Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?, 1908-05-07
A DISCOURSE ON
DEATH OF AN
ATHEIST
DELIVERED BY s. P. CADY AT
Funeral of John Riley Lewis n
Jefferson City, rlontana-
A Respected Citizen.

Friends and Neighbors:-It is well
when death has intervened that the
last reasonable request of the dead, ex-
pressed in life, should be fulfilled. Be-
cause Of this, it becomes my solemn
duty on this occasion to voice certain
sentiments which believe shall be in
keeping and in consonance with the
life and the thought of him who lies
here now 80 still in the calm repose Of
death. 1t was his oft-repeated wish
that no clergyman should, at his OBJ
sequiee, give utterance as the exponent
of doctrines which he, his whole life
long, had consistently and persistently
sntagonized. That his belief concern
ing nature and the supernatural coin
cided 30 nearly with my own makes
easier the task that is mine today.
And yet, 1t is difficult and dispiriting
TO assume a position which is at vari'
ance with that held by majorities.
Death q Phenomenon.
There are at the present time many
wellmeaning and thoughtful individu.
ais, who would dissociate death from
all thought of gloom and overwhelming
sadness; viewing it as a phenomenon,
as inevitable and in line with natural
law; even giving to ii an environment
Of brightness and cheer. And yet, de.
spite all the teachings Of science and
philosophy, there is something about
death that is suggestive Of exile, of
the chill and cheerless Of winter and
of the barrenness and desolation of
desert wastes; dark and sombre is its
appsopriate emblem. Yet the gloomy
pail may fittingly be decked with the
myrtle and the lily, with the rose and
the lotus, with the olive and the laurel;
the amaranth and the ivy, the lowlyi
unpretentious violet and the regal
chrysanthemum.
Necessity the Supreme Law.
Philosophy, standing beside a grave,
may shed the tear, but will not de-
spair, for IL has learned that nature
does not think, does not know; there
fore, in nature there can be no malevo-
lent motive, no hatred, no revenge
Necessity is the supreme law that gov
erns throughout natures domain. The
stars pursue their course along the
silent pathways Of the night only be-
cause they must. Each atom forever
obeys that law. There are no acci.
dents in nature; no chance, no caprice
The activities Of mind, with which we
associate will or volition, are no ex'
ception to this. Hence, all phenomena
throughout all time are fixed irrevo'
cably; there is no possible deviation
All science tacitly admits this; upon
this principle all of its calculations
are based. Science deals only with
cause and effect as traceable in matter
and force, and never acknowledges any
other agency. The astronomer, relying
upon such data, fortells an eclipse fai
in the future. The chemist has never
discovered in any of his processes a
single behavior or phenomena which
he would ascribe to divine interference
with natural law. This today is the
accepted doctrine in all the schools;
and thus the teaching of the schools
differs from the teaching Of the pull
pit. Both cannot be right. There are
some who believe that the teaching OF
the schools alone is tenable and must
soon supersede the teaching Of the pul
pit. This is the position of modern
atheism or materialism.
An Uncompromising Atheist.
John Riley Lewis was an uncompro
missing atheist. He believed that ma
ture was all; that there is nothing
above, or beyond, or outside Of nature
He saw clearly the fatal antagonisn
between the two systems of thought
and he put aside theism, accepting thu
doctrine Of the schools. Though he
was not an academician, and though