral virtue in believing th a t he is called th e Mosaic account of the
sm ile—
C reation, the story of Eve an d the
It is these th a t a re w orth th e hom age of called architecture; when applied made m illions, ahd th a t the infinity
apple, an d th e co u n terp art of th a t
e a rth ,
to the m easurem ent of any portion of space is filled with worlds. But
For we find them b u t once in a w hile.
story, th e d eath of th e Son of God,
of the surface of the earth , it is when a system of religion is m ade
th a t to believe otherw ise, th a t is,
T h o m as P ain e, th e S cientific, called laud-surveying. In Sue, it to grow out of a supposed system to believe th a t God created a
is the soul of Science; it is an of creation th a t is not true, and to
C o n stru c tiv e L iberal.
p lu rality of worlds, a t least as
eternal tru th ; it contains the m a th unite itself therew ith in a m an n er
num erous as what we call stars,
“ We talk of R eligion. L et us talk of em atical dem onstration of which alm ost inseparable therefrom , the
renders the C hristian system of
T r u th ; for th a t w hich is not T ru th is
case assum es an entirely different
not w orthy of th e nam e of R eligion.” — m an speaks, and the extent of its
faith a t once little and ridiculous,
Vol. 4, p. 251. P a in e ’s W orks.
uses is unknown. I t m ay be said ground. I t is then th a t errors, not
and scatters it in the m ind like
P aine, who coined th e phrase, “ The
m
orally
bad,
become
fraught
with
th
a
t
m
an
can
make
or
draw
a
tri
Religion of H u m a n ity ,” [The C risis 7,
feathers in the air. The two be
1778], did but logically defend it in the angle, and therefore a trian g le is a the same m ischiefs as if they were.
liefs can not be held together in
“ A geof R easo n .” —Conw ay, vol. 1, p. 6.
It is then th a t the tru th , though
hum
an
invention.
It
is
the
stru
c
P a in e ’s W orks.
the same m ind; and he who th in k s
The “ Age of R eason” was founded ture of the universe th a t has tau g h t outherw ise indifferent itself, be
th a t he believes both, has th o u g h t
upon Science, as th e following e x tra c ts
comes an essential, by becoming
this
knowledge
to
m
an.
T
hat
from its P a rt I plainly show :
but little of either.
stru ctu re is an ever-existing exhi criterion, th a t either confirm s by
T IS a fraud of the C hristian bition of every principle upon corresponding evidence,or denies
Though the belief of a p lu rality
system to Cull the sciences which every p art of m athem atical by contradictory
evidence, the
hum an invention; it is only science is founded. The offspring reality of the religion itself. In of worlds was fam iliar to the
the application of them th a t is of this science is m echanics; for this view of the case, it is the moral ancients, it is only w ithin th e last
hum an. Every science has for its mechanics is no other than the d u ty of m an to obtain every possible three centuries th a t the ex ten t an d
basis a system of principles as fixed principles of Science applied p ra c evidence th a t the -structure of the dim ensions of this globe th a t we
and u n alterab le as those by which tically.
heavens, or any other p art of in h ab it h a v e been ascertained.
the universe is regulated and gov
creation affords, with respect to Several vessels, following the tra c t
The selters-up, therefore, and the system s of religion.
erned. Man cannot m ake p rin
B ut this, the of the ocean, have sailed en tirely
ciples; he can only discover them . advocates of the C hristian system supporters or partisans of th e round the world, as a man m ay
For exam ple: E very person who of faith, could not but foresee th a t C hristian system , as if dreading th e m arch in a circle, and come round
looks at an alm anac sees an ac- the continually progressive knowl- result, incessantly opposed, and not by the c o n tra ry side of the circle to
count when an eclipse will take edge that man would gain, by the ony rejected the sciences, b u t the spot he set out from. The
place, and he sees also th a t it never aid of Science, of the power and persecuted the professors. H a d circu lar dim ensions of our world,
fails to take place according to the wisdom of God, m anifested in the Newton or Descartes lived three or in the widest p art, as a m an would
account there given. This shows structure of the universe, and in all four hundred years ago,and pursued m easure the widest round of an
th a t m an is acquainted with the the works of Creation, would mili- their studies as they did, it is most apple, or a ball, is only tw enty-five
laws by which the heavenly bodies late against, and call into question, probable they would not have lived thousand an d tw enty E nglish miles,
move. B ut it would be som ething the tru th of their system of faith; l0 finiHhed them ; and had F ra n k lin reckoning six ty -n in e miles and a
worse th an ignorance were any and therefore it became necessary draw n lig h tn in g from the clouds at h a lf to an equatorial degree, an d
the sam e tim e, it would have m ay be sailed round in the space
church on earth to say th a t those to their purpose to cut learning
laws are a hum an invention. It down to a size less dangerous to been a t the hazard of expiring for of about three years. (W ritte n in
1794. A world of this ex ten t m ay ,
would also he ignorance, or some- their project, and this they effected it in flames.
at first thought, appear to us to be
thing worse, to say th a t the scien- by restricting tlie idea of learning
tific principles, by the aid of which to the dead languages. 1 tiey not
It is owing to th is long in great; but if we com pare it w ith
m an is enabled to calculate and only rejected the study of science terregnum of science, and to no the im m ensity of space in w hich it
foreknow when an eclipse will take out of tne C hristian schools, but other cause, th a t we have now to is suspended, like a bubble or
place, are a hum an invention, they persecuted it; and it is only look through a vast, chasm of m any balloon in the air, it is infin itely
Man cannot invent a thing th a t is w ithin the last two centuries th at hundred years to the respectable less, in proportion, th an
the
eternal and im m utable; and the the study has been revived. So characters we call the ancients. sm allest grain of sand is to th e
scientific principles he employs for late as 1610, Galileo, a F lorentine, H ad the progression of knowledge size of the world, or the finest
this purpose m ust, and are, of ne- discovered and introduced the use gone on proportiouably with th a t p article of dew to the whole ocean,
ceesity, as etern al and im m utable of telescopes, and by applying them stock th a t before existed, th a t chasm and is therefore but sm all; an d as •
I
I
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a** th e laws by which th e heavenly
bodies move, or they could not be
used as they are to ascertain the
tim e when, an d the m anner how,
an eclipse will take place.
to observe
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