Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-02-14
CONCERNING FREEDOM OF THOUGHT
lies a AND INQUIRY. ia

inquiry in religious matters, and to that |
end threaten with vague pains and penalties
those who represent the spirit of the age
The adherents of orthodoxy may be said to
be divided into two general classes; the
one comprises those who seek to stitie DIS
cussion by the old-fashioned Remuneration
of sacrilege against whatever hand Is raised
profanely to touch the sacred things; the
other consists of such as affect an air OF
candor and willingness to invite lnvestiga-
ton, Dut who always end by showing 10
their own satisfaction at least, that the ad-
versary is somehow disqualified tor the
task he has essayed. This last class indeed
bear curious family likeness to the Splr-
itualists, who abuse scientific men because
they do not recognize the phenomena
but who refuse to allow any investigation
to be made unless all the lights are put
out. and the inquirers are pledged not
to try to catch hold OF the medium.
Naturally the result of offering such
conditions of examination Is that
scientists shrug their shoulders and aban-
Ion the subject. In regard to orthodoxy
Science. however, does not retire from the
field. but when denied the right of fair
daylight test, insists on taking it, and pro-
ceeds calmly and dispassionately to the
work, as to task which has to be done.
An illustration of the second class OF
orthodox modes of defense Tor evasion)
was given by San Francisco preacher,
DR.. Guard, the other day, when, in an at
tempt to meet the arguments OF lngersoll,
he asserted that the latter was untitled to
enter upon such an inquiry, because ne
was skeptic Apparently it did not occur
to DIR. Guard that Colonel Ingersoll's skep-
ticism was the result of inquiry. This
kind of perverted ingenuity, however, Is
precisely similar to that of the Spiritual
lists, who assert that to appreciate the
phenomena it is necessary to be be-
lever; in other words, to be credulous,
and unguarded by the caution which
a scientific habit of observation i'm
parts. 1t is necessary, however, to point
out. for the information of all who
have ranged themselves with either of
these classes in opposition to free inquiry,
that the utility of that kind of resistance
has ceased 1t is also necessary to point
out that the discussion of religious ques-
tions has forever passed beyond the juris-
diction of the so-called religious press, and
that it is henceforth enrolled among those
topics which the secular press will treat
freely, because public opinion demands and
sanctions such discussion. Some people
no doubt have failed to realize yet what
changes have occurred of late years in this
respect, and it may be well to help them to
an apprehension of the truth. We are not
now speaking of what may happen, but OF
what has happened. Religious questions
are to-day everywhere handled by the Sec
ular press, and wherever they are handled
the tendency is to challenge the foundations
of Christianity, if not to take for granted
its abandonment by cultivated minds.
Our orthodox Rip Van Wrinkles, who
are so dreadfully shocked at the freedom
with which we discuss these topics, will do
well to look about them. The periodical
literature of the age affords fair test of
the current of modern thought. In such
reviews and magazines as the Nineteenth
Century, the Contemporary ReUie~, the
Fortnightly ReuielC, the Atlantic Monthly
the International, the North american Re-
Uieae, the spirit of the time is well repre-
sented. In each and all of these publiea-
tions, as in the Popular Science Monthly.
the Westminster ReUie,U, and several others,
the reality of religious evidences is ex-
amined habitually with thoroughness
and impartiality leaving nothing to be de-
sired by those who seek the truth above all
else, but by no means satisfactorily to those
who hold that the secret of true religion is
to shut ones eyes firmly, and, believe
with stopped ears. In fact there IS no
longer any question of the right or the
propriety of investigation. Both are
assumed; both are acted upon. In
the books which the people read
the same tendencies are apparent. Go into
any bookstore, and ask what kind of books
relating to cognate subjects find the read
lest sale Joseph Cooks lectures, or Bob
Ingersoll's. The bookseller will tell you
that he sells twenty of the latter to one of
the former, and perhaps the proportion is
much greater. Tom Paine is another
favorite with the people. Remains Life OF
Jesus had an enormous sale, and so did the
last work of Strauss, The Old Faith and
the Ne,c. Ingersoll's last work, The Ms
takes of Moses, has had larger sale than
any of its predecessors. Meanwhile apollo
getic works on theology are poured con-
stantly from the press, and fall dead upon
the market. They are published in
nearly all cases at the risk of the
authors, or they would not find publishers
and as it is they do not find readers.
Then there is the so-called religious press.
Does not everybody know that it is
a hopeless invalid? There is not religious
paper in the country to-day which lives
upon its spiritual merits. One or two
such publications at the East have secured
Fictitious circulation by publishing ro
mances, or bribing their subscribers with
chromos and so forth, but they are for the
most part constantly whining for support,
and it is very evident that they do not get
it, Perhaps if some of these religious
papers would undertake manly and frank
defense of Christianity, and meet the at
tacks of critics fairly, a greater interest in
that class of publications would develop.
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