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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