T H E TOUCH OF REASON, SIL V E R T O N , OREGON , NOV EM BER 22, E. M. 300 (1900.)
interrupted work, to acquire u n ­
limited knowledge, to solve per­
plexing m ysteries—in a word, to
love and learn and enjoy forever
and ever.
W hether all this is to be o u r
privelege we do not, and car n o t
know; only this is certain, th a t our
help is needed in this world at
present, while, as regards the fu­
ture, good work here is the best
preparation for com plete fruition
hereafter.
So long as hum an beings live
and suffer and enjoy in this, the
only world open to our present
knowledge, the B rotherhood of
M an will be the highest possible
ideal, and the effort to realize th a t
ideal will be the noblest and most
satisfactory occupation of every in-
dividual intelligence.
The end
can be attain ed only by le a rn in g
and obeying the eternal laws of
nature, as these are dem onstrated
through the discoveries of Science.
—“ The C hrist M yth.”
M an More flerciful Than Mis
God.
This Texas Tornado was a terri­
ble affair. Whole towns have been
wiped out.
Miles of country have
been devasted.
H undred of ves­
sels have been wrecked.
Thous-
ands of houses have been destroyed.
A m ultitude of people have been
ruined.
Men have perished in
hundreds.
Women w ith children
in their arm s have been drowned
or crushed to death.
The very
graves have been turned up, and
the buried corpses swept out to sea.
D arkness com pleted the terror of
the scene, and the most su p erstiti­
ous may well have th o u g h t th a t
the Day of Ju d g m en t was a t hand.
The dam age am ounts to m illions
of pounds.
But what is th a t be­
side the horror, the agony, thé suf­
ferings of the killed, and the awful
misery of m any of the survivors
who move about in a stran g e world
without wife or child or friend?)
The Belief in God not Innate,
The belief in God has often been
advanced as not only the greatest,
but the most complete of all the
distinctions of man and the lower
anim als.
It is, however, impossi-
hie, afi we have seen, to m aintain
th a t this belief is innate or in stin c­
tive in m an.
On the other hand,
a belief in all-pervading spiritual
agencies seems to be universal, and
ap p aren tly follows from a consid­
erable advance in m an’s reason,
and from a still greater advance in
his faculties of im agination, curi-
osity and wonder.
I am aw are
th a t the assumed instinctive belief
¡n GOfj has been used by m any
persons as an argum ent for his ex-
¡gtence.
But this is a rash argu-
raent, as we should thus be corn-
peUed to believe in the existence of
rnany cru el and m alig n an t spirits,
on|y a little more powerful than
m an , for th e belief in them is far
more general than in a beneficent
deity. The idea of a universal and
beneficent creator does not seem to
arise in the m ind of man uutil he
has been elevated by long-contin­
ued culture.
He who believes in the ad v an ce­
ment of man from some low organ-
form will n a tu ra lly ask, How
does this bear on the belief in the
im m ortality of the soul?”
The
barbarous races of m an, as Sir J.
Lubbock has shown, possess no
clear belief of this kind, but arg u ­
m ents derived from the prim eval
beliefs of savages are, as we have
ju s t seen, of little or no avail.
Few persons feel any anxiety from
the im possibility of determ ining at
w hat precise period in the develop­
ment of the individual, from the
first trace o f a m inute germ inal
vesicle, m an becomes an im m ortal
being; and there is no greater
cause for anxiety because the per­
iod cannot possibly be determ ined
in the g rad u ally ascending organic
scale.
W H A T WE HAVE
TO SELL.
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th o u g h t very m uch
lo n e ry .
This is the worst bitterness of such
I am aware th a t the conclusions
D ealers in F ru its, V egetables
a catastrophe.
arrived at in this work [The De­
and C onfectionery.
“ A hospital was blown dow n” a t scent of M an] will be denounced
G alveston. Of course it was. Howr by some as highly irreligious, but
L
...F IV E .,.
/ >
could it be expected to w ithstand he who denounces them is bound
REASONS
W HY
the storm ? But th a t hospital was to show why it is more irreligious
YOU
a
presum ably full of the sick and to explain th e origin of m an as a
In Place of C h ris tia n ity :
perhaps the dying.
One would distinct species by descent from I
ft
S hould H e lp to B u ild
th in k th a t providence m ight have | some lower form, through the laws O
: 1 Can Sms be Forgiven?
made an exception in this case. ! of variation and n atu ra l selection, B i ? L ib e ra I U n iv e rs ity
2 Does Christianity or Science Promote Civil­
AT SILVERTON, OREQON.
H ospitals are not to be fired on in than to explain the birth of the in-
ization?
1 It will h elp m any young m en and
besieged cities; but when provi­ dividual through the laws of ordi­
young women to a h ig h er education who 3 Is Religion or Science More Reliable?
dence lets loose the artillery of nary reproduction.
The birth, otherw ise will grow up w ith o u t its great
4 Evolution and Comparison of Religions.
heaven, nothing is sacred; every- both of the species and of the indi- advantages.
2 I t will educate w orkers for th e g reat
thing is overwhelm ed in a blind vidual, are equally parts of th at forw ard m arch of F re e th o u g h t an d Pro­ 5 Does Belief in Miracles Benefit?
6 Immortality or Annihilation?
fury.
: grand sequence of events which gress.
3 I t will forever silence th e accusation
We read th at doctors made hero- our m inds refuse to accept as the th a t S ecularists have never done a n y ­
JU S T T H E T H IN G
ic efforts to help the injured; t h a t result of blind chance.
The un- th in g .
4 It will h asten th e tim e w hen Reason
the surviving citizens strove to d erstanding revolts at such a con- and
Love will reign, am i w hen su p e rsti­ to h an d to y o u r C h ristia n frien d s. Send
tion
and h a te will lie forever gone
save their fellow men and women, elusion, w hether or not we are able
2 cen ts for 6. or 6 cen ts for 25 tra c ts,
5 I t will give you an o p p o rtu n ity to
to E liza M owry B livex , Brook­
and th at the sym pathy of America to believe th a t every slight varia- build vourself and o th ers a m o n u m en t,
ly n , C onn., o r send 10 cen ts
18 hastening to the relief of the tion of structure, the union of each w hile you yet live, th a t will do a m illion
/ I Scientific Wisdom
■ *
hom eless a n d d e s titu te .
All th a t „ • • .
is good. It gives a happy th rill to
every tender heart.
But does it
not show th at man is more merci-
ful than his God?—[Freethinker.
.
: tim es m ore good th a n th e m ost costly
dissem ination one of cold, senseless m arble,
^al *n mal ria^e’
of each 8eed» and other 8Uch «vents
I f a ll h e lp a lit t le , w e c a n a c ­
have all been ordained for some c o m p lis h m u c h . W ill you h e lp T H E
special purpose.—[D arw in.
a little ?
for 50. e ith e r kind or a s­
sorted k in d s, to
L IB E R A L
U N IV E R S IT Y
Silverton, Oregon.