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‘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 , OCTOBER 4, E. M. 300 (1900.)
‘A K K ! through th e waking earth age to look at the thing in its true
, H a rk ! through th e echoing sky ,
light. Let us be independent mor-
H erald of freedom ’s b irth ,
T here corues a glorious cry.
alists and p h ilan th ro p ists, rath e r
The trip le ch ain s th a t bind
than slaves to Bibles and creeds.
Fall iron» th e weary lim b,
“ Every book,” savs a w riter, “ has
1'all from th e dow n-crushed m ind,
As rolls th a t noble h ym n.
a spirit which it breathes ip to the
U nto m a n ’s w aiting h e art
It sa ith , “ A rise, be strong!
Bear th o u an e a rn e st p a rt
A gainst all form s of wrong.
“ Bid fear give place to love;
Bid crim e and passion cease;
Be every word of h ate
For ever h u sh ed in peace.”
Selected.
Don’t Read Pernicious Books.
BY K E R SE Y
GRAV ES.
I men th a t there exists an invisable
being who has the right to pardon
injustice, rapine, perfidy, and all
the outrages they can inflict upon
society? Encouraged by these fa
tal ideas, we see the most perverse
m inds of its readers;” and, if it men abandon them selves to the
contains bad m orals or bad la n greatest crim es, and expect to re
guage, the h ab itu al reading of it pair them by im ploring Divine
will g radually reconcile the mind mercy; th eir conscience rests in
to those im m oral lessons, and final peace when a priest assures them
ly cause them to he looked upon as th a t H eaven is quieted by sincere
God-given tru th s.
Such is the repentance, which is very useless
om nipotent force of habit.
And to the world; this priest consoles
we appeal to all Bible readers to them in the nam e of the Deity, if
testify if lhi3 has not been their they consent in reparation of their
experience.
All C hristian profes faults to divide with his m inisters
sors, when they first commenced the fruits of th eir plunderings, of
reading the Bible, doubtless found their frauds, and of their wicked
m any things in it which shocked ness. M orality united to religion,
their m oral sense, did violence to becomes necessarily subordinate to
their reasoning faculties, and m or it.
In the m ind of a religious
tified their love of decorum .
But person, God m ust be preferred to
a perseverance in reading it, his C reatures; “ It is better to obey
through the force of h ab it and edu him th an m en!” The in terests of
cation, has finally reconciled their the Celestial M onarch m ust be
m inds to those im m oral lessons, above those of weak m ortals. But
and blinded the ju d g m en t, so th a t the interests of H eaven are evi
they are not now conscious of their dently the interests of the m inis
real ch aracter and deleterious in ters of H eaven; from which it fol
fluence upon the m ind.
lows evidently, th a t in all religions,
the priests, un d er pretext of H eav
Confession, That Golden Mine for en ’s interests, or of G od’s glory, will
The Priests, Has Destroyed
he able to dispense with the duties
The True Prihciples of
of hum an m orals when they do not
agiee with th e duties which God is
Morality.
entitled to impose.
By Jean Mealier.
Besides, he who has power to
E who first proclaim ed to pardon crim es, has lie not the
the nations th a t, when man right to order them com m itted?
Common Sense.
had wronged m an, he must
H E Q uaker Church have a
clause in th eir discipline for
bidding their m em bers to
read pernicious books, which are
defined by one of the founders of
th eC h u rch (W illiam Penn) to be
“ such books and publications as
contain language which appears to
sanction crim e or wrong practices,
or teach bad m orals.”
And hun-
reds of cases prove that the C hris
tian Bible may be ranked with
works of this character.
If the advice of the H indo
editor had been complied with
m any years ago— to “ revise all Bi
bles, and leave out their bad pre
cepts and exam ples,” and change
th eir obscene language,—the C hris
tian Bible m ight now be a very
useful and instructive book. But
we are w illing to leave it to the
conscience of every honest reader,
r ____ tru th a nd m orality
G od’s pardon, appease his
who places
above Bibles and creeds, to decide, w rath by presents, and offer him
w hether the Bible, with all its en- sacrifices, obviously subverted the
nohling precepts, does not contain true principles of m orality. Ac
to strong au adm ixture of bad cording to these ideas, men im agine
m orality to m ake it a safe or su it th at they can obtain from the King
able book to he relied on as a of Heaven, as well as from the
guide in m orals and religion. Ac kings of earth, perm ission to be u n
cording to A rchbishop T illotson,
a n ^ wicked, or at least pardon
Bibles shape the morals and relig- ^ >r
ev’^ which they m ight corn-
ion of the people in all religious mi1,
countries,— they are derived from
M orality is founded upon the re-
the exam ples and precepts of these lations, the needs, and the constant
“ Holy Books.” If this he true, we interests of the in h ab itan ts of the
most solemly and seriously put the ea rth ; the relations which subsist
question to every Bible reader, between men and God are either
W hat m ust he the effect upon the entirely unknown or im aginary,
m orals and religion of C hristian The religion associating God with
countries of such m oral exam ples men has visibly weakened or de-
as A braham , Moses, Noah, Isaac, stroyed the ties which unite men.
