  Reason and Reflection. If any person with a, reasonable amount of intelligence will seriously reflect, he may gain sufficient information to satisfy himself as regards the true nature of the conditions that surround him. First try to the best of your ability to present in your mind the outlines of this terrestrial globe, this planet on which we live, with its mountains and its valleys; oceans, seas, and rivers; the two extreme poles, north and south; the center of the earth’s surface and the equator, etc. Next try to satisfy your mind that this planet has no immediate connection with any other planet—that it belongs to a system of planets that revolve round the sun, with a space or distance between them of many millions of miles. And That this planet is entire and complete in itself. Whatever substances are about, upon, or within the earth, belong to this planet and no other. That not a particle of any substance can leave this earth, whether visible or invisible. That all formations, no matter of what character or nature, are made from substances belonging to this earth. That the size and weight of this globe has never That the quantity of water upon the surface of this earth, whether ocean, sea, lake, or river, has neither increased nor diminished. That the solid mineral portion of the earth has neither increased nor diminished either in size or weight. That the fluid, the watery portion, is susceptible to change of position and conditions on the surface of this earth, whether above the earth’s surface or upon it. That all clouds, rain, vapor, mist, moisture, dew, snow, hail, must be and is taken from the waters on the surface of the earth, and when clouds, that have been taken from the waters of the earth, fall to the surface of the earth in the form of rain, vapor, mist, moisture, dew, snow, or hail, they simply return what has been temporarily taken or loaned from the waters of the earth. That in the case of all deluges, freshets, overflows, that have ever taken place, the waters that enter into their formation have been taken from the waters of the earth. The waters have simply changed position from one locality to another. That all ice formations are nothing more than solidified water. Water crystallizes by the absence of sunlight, and melts in the presence of the sun’s heat. That snow is nothing more than congealed water, and returns to water when heated. That the quantity of water remains the same. Whether it rains forty days and nights, or a whole year, it is neither increased nor diminished. That the deepest portion of the earth’s surface is filled with water. Being fluid, it naturally fills up the hollows until it has found its level. If there is more water than it can hold, it will find its way into the next hollow. And the higher portions of the That all living substances, whether vegetable or animal, are composed more than two-thirds of water. That more than two-thirds of the entire quantity of food taken daily into the animal economy consists of water. That is to say, we feed on more than two-thirds of water. Nothing living can maintain its existence without two-thirds of water. Second.All the material taken from the earth’s surface, or from the interior of the earth’s crust, for any purpose whatsoever, no matter how great the weight or volume may be, does not increase the weight of this earth, or diminish it. The material has simply been moved from one place and deposited in another. The building of one city, or ten thousand cities or more, would not add one pound more or less to the entire weight of this earth. All the stone, coal, iron, copper, silver, gold, lead, and all other mineral substances, used either in building, machinery, or anything human ingenuity can make or invent—all belong to this earth. No matter how great the bulk or quantity, it does not influence this earth one particle. Moreover, this earth would not be in the slightest inconvenienced in its motion or evolution whether there were sixteen billion of persons on its surface, or ten million times as many. Nor would it make the slightest difference to this terrestrial globe whether the entire animal creation was destroyed, or increased indefinitely. It would neither slacken its pace, increase its weight, diminish The fluids, the solids, and the gases would relatively remain the same. Let it be distinctly understood, that whatever change may take place in some remote future, say one billion million of years, more or less, this earth as a whole will be but little affected. Vegetable and animal life may disappear, but the component parts of the earth cannot be destroyed or changed. Furthermore, whatever is produced upon this earth by the inventive power of man’s faculties, in the arts and sciences mechanical, the natural, and what is thought to be supernatural, whatsoever shape or character it may take, whether phase or phenomenon, an idea, thought, or imagination—in fact, every thing, every essence, from an angel to the devil, from a saint to a sinner, from a brass button to a god or gods, holy ghosts or divinities, all, all, are part and parcel of this earth. All there are recorded in any book, called sacred or profane, inspired or uninspired, visionary or materialistic, are the creations of the brain of man, inventions of the brain of man, concoctions and fabrications of the brain of man. Whether devil, saint, angel, or god, they are of earth, earthly, chained to this terrestrial globe so long as there is a brain in human form that can exercise its faculties. Third.No things can leave this earth, whether they are things visible, or things that are not visible. Nothing can come to us from any distant planet, whether it is visible or not visible. All things or beings, whether visible or not visible, tangible or not tangible, perceptible or imperceptible, belong to this earth, are the products of the earth. All things, beings, forms, or shapes, whatever be their nature or consistence, however they have