The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1884-03-25


wicked. with hardly health enough to
do anything wrong, it is Instantly |
suggested by all the dear people III the
neighborhoOd. what a minister ne
would make He is then sent to
some religious seminary, a place
which is built for the more gen ri dlffu-
sion of useless knowledge, and ne Is
there educated First, not to think, seq
ondly, not to dispute, and third iy' TO
Intellectually eat what is set before
him, asking no questions for con-
science sake. He walks out OF the
institution a kind ola sausage OF SUI
perstition, stuffed with mistakes. lie
instantly becomes a teacher, and In.
agines tn t he has been called, and
that apostolic hands, dripping with
blessings, have been laid upon his
brainless head. He then takes the
position that II, one has right to
question his theories. and his dOgmas,
and if there sh"uld &c point raised
by some means OF the church, he I'M
mediately turns to his commentaries,
and answers him, not with reason,
bnt with authority. Now, while L
live. / propose TO have my say, no
matter who has been selected no
matter who has been called. Now
and then one Of these young ministers
develops, and in spite of what we first
thought of him, he turns out to be a
good deal of a man. Then he gets
touched with heresy. Then ne leaves
the church that educated him. Then
they say pursue him and shoot at
him all the poisoned arrows OF malice,
saving that he is hereto and that he
is worse than an inflel. Every min
ister who enters a pulpit enters an H.
teIlectual bastile. He gives up hIs
liberty of thought he gives up his
intellectual manhood, and he agrees
to defend a creed. and thousands dc
defend it who don't believe one word.
If the ministers would only express
their doubts you would find that there
is very little difference between then
and myself. They will not do it
, They have certain thing to defend
and they intend TO stand by it. Nov
and then one gets grand enough q
: step out. The first point these minis
tiers make is against the right t.
think. Now, my first position is tina
othodOx theology believes in menta
slavery. | take the ground that
: have the right to think not only, bu
that | cannot help it. | also take TN
ground that my brain thinks in spit
of me. That there is not person
present here who can control hi
thought. If there is, let him tell m
e what he is going to think next year
r Is there solitary person here VIII
q can help thinkinga as he thinks? You
brain is affected by your surroundings
t, by what you see, by what you hear
II by what enters through ali of tn
Is avenues of the senses, and the resu
II is what b? Tn ught. And that II
70 suit is an absolute necessity. Ibs
le the brain thinks as the heart beats,
e the hood pursues its old accustome
1. rounds, as the lungs contract and e.
D. pand, as the eyes see, as the ca
OIL hear. SO the brain thinks, and Il
l. owner of the brain is not responslb
q, for his thoughts. The brain is like
III field where nature sOws with carele
L hands the seeds of thought. Most
L those seed, are barren, poor and har
lt producing only orthodox weeds, b
ne others like the torrid cline producer
ad the balm and vine, the royal childr'
to of the sun and soil. But whatev
o. the field produces man is not respo
:ii sible for.
~ Now, if thought is an absolute 4
ou cessity the next question Is have
sc a right to repress the thought? Und
" these conditions that shall not on
H. trample Oh the feelings OF my fellC
~ man. under these conditions that
nc shall be reasonable in my expressi'
We 7 have the right to express eve
az az thought that visits or is produced
'er NV brain and is it possible that the
" " is a God that will give man
W thinker, a thinker that thinks in spI
of him and then damn the man
vs. cause the thinker thinks. Is 1T pos
en bile that God would give a bird win
II, and damn the bird for flying? '
'nI might lust as well be sent TO eterl
ey perdition for breathing, just as W
III. for the action of the heart as for Q
~ thought. Can any man control
me thought? l have asked that gu
me ton a great many times. And the
ei is 8 little story that illustrates I
~ control a man has of his thong
uV There was Methodist minister OF
ga who said he could think OF one 81
the ninuta and nothing else.