E.—REFORM.
When the harbinger of day dispels the specters of darkness, half-awakened sleepers often mourn the fading visions of dreamland, as they would mourn the memories of a vanished world, till they find that the solid earth still remains, with its mountains and forests, and that the enjoyment of real life has but just begun. With a similar regret the dupes of Jesuitism mourn the collapse of their creed and lament the decline of morality, till they find that religion still remains, with its consolations and hopes, and that the true work of redemption has but just begun.
The reign of superstition begins to yield to a religion of reason and humanity. The first forerunners of that religion appeared at the end of the sixteenth century, when the philosophers of northern Europe [[239]]first dared to appeal from dogma to nature, and since that revival of common-sense the prison walls of clerical obscurantism have been shaken by shock after shock, till daylight now enters through a thousand fissures.
But Secularism has a positive as well as a negative mission, and after removing the ruins of exploded idols, the champions of reform will begin the work of reconstruction. Temples dedicated to the religion of progress will rise from the ruins of superstition. Communities of reformants will intrust the work of education to chosen teachers, who will combine the functions of an instructor with those of an exhorter. In the languages of several European nations the word “rector” still bears that twofold significance. The ministers of Secularism will not sacrifice physical health to mental culture. They will be gymnasiarchs, like the Grecian pedagogues who superintended the athletic exercises of their pupils and accompanied them on foot journeys and hunting excursions. They will be teachers of hygiene, laboring to secure the foundations of mental energy by the preservation of physical vigor, and to banish diseases by the removal of their causes. They will seek to circumscribe the power of prejudice by the extension of knowledge. They will obviate the perils of poverty by lessons of industry and prudence. Their doctrines will dispense with miracles; they will make experience the test of truth, and justice the test of integrity; they will not suppress, but encourage, free inquiry; their war against error will employ no weapons but those of logic. [[240]]
The religion of reason will limit its proper sphere to the secular welfare of mankind, but will ask, as well as grant, the fullest freedom of metaphysical speculation. Why should the friends of light darken the sunshine of earth with fanatical wars for the suppression of private theories about the mystery of the unrevealed first cause? Why should they rage about the riddle of the veiled hereafter to please the ordainer of the eternal law that visits such inexorable penalties upon the neglect of the present world? Should the friends of common sense quarrel about guesses at the solution of unknowable secrets? We need not grudge our wonder-loving brother the luxury of meditating on the mysteries of the unseen or the possibilities of resurrection. Shall the soul of the dying patriarch live only in his children? Shall it wing its way to distant stars? Shall it linger on earth:
“Sigh in the breeze, keep silence in the cave,
And glide with airy foot o’er yonder sea?”
Why should we wrangle about riddles which we cannot possibly solve? But we might certainly have honesty enough to admit that impossibility. Musing on the enigmas of the “land beyond the veil” may entertain us with the visions of a dreamy hour, but should not engross the time needed for the problems of the only world thus far revealed.
Thus, founded on a basis of health-culture, reason, and justice, the office of priesthood will regain its ancient prestige, and the best and wisest of men will become ministers of Secularism by devoting their lives to the science of happiness on earth. [[241]]
PROF. FELIX L. OSWALD’S WORKS.
⁂
THE SECRET OF THE EAST; or, The Origin of the Christian Religion, and the Significance of its Rise and Decline. Cloth, $1.
THE BIBLE OF NATURE; or, The Principles of Secularism. A Contribution to the Religion of the Future. Cloth, $1.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION; or, The Health-Laws of Nature. Cloth, $1.
HOUSEHOLD REMEDIES; for the Prevalent Disorders of the Human Organism. Cloth, $1.
THE POISON PROBLEM; or, The Cause and Cure of Intemperance. Pap., 25cts; clo., 75cts.
SUMMERLAND SKETCHES; or, Rambles in the Backwoods of Mexico and Central America. Profusely Illustrated from Designs by H. F. Farny and H. Faber. 8vo, cloth, $2.50.
ZOOLOGICAL SKETCHES. A Contribution to the Outdoor Study of Natural History. 8vo, cloth, $2.
For all of the above address
THE TRUTH SEEKER CO.,
28 Lafayette Place, New York. [[242]]
WORKS OF
L. K. WASHBURN.
Sunday and the Sabbath. “A law regulating human conduct on the Sabbath is an impertinence.” Price, 10 cents.
The False Teaching of the Christian Church. “The Thirty-nine Articles of the Christian church are thirty-nine poor, broken-down opinions.” Price, 10 cents.
The Foolishness of Prayer. “Think of a minister’s praying God to kill grasshoppers, or trying to induce the deity to undertake a crusade of one against the Colorado beetle!” Price, 10 cents.
Followers of Jesus. Price, 10 cents.
Religious Problems. Price, 10 cents.
Spiritualism: Is It a Faith or a Fact? Price, 5 cents.
Do You Love Jesus? Price, 5 cents.
America’s Debt to Thomas Paine. Price, 5 cents.
Is Liberalism Moral? Price, 5 cents.
A Holy Superstition. Price, 5 cents.
Temperance and the Bible. Price, 5 cents.
Free Religion; or, The Religious Demand of To-day. Price, 5 cents.
The Brute God of the Old Testament. Price, 5 cents.
The Public Schools and the Catholic Church. 5 cents.