0R(
i
SON.
‘ TRUTH BEARS THE TORCH IN THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH . "—Lucretius-
VOL. 4.
S IL V E R T O N , O R EG O N , T H U R S D A Y , AUGUST 16, E . M. 300 (1900.)
Dishonest Critics.
NO. 32.
solid stars are apt to collide, and inherence of an other th an m ater rational soul a certain orig in ality ,
the enorm ous heat generated is suf ial force. A gainst th is we have not an independence of relation peculiar
BY G . L. M A CK EN ZIE.
ficient to reduce them to their sim only the theory of selection, but we to itself. T he faith o f the in d iv id
plest elem ents, and the whole evo have quite a science of “ dystfele- ual is exactly w hat is revealed to
HN th a n k th e /L o r d for bloody
lution begins over again. There is ology.” R u d im en tary , im perfect, him by th e world w ithout and
graves,
O C h ristia n s p harisaic?
no ground w hatever for assum ing h u rtfu l organs negative the idea of w ithin. There m ust be differences
W hy praise him , pious fools and knaves,
a beginning to this cyclic process. prevision and preo rd in atio n . T he — no two see alike— and when the
Professional and laic?
The idea th a t all force is being whole question of teleology, of p u r individual finds the a u th o rity for
In praisin g God we criticise
As m uch as in a rra ig n in g ;
g rad u ally transform ed into heat, pose and of chance, including the his faith in him self he will recog
And if, w hen th a n k in g , we are wise,
which is only p artially reconvert problem of a m oral purpose in his nize the a u th o rity for the o th er
W e’re d itto w hen com plaining.
ed, is of no consequence, as the tory, is treated at length. T here is m an 's faith in him , and there can
If God we praise for w hat is good,
m ere collision of two masses gener no proof w hatever, from end to end be no d itp u te , no friction, no pious
W ith R eason for o u r m aster,
We o ught, w hen in a thou g h tfu l mood, ates enough “ living force” for a new of the universe, from the beautiful
hatred of each other. There can
To blam e H im for disaster.
cosmic process; those who fear th a t m arkings of a diatom to the vicis oe no such things as bigotry, pre
If Reason argues from success
this points to an end of the world situdes of hum an history, of any judice, intolerance or persecution.
To God w ith com m endation,
It also argues from distress
are misled by p artial experim ents. prevision or preordination. Sci The man th a t fights for a faith has
To God w ith condem nation.
Geology has taken up the thread ence, when its d ata are soberly in
received th a t faith a t second h an d .
To praise and blam e as facts suggest
of the story from astronom y and terpreted, finds one e n tity — nature
I he man who rests his faith upon
Is rig h tly using R eason;
worked
out
the
developm
ent
of
the
— slowly, blindly, painfully unfold his own reason, does not find it
Ignoring “ w o rst” and praising “ b e s t”
Is fear and m en tal treason.
earth . M any m illio r years ago—- ing itself on the th eatre of time.
necessary to kill, or im prison, or
“certainly more than a h u n d red
O ur p raise to God for sieges raised
torture anybody else who can n o t
Im p lies th is fact egregious:
m
illion”—
the
globe
th
a
t
had
been
see things as he sees them . The
T h at God m u st surely be dispraised
Faith in One’s Faith.
For le ttin g foes besiege us.
cast off by the condensing nebula
m ore a u th o rity religion has, the
cooled
down
sufficiently
to
allow
The pious person is an ass
less au th o rity it has.
BY D R . J . E . R O B E R T S.
W ho praises God for glad things,
the water to settle on it. Then be
U nless he th in k s it rig h t to pass
gan the long dram a of organic
H is censure for the sad th in g s.
Jehovah and Brahma.
H IS world has been cursed,
evolution,
of
whose
last
act
we
are
These fru itless G od-belauders fill
not in fact, but in the thoughts
the witnesses and the p articipants.
The th o u g h tfu l m an w ith pity,
BY R. Q. IN G ER SO LL.
As though he saw them try to till
of men, until it is distrusted,
Biological
evolution
is
now
as
irre
T he cu rb sto n es of a city.
sistible as astronom ical and geo and life is feared, and death is
AN we believe th a t Jehovah
Bestow your praise and blam e on men
logical. D arw in, says Dr. Haeckel, thought of as a horror; u n til we do
ever said of any one: “ Let
W ho profit by and need th em ,
And not on ghosts beyond your ken,
“ has been the Copernicug of the not know w hether wo are sorrier
his children be fatherless
W ho n e ith e r need n o r heed them .
th
a
t
we
came
or
gladder
th
a
t
we
organic w orld.”
and his wife a widow; let his c h il
—[London F re e th in k e r.
cannot stay. The crown has been dren be co n tin u ally vagabonds,
T H E U N ITY O F T H E COSMO8.
filched from the brow of m an. The and beg; let them seek their bread
Cosmic Evolution.
