San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-03-09
THE Ill BERAL LECTURE.
Resolutions and Remarks on the
Burial OF the Liberal Dead.

Resolutions and Remarks on the
Burial OF the Liberal Dead.
A large house greeted DIR. York, the
liberal speaker, on the occasion of hi
lecture, since his return from Fort Worth.
The subject of his discourse was Com
mon Sense" but before tou ching upon IL,
the following resolutions of respect aaG
coincidence, for q recently deceased mem
Der of the Secular Society, were presented
by the president
"Whereas. Brother j. J. Pickett de-
parted this life on the 2Sth dav of Feb
ruary, 1891, and
active, and liberal member OF the San
Antonio Secular Society, and
Whereas, just before his death he liber-
ally contributed towards the several
courses of lectures by DIR. j. L. York, and
regularly attended the same and cor
WINGED his approval Of the principles
propagated at such lectures by his hearty
and enthusiastic applause: and
Whereas, during his last illness, while
he was physically and mentally weak, .
minister OF the gospel and others visited
him and claimed that he consented to
religious obseQuies at his grave, there
fore:
Be it resolved by the San Antonio
Secular Society that we deplore his pre-
mature death and recognize that his early
taking off was great loss to the cause
of Liberalism.
Resolved that the community, in his
death, lost an honorable and upright
man, whose every act was irreligious but
in accordance with the highest laws OF
morality: He was honest and did no maa
or woman an injustice.
Resolved that we here and and now en-
ter a solemn protest against the insolent
officiouSneSs practiced by clergymen AZ
the deathbed OF men, who, when they are
physically and mentally sound. treat
their teachings and doctrines with scora
and contempt.
Resolved that it is the sense of this
meeting that all Liberals must hereafter
be protected from such interference and
insoence in their dying moments.
be PUBLISHED in the San Antonio Daily
LIGHT, the Independent Pulpit Boston
Investigator, New York Truth Seeker
and the Iron Clad Age"
DR.. York then spoke to the resolutions.
saying:
II am in full sympathy with the import
Of these resolutions, and feel that .
shameless outrage has been perpetrated
upon the remains Of our late friend, Mr..
Pickett, in holding a christian burial
service over him, who was an open ant
avowed disbeliever in the christian sys-
TEN. To my mind no act more contempt
ible could have been imposed upon him or
the Secular Society Of which he was an
hOnored member. than to take advantage
of his helpless and half-conscious condi-
ton for consent to rob him of that, which
all his life time he priced as a free man
the right to he buried in the faith In
which he had lived.
"But such is the Superstitious fear Of
death in the minds of christians, that
their ministers, like ghouls, hover about
the beds of the dying, seeking to wiring
something from the lips of even those
whose reason has left its throne under the
hand of sickness and death, and l can
only hope that when my time comes to
paw the debt of nature, that my friends
will protect me in my helpless and dying
condition from the bands of bigots and
the superStitious."
The remarks were greeted with storm
Of applause, and the resolutions were
unanimously adopted. The speaker then
took up his topic and handled it in his
usual manner.
Arrangements have been made for .
lecture on political and social reforms. at
Rische's next Friday night, the speaker
taking for his subject, ''The Reign Of the
Common ppODlp.n