Torch of reason., February 05, 1903, Image 1

T orch
B eason .
of
“ T R U T H B EA R S T H E TORCH IN T H E SEARCH FOR T R U T H .” — L u cretiu s.
V O L . 7.
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S I L V E R T< a n
OP
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vgo
p i. << r !.. j * - w
—
xi U. o.
SOCIOLOGY-
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« 4 of America who expect to have
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T H E G IFTS.
Lnstable and Stable Civilizations.
by seeing me burning in hell, hear
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◄ this;
SHARLOT M. HALL.
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This is the prayer of the Brah- BY F. H . G ID D IN G S, PROFESSOR O F SOCI­
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OLOGY IN CO LUM BIA U N IV E R S IT Y .
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:: m ins—a prayer that has trembled
T H E R E Were th re e g ifts a t eventide th e W est W in d b ro u g h t to m e,
\ That I m ig h t ch o o se fo r joy o r use m y fa te from o u t th e th r e e :
from hum an lips tow ard heaven for
(From “Elements of Sociology.”)
“ Now here is g o ld ,’’ th e W est W ind sa ith , “a n d fa ir it is to see;
more
than
four
thousand
years:
W ho c h o o se th gold h a th pow er to h o ld : m en serve him lo y a lly .”
ONQUEST has not always
“ Never will I seek or receive p ri­
ended when political integra­
“ A p rin c e he is,” th e W est W ind s a ith , “ I know th e b id d eu m ine;
«
vate
individual
salvation.
Never
S h a lt g u id e th e e now o ’e r tire a n d suow to w here th e in g o ts shinfe ?”
tion has gone to the lim it of
“ N ay, th e n , who b a th th e yellow gold h a th tro u b le a t his b a c k ;
:: will I enter into final hliae alone. I absorbing thoae
ose weaker states
W hose n eed s are few, w hose h e a rt is tru e , w hat k n o w eth he of lack T”
H But fo te v e ra n d everywhere will I | territo rially adjacent to theconquer-
“ B u t here is L ove,” th e W est W ind sa ith , “th e lig h t of life is he;
Ui labor and strive for the final re- ing power, and are in their popu­
W ilt bid him now to crow n th y brow w ith m y rtle g re e n e ry ?
i dernption of every creature through* lation and social forms fit to be­
H e se ts th e pace th a t y o u n g feet d a u c e a n d lead s w ith lu te a n d bow;
T ake th o u h is h a n d a n d th ro u g h th e la n d w ith him till curfew go.”
:: out all worlds, and until all are re- come com ponent societies in a larger
Hi deemed.
Never will I wrongly national state. In history am bition
“ N ay, th e n , fo r he who se ek e th L ove finds b u t an e m p ty n e st;
h
i
L ove c o m e th s till of h is own will, u n so u g h t, a n d th a t is b e s t.”
leave this world to sin, sorrow and has repeatedly overleaped its prop­
T h en one sp ak e o u t fu ll loud an d c le ar: “ Now I am W o rk ,” said he;
struggle, hut will rem ain and work er bounds, and visions of universal
“ A nd th ey who hold n o r love n o r g old have need of m iue an d m e .”
and suffer where I am .”
em pire have arisen before the eyes
W ilt follow , follow , w here I lead ?” h is voice ra n g free an d s tro n g ;
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◄ “ “ H
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♦
Has
the
orthodox
religion
pro­
e re ’s hope a n d c h e e r fo r all th e y e ar; h e re ’s balm fo r every w rong.”
of powerful m onarchs. Egypt, Bab­
“ Yea, I am fain to follow thee; th o u sp e a k e st lik e a k in g ;”
duced a prayer like th is? See the ylon, Nineveh, M acedonia, Rome,
N
“T h en s h a lt th o u see, if tr u e th o u be, th e other gifts 1 " bring .”
U
infinite ch arity , not only, for every Carthage, and again Rome, one
—[F rom S u ccess.
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soul in this world, but of all the after the other, undertook to con­
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shining worlds of the universe. quer the world. D istant peoples
B IB L E IL L U S IO N S .*
died for by men as noble as ours Think of th at, ye parsons who im ­ th a t never could be an integral part
can boast. T heir dogm as and doc­ agine th at a large m ajority are go­ of the conquering nation were sub­
jugated in mere wantonness of
Other Religions.
trines have, to say the least, been ing to eternal ruin.
Com
pare
it
will»
the
serm
ons
of
power. W hile all such conquests
as reasonable, as full of sp iritu al
Jo n a th a n Edw ards, and com pare it were destined to result in u ltim ate
BY R O B E R T G. IN G E R SO L L .
grandeur, as ours.
with the im precation of Chr is t: failure, they had for the tim e being
Man has had beautiful thoughts. * "
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E m ust rem em ber th a t Man has tried to solve these ques- Depart ye cursed into everlasting certain good consequences for civil­
The conquered peoples
ours is n o tth e o n ly relig- tions in all the countries of the fire prepared for the devil and his ization.
ion. Mar» has in all ages world, and I respect all such men angels” ; with the ideas of Jerem y were m ade to pay trib u te to the
endeavored to answ er the gr»-at and women, but let me tell you one Baylor, with the creeds of C hristen­ conquerors, whose capital cities in ­
Wlth a "
of a | l
creased enorm ously in w ealth. This
questions W hence? and W hither? lillle thill«. I w ant to show you
» nd in no church except the wealth resulted in m arvelous m ate­
He has endeavored to read his des- th a t in other countries there ¡H ,
U niversalist will you hear a prayer rial splendor, and in a high devel­
t i n y in the stars, to pluck the secret som ething.
like this.
opm ent of a rt in its first rude forma
of his existence from the night. He
The Parse« sect of Persia say: j
‘ W hen thou a rt in doubt as to
of architecture, sculpture and p a in t­
has questioned the specters of his A Persian saint ascended the three
whether at» action is good or bad,
ing.
own im agination. He has explored stairs th a t lead to heaven’s gate, . . - /
. . . .
