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28 chapters
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
THE OPEN COURT, in which the series of articles constituting this work originally appeared, has given account of many forms of faith, supplementary or confirmatory of its own, and sometimes of forms of opinions dissimilar where there appeared to be instruction in them. It will be an advantage to the reader should its editor state objections, or make comments, as he may deem necessary and useful. English Secularism is as little known in America as American and Canadian Secularisation is understoo
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PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.
AMONG the representative freethinkers of the world Mr. George J. Holyoake takes a most prominent position. He is a leader of leaders, he is the brain of the Secularist party in England, he is a hero and a martyr of their cause. Judged as a man, Mr. Holyoake is of sterling character; he was not afraid of prison, nor of unpopularity and ostracism, nor of persecution of any kind. If he ever feared anything, it was being not true to himself and committing himself to something that was not right. He
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CHAPTER I. OPEN THOUGHT THE FIRST STEP TO INTELLIGENCE
CHAPTER I. OPEN THOUGHT THE FIRST STEP TO INTELLIGENCE
ONE purpose of these chapters is to explain how unfounded are the objections of many excellent Christians to Secular instruction in State, public, or board schools. The Secular is distinct from theology, which it neither ignores, assails, nor denies. Things Secular are as separate from the Church as land from the ocean. And what nobody seems to discern is that things Secular are in themselves quite distinct from Secularism. The Secular is a mode of instruction; Secularism is a code of conduct. S
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CHAPTER II. THE QUESTION STATED
CHAPTER II. THE QUESTION STATED
Where a monarchy is master, inquiry is apt to be a disturbing element; and though exercised in the interest of the commonwealth it is none the less resented. Where the priest is master inquiry is sharply prohibited. The priest represents a spiritual monarchy in which the tenets of belief are fixed, assumed to be infallible, and to be prescribed by deity. Thus the priest regards inquiry as proceeding from an impertinent distrust, to which he is not reconciled on being assured that it is undertake
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CHAPTER III. THE FIRST STAGE OF FREE THOUGHT: ITS NATURE AND LIMITATION
CHAPTER III. THE FIRST STAGE OF FREE THOUGHT: ITS NATURE AND LIMITATION
FREE THOUGHT is founded upon reason. It is the exercise of reason, without which free thought is free foolishness. Free thought being the precursor of Secularism, it is necessary first to describe its principles and their limitation. Free thought means independent self-thinking. Some say all thought is free since a man can think what he pleases and no one can prevent him, which is not true. Unfortunately thinking can be prevented by subtle spiritual intimidation, in earlier and even in later lif
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CHAPTER IV. THE SECOND STAGE OF FREE THOUGHT: ENTERPRISE
CHAPTER IV. THE SECOND STAGE OF FREE THOUGHT: ENTERPRISE
THE emancipation of the understanding from intimidation and penal restraint soon incited thinkers of enterprise to put their new powers to use. Theology being especially a forbidden subject and the greatest repressive force, inquiry into its pretensions first attracted critical attention. In every century forlorn hopes of truth had set out to storm one or other of the ramparts of theology. Forces had been marshalled by great leaders and battle often given in the open field; and unforeseen victor
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CHAPTER V. CONQUESTS OF INVESTIGATION
CHAPTER V. CONQUESTS OF INVESTIGATION
THEOLOGIANS had so choked the human mind with a dense undergrowth of dogmas that it was like cutting through an African forest, such as Stanley encountered, to find the paths of truth. On that path, when found, many things unforeseen before, became plain. The siren songs of orthodoxy were discovered to have strange discords of sense in them. 1. The Guide of God seemed to be very human—not authentic, not consistent—containing things not readable nor explainable in the family; pagan fictions, such
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CHAPTER VI. STATIONARINESS OF CRITICISM
CHAPTER VI. STATIONARINESS OF CRITICISM
CRITICISM in theology, as in literature, is with many an intoxication. Zest in showing what is wrong is apt to blunt the taste for what is right, which it is the true end of criticism to discover. Lord Byron said critics disliked Pope because he afforded them so few chances of objection. They found fault with him because he had no faults. The criticism of theology begets complacency in many. There is a natural satisfaction in being free from the superstition of the vulgar, in the Church as well
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CHAPTER VII. THIRD STAGE OF FREE THOUGHT—SECULARISM
CHAPTER VII. THIRD STAGE OF FREE THOUGHT—SECULARISM
SEEING this wise maxim in a paper by Auguste Comte, I asked my friend Wm. de Fonvielle, who was in communication with Comte, to learn for me the authorship of the phrase. Comte answered that it was the Emperor's (Napoleon III.). It first appeared, as I afterwards found, in the writings of Madame de Staël, and more fully expressed by her. Self-regarding criticism having discovered the insufficiency of theology for the guidance of man, next sought to ascertain what rules human reason may supply fo
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CHAPTER VIII. THREE PRINCIPLES VINDICATED