Jacob, David, Solomon, and nearly
M ortals im agine th a t they can,
all the prophets, with their long with im punity, injure each other
strin g of crimes.
Let ns not be by m aking a suitable reparation to
guilty of the folly of suffering our the Alm ighty Being, who is sup-
inherited, stereotyped predilections, posed to have the right to remit all
an exalted veneration for “ the Ho-
injuries done to h’s creatures,
ly Book,” to rule our moral pense, I® there an y th in g more liable to
and control our ju d g m ent in this encourage wickedness and to em-
m atter, hut m uster the moral cour- bolder) to crim es th an to persuade
T
Has’Man a Soul?
BY C H A R L SE S BRA I)L A U G II.
NO. 39.
conditions? I have endeavored to
exam ine this subject, an d , up to
the present time, I have not found
one iota of proof in support of the
positions thus p u t forward. I have
no idea of any existence except
th a t of which I am a p a rt.
I am .
Of my own existence I am certain .
I th in k .
1 am .
But w hat is it
th a t th in k s? Is it my soul? Is it
“ m e,” and y et distin ct from me?
I am hut a mode of existence. I
am only p a rt of the great universe.
The elem ents of whch I am com
posed are indissolubly connected
with th a t great existence which is
around me and w ithin me, an d
which I help to m ake up.
If men
tell me I am a com pound, and not
a com pound— a m ix tu re an d not a
m ixture— a jo in in g together and
not a joining together— of two en
tirely different existences, which
they call “ m a tte r” and “ s p irit'” I
am compelled to doubt those men.
The ability to th in k is hut an a ttr i
bute of a certain m odification of
existence. Intelligence is a word
by which we express the sum of
certain abilities, alw ays atten d in g
a certain mode of existence. I find
intelligence m anifested so far as o r
ganization is developed.
I never
find intelligence w ithout anim al o r
ganization.
I find intelligence
m anifested in degree, ouly so far as
I find a higher or lower type of or
g an iza tio n —th a t is, I find m an’s
intellectual faculties lim ited by his
organization.
But th e orthodox tell me th a t
my soul has an im m a te rial e x is t
ence, independent of all o rg a n iz a
tio n — independent of all clim atic
conditions— independent of all ed
ucation. Is th a t so?
W hen does
the soul come into m an ?
W hen
does it go out of m an? If the soul
is im m ortal, why is it th a t stan d in g
here, in the prim e of health a n d
strength, if p art of th a t roof should
fall fra ctu rin g my skull, and press
ing upon my b ra in — how is it, if
my soul is not subject to m aterial
conditions, th a t it then ceases to
act? Is the plaster roof more pow
erful th an my im m ortal soul?
Or
is it th a t intelligence is the necessa
ry condition of existence, and th a t
th e m om ent you destroy th a t co n
d itio n — the m om ent you d estro y
th a t organization— the result ceas
es to he realizable?
H A T do you mean by
soul? W hat is the soul?
Is it I? Is it the body?
Is it a p a rt from the body? Is it an
a ttrib u te of the body?
Has it a
separate and distinct existence from
the body?
W hat is the soul?
If I ask one of those who
claim to be orthodox m en, they
will tell me th a t the soul is a sp irit—
th a t the soul lives after th e body is
dead. They will tell m e th a t thesoul
is im m ortal and th a t the body is
m ortal; th a t the soul has nothing
w hatever in common with the body;
th a t it has an existence entirely in
dependent of the body.
They will
tell me th a t after the body has de
By the course of reasoning you
cayed— after the body has become adopt (says the orthodox objector)
re-absorbed in the universe, of you reduce m an to the sam e level
which it is but a p art, th a t the as the beasts. And why not?
I
soul exists.
Is there any proof of stand on the riv er’s hank, I see
the existence of the same in d iv id there a m an full grown, possessed
ual soul a p a rt from all m aterial I of the physical figure of a m an, hut
W