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’ a b s t a i n fro m it. n
the m ysterious avenues of dream s, nnd knocked; a voice said, “ Who is
The early civilizations, including
Since the days of Zoroaster has
H e has peopled the heavens with th e re ? ” “ Thy servant, O G o d !” . . .
’ , t .
that of the Roman Em pire, were
‘ .
. .
. . . .
n
,
, .
there been any rule for hum an con-,
H ’
spirits. He has m istaken his visions Hut the gates would not open. For (] I1(>1 >
g iven su prior to this?
essentially unstable because their
for realities. In the tw ilight of ig- seven years he did every act of
,
,
fabulous and m agnificent wealth
,
,
.
6
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Are the principles taught by us
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norance he has m istaken shadow:- kindness; again he came, and the
was
a
continual
tem
ptation to the
superior to those taught by Con
for gods. In all ages he has been voice said, “ Who is there? ” And ,
it
.
i j if
• / .u
fucius? o He
was
asked
there was barbarians of the outer world who,
the slave of m isery, the dupe of he replied, “ Thy slave, O G od!”
„• i word i com prising
- • the du-
.
after incursions for thousands of
any single
superstition and the fool of hope. Yet the gates were shut. Yet seven
" p _
it
i- □ ,,i> - years into the valleys of the Nile
ties of m an. He replied, »“ Reel- 7
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H e has suffered arid aspired.
other years of kindness, and the
n
it
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i i c
. aud the E uphrates, into the Grecian
procity.
Upon being asked what . . .
‘
Religion is a th in g of growth, of m an again knocked; and the voice
thought of the doctrine of re- pe,,ih8ula> and into Ita ly , finally
developm ent. As we advance we cried a ,‘d said, “ Who is th e re ? ” tu r|li|lg benefits for injuries, he re- OVHrwheltned the Roman Em pire,
throw aside the grosser and absurd- ' th y self, O G od!” And the gates p |je(^ “ T hat is not my doctrine. If
the G erm anic nations, sim ul­
er forms of faith — practically at first wide open Hew.
you return benefits for injuries what taneously prepared for civilization
by ceasing to observe them , and
I 8ay there is no more beautiful do you propose for benefits? My
lheir own inherent developm ent
lastly, by denying them altogether. C hristian poem than this.
doctrine is: F<»r benefit« return and by their long contact with
Every church necessarily bv its con-
A Persian after having r^ad our benefits; for injuries retu rn justice Rome, entered upon political evo-
stitu tio n endeavors to prevent this religion, with its frightful descrip- w ithout any adm ixture of revenge.” Ititiou under precisely the opposite
n atu ra l grow th or developm ent, tions of perdition, wrote these words:
To return good for evil is to pay co,,ditions.
I hey sim ultaneously
W h at has happened to other relig- ‘‘Two angels Hying out from the a prem ium upon wickedness.
I KrPW bito statehood in an environ-
ions m ust happen to ours.
Ours blissful city of God— the angel of cannot put a man under obligation merit of civilization which, for ages,
is not superior to m any th a t have love and the angel of pity— hovered to do me a favor by doing him an had lain between them and the
passed, or are passing aw ay. O ther over the eternal pit where suffered injury.
more remote barbarism of cen tral
religious have been lived for and the captives of hell. One sm ile of
Africa and central A s ia ; and on
— ------------------------------------------ - love illum ined the darkness and
It does seem to me th a t if I were the partial ruins of the western ex-
♦T hese p la in B ible fa c ts fro m In g er-
. ....
soil are n o t to be bad e x c e p t in th e
-V x t i n g u i s h e d a ll th e a C hristian, and really thought iny tention of th a t civilization they
S e v e n th V olum e of th e D resd en E d itio n , fires.”
H a s orthodoxy produced fellow-man was going down to the built. Protected thus in great meas-
W e will p r in t th e m in p a r ts —each p a rt
,
... .
re a d s as a whole. We do th is b ecause un-
-
as 8er,e ou®Iy beautiful as bottom less pit; th a t he was going ure from the danger of barbarian
til the people are emancipated from the this . Let me read you this: Sec- to misery and agony forever, it does in vasion, a danger which only twice
Catholic Church, the Protestant Bible,
l -« ..
tu:«,. o i;
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a n d th e belief in “ th e s u p e r n a tu r a l,” l a r ,a n 8 » h e ttr t h l 8 - B e lie v e rs in seem to me t h a t I would try aud in the history of E urope has be-
th e re is no hope fo r th is w orld.—E d . T. eternal dam n atio n , hear this: Clergy j save h im — [Ingersoll.
¡come im m inent,—once when the
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