In the next chapter Dr. Haeckel church has bound into a bundle the also out of th eir desolate places;
sets out to prove the correctness of sceptres th a t she has stolen from let the extortioner catch all th a t he
[E x tra c ts from a sum m ary of th e
“ W e ltra th se l” (w orld enigm a) of Prof. the fundam ental and titu la r idea the hands of the individual and has
h ath and let th e stran g er spoil his
E rn e st H aeckel, by Joseph M cCabe, in of his philosophy— the m onism , or
m
ade
cow
ards
and
slaves
of
men.
W a tts’ L ite ra ry G uide for A pril.]
labor; let there be none to extend
unity, of all things. The au th o r is I he faith of the individual is such mercy unto him , n eith er let there
H E old m yth of creation, sometimes described as a m a te ria l
a faith as reveals itself to the in be any to favor his fatherless c h il
with its varied m odern re ist; but he resents the title. He is dividual. No great faith can be
d re n ” ? If he ever said these w ords,
strictions and elaborations, neither a sp iritu alist nor a m ateri forced upon any one. T he church
surely he had never heard th is
has been swept aside by the tr i alist. The fount and base of all is m istaken if it thinks, even though
line, this strain of m usic, from the
um ph of evolution. The unity, or existence is an inscrutable sub- it has the tru th , it can compel its
H in d u : “ Sweet is the lute to those
co n tin u ity , of the wrorld in point of stance of which m atter and spirit belief. A belief is not a m atter of
who have not heard the p ra ttle of
time has been proved as u tterly as (in the sense of force; im m aterial choice, it is a m atter of necessity. th eir own ch ild ren .”
its u n ity in actual existence. In substance he entirely rejects) are Beliefs are the result of persuasive
Jeh o v ah , “ from the clouds an d
the first place, all talk about the the two chief aspects. The real an- arg u m en t or conclusive evidence,
darkness of S in ai,” said to the
“beginning of the world” and the tithesis of his philosophy is d u a l or a harm ony with the n atu re of
Jew s: “ Thou sh a lt have no o th er
m ystery in which it is said to be ism — the theory th a t holds we can- things. There could be nothing
gods before me. . . T hou s h a lt
involved is pure assum ption. The not explain life, or thought, or the more ab su rd than for a m an to say,
not bow down thyself to them nor
earlier evolutionists, u n fortunately, cosmos as a whole, w ithout postu “ I will believe.” I t isn’t a m atter
serve them ; for I, the Lord th y
lent them selves to this in terp ré ta - lating spiritual and transcendental subject to volition. It is a m atter
God, am a jealous God, visiting th e
tion. M odern astronom y and phy- agencies. The first position taken solely of evidence and proof. No
iniquities of the fathers upon the
sics have shown th a t the “ law of up by the dualist is at the origin of two men can look upon the sam e
children, unto the th ird and fourth
substance” rules in the remotest life. The au th o r points out con- thing and have the sam e m ental
geneiation of them th a t h ate m e.”
regions of space as it does on earth , fusion which is usually associated condition as the result. I suppose
C ontrast this with the words p u t
“ We are logically driven to the im- with the idea of spontaneous gen- the heavens hxik different to every
by the H indu in the m outh of
portant adm ission th a t the persist- eration. Modern scientific experi- beholder; I suppose the everlasting B rahm a: “ I am the sam e to all
ence of m atter and force has been m ents— such as those of P asteur sea tells a different story to every
m ankind. They who honestly serve
as universal in all tim e as it is to and T y n d all— prove nothing w hat listener, and I suppose no two
other gods, in v o lu n tarily w o rsh ip
d ay .” In any case, our observa ever as to the prim eval origin of would hear the birds’ m orning song
me. I am he who p arta k eth of all
tions force us to conceive the world organism s. In fact, modern chem with exactly the sam e respouse of
worship, and I am the rew ard of
as illim itable in tim e as well as in ical research into the ch aracter of sy m p ath y or with the sam e th rill
all w orshipers.”
space. The evolution of worlds is complex com binations of carbon of joy. A celebrated wom an once
Com pare these passages. T he
a great d ram a th a t is continually has constructed a n a tu ra l bridge said to I urner, “ I confess I cannot
first, a dungeon, where craw l th e
going on around us. While suns from the inorganic to the organic see w hat you see in the landscape.”
things begot of jealous slime; the
are dying out in one corner of world. In the developed organism “ A l l , ” the a rtis t replied, “do you
other, great as the domed firm a
space, others are just com m encing the ap p aren t “ purpose” of the vari- not wish you could?”
G reat m ent inlaid with s u n s .— [P ro se
their life; moreover, the extinct ous parts is invoked as proof of the n a tu re ’s plan allows each th in k in g Poems.
W
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