appeared All things, beings, forms, shapes, material, or what appears to be material, are produced upon the surface of this earth. All things, beings, forms, shapes, phases, or phenomena, and all manifestations, whether spiritual or supernatural, are the products of this earth, produced through the material composing the nervous matter, by the ordinary physiological mechanism of the animal economy. No psychological condition, as it is termed, can be produced without nervous matter. It is a function of nerve or brain material. It has no existence of itself. It is not a product foreign to matter. The soul is a term employed to represent in the abstract an intellectual product of, or the result of functional activity of, brain substance. Where there is no brain there can be no soul. And souls differ in proportion to size, quality, quantity, educational or brutal development. The mind is the collective term for the entire product of nervous activity, from non-intellectual to intellectual activity. Thus we have all kinds of minds—vulgar, brutal, licentious, pious, enlightened, educated, intellectual, refined, ideal, imaginary, etc., etc. A mind may be simple, mixed, complex, complicated, perverted, disordered, rational or irrational, etc., etc. The mind is of ages—infantile, childish, youthful, young, mature, deliberate, strong, weak, and senile, feminine or masculine, etc., etc. Nervous effects not understood are interpreted to be supernatural, not the product of the matter composing brain; this is false. The so-called spiritual manifestations are, in plain terms, delusions for susceptible nervous conditions, and generally largely adulterated with fraud. Fourth.Material prosperity consists in the accumulation of wealth, gained either by industry or inheritance. Wealth is used: 1. To supply food sufficient in quantity to sustain bodily health. 2. To obtain clothing to protect the body from extreme heat, and also for decorative purposes. 3. To furnish domicile or housing to shelter the body against the inclemency of the weather, in luxury as our acquired taste may desire. 4. To give us the opportunities of an education and training that we could not otherwise obtain. 5. To provide for those that are dependent upon us for support, as children and old persons. 6. To exercise charitable acts, in aiding all those that are either disabled or unable to procure the necessities of life—clothing and shelter. Remember that God has not created anything—either plant, animal, or man. While we resemble each other, we are not precisely constructed all alike. Dogs are dogs, for example, yet a Skye terrier is not so big as a Newfoundland dog, nor is either fashioned the same as a bulldog. The same may be said of plants and trees. The structural tissue of all trees is wood, yet are the trees not all alike. Nor can the wood tissue of the various trees be used for the same purpose. Each one is useful in its own particular line or sphere. The same may be said of minerals as to their appearance, qualities, uses, etc., etc. Each individual is simply the offspring of his This hardly requires an explanation. Every farmer and cattle-breeder understands it. We have every day illustrations with our race-horses, cattle, etc. Two black persons cannot breed white children. They can mix them, yes. God had nothing at all to do with the selection of either the black man or white woman, or the white man or black woman. Whatever seed is planted, that will grow, and no other. Cabbage seed will yield cabbages, and nothing else. That law holds good in nature—like will produce like; subject, however, to modification of soil, temperature, moisture, of the immediate surroundings. But it will not change the cabbage. It may be finer, of improved quality, larger—that’s all. The prevailing notion that we are all created free and equal, is nonsense. 1. We are not created. We are simply the offspring of our parents and inherit all the characteristics and qualities of our parents, which are subject to betterment, improvement, and a higher degree of culture, or deterioration, depending on circumstances and surroundings. 2. We are not born equal by any means, either in muscular strength, brain power, size, constitution, or wealth. Therein lies the difference in the condition and surroundings of man, while we are spending this short-lived existence on this earth. 3. Whether we are born free, depends upon what form of government we live under. We are free to comply with the laws of the government under which we are born, comply with the recognized moral and Dismiss the silly notion from your mind that anything can help you, either priest or any supernatural agency. The priest may help as one man may help another. Prayers can avail you nothing, nor blessings. Every man, to be a man, must act the man! Training, education, culture, makes him one. Free yourself from priestly influence and church dominion, if you would be free. Think and reason. Throw off the shackles of ecclesiastical slavery. Let your own brain work out your own salvation. Never mind the Jehova, the God of barbarism, the Christ of delusion, or the Holy Ghost of the imagination. Shake off the dust of superstition and ignorance if you would be free. It is the noblest work of man to make himself free—to make himself equal, not muscular—free from prejudice, free from superstitions, free from bigotry, free from ignorance, free from vice, free from passions, free from wrong-doing either to yourself or to your fellow-man. Equal you can be in brain power, brain culture, in brain force, by brain culture, education, in the improvement and perfection of the intellectual faculties, so that we may exercise our understanding and judgment, free and untrammeled, to the benefit of ourselves and to the benefit of our neighbors. The perfection you imagine your God ought to be, exalt yourself to that perfection, and be an intelligent free man. |
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