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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