CHAPTER VIII. THREE PRINCIPLES VINDICATED
FIRST PRINCIPLE: Of material means as conditions of welfare in this world .—Theology works by "spiritual" means, Secularism by material means. Christians and Secularists both intend raising the character of the people, but their methods are very different. Christians are now beginning to employ material agencies for the elevation of life, which science, and not theology, has brought under their notice. But the Christian does not trust these agencies; the Secularist does, and in his mind the Secu
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CHAPTER IX. HOW SECULARISM AROSE
CHAPTER IX. HOW SECULARISM AROSE
BEING one of the social missionaries in the propaganda of Robert Owen, I was, like H. Viewssiew, a writer of those days, a "student of realities." It soon became clear to me, as to others, that men are much influenced for good or evil, by their environments. The word was unused then, "circumstances" was the term employed. Then as now there were numerous persons everywhere to be met with who explained everything on supernatural principles with all the confidence of infinite knowledge. Not having
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CHAPTER X. HOW SECULARISM WAS DIFFUSED
CHAPTER X. HOW SECULARISM WAS DIFFUSED
IN 1853 the Six-Night Discussion took place in Cowper Street School Rooms, London, with the Rev. Brewin Grant, B. A. A report was published by Partridge and Oakley at 2s. 6d, of which 45,900 were sold, which widely diffused a knowledge of Secularistic views. Our adversary had been appointed with clerical ceremony, on a "Three years' mission" against us. He had wit, readiness, and an electric velocity of speech, boasting that he could speak three times faster than any one else. But he proved to b
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CHAPTER XI. SECULAR INSTRUCTION DISTINCT FROM SECULARISM
CHAPTER XI. SECULAR INSTRUCTION DISTINCT FROM SECULARISM
IT IS time now to point out, what many never seem to understand, that Secular instruction is entirely distinct from Secularism. In my earlier days the term "scientific" was the distressing word in connexion with education, but the trouble of later years is with the word "Secular." Theological critics run on the "rock" there. Many persons regard Secular teaching with distrust, thinking it to be the same as Secularism. Secular instruction is known by the sign of separateness. It means knowledge gi
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CHAPTER XII. THE DISTINCTIVENESS MADE FURTHER EVIDENT.
CHAPTER XII. THE DISTINCTIVENESS MADE FURTHER EVIDENT.
NOR is Secularism atheism. The laws of the universe are quite distinct from the question of the origin of the universe. The study of the laws of nature, which Secularism selects, is quite different from speculation as to the authorship of nature. We may judge and prize the beauty and uses of an ancient edifice, though we may never know the builder. Secularism is a form of opinion which concerns itself only with questions the issues of which can be tested by the experience of this life. It is cle
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CHAPTER XIII. SELF-DEFENSIVE FOR THE PEOPLE
CHAPTER XIII. SELF-DEFENSIVE FOR THE PEOPLE
BY its nature, Secularism is tolerant with regard to religions. I once drew up a code of rules for an atheistic school. One rule was that the children should be taught the tenets of the Christian, Catholic, Moslem, Jewish, and the leading theological systems of the world, as well as Secularistic and atheistic forms of thought; so that when the pupil came to years of discretion he might be able, intelligently, to choose a faith for himself. Less than this would be a fraud upon the understanding o
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CHAPTER XIV. REJECTED TENETS REPLACED BY BETTER
CHAPTER XIV. REJECTED TENETS REPLACED BY BETTER
ERROR will live wherever vermin of the mind may burrow; and error, if expelled, will return to its accustomed haunt, unless its place be otherwise occupied by some tenant of truth. Suppose that criticism has established: 1. That God is unknown. 2. That a future life is unprovable. 3. That the Bible is not a practical guide. 4. That Providence sleeps. 5. That prayer is futile. 6. That original sin is untrue. 7. That eternal perdition is unreal. What is free thought going to do? All these theologi
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CHAPTER XV. MORALITY INDEPENDENT OF THEOLOGY
CHAPTER XV. MORALITY INDEPENDENT OF THEOLOGY
BISHOP ELLICOTT was the first prelate whom I heard admit (in a sermon to the members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science) that men might be moral from other motives than those furnished by Christianity. Renan says that Justin Martyr "in his Apology , never attacks the principle of the empire. He wants the empire to examine the Christian doctrines." A Secularist would have attacked the principle, regarding freedom as of more consequence to progress than any doctrine without
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CHAPTER XVI. ETHICAL CERTITUDE
CHAPTER XVI. ETHICAL CERTITUDE
A FORM of thought which has no certitude can command no intelligent trust. Unless capable of verification, no opinion can claim attention, nor retain attention, if it obtains it. If a sum in arithmetic be wrong, it can be discovered by a new way of working; if a medical recipe is wrong, the effect is manifest in the health; if a political law is wrong, it is sooner or later apparent in the mischief it produces; if a theorem in navigation is erroneous, delay or disaster warns the mariner of his m
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CHAPTER XVII. THE ETHICAL METHOD OF CONTROVERSY
CHAPTER XVII. THE ETHICAL METHOD OF CONTROVERSY
"THEY who believe that they have truth ask no favor, save that of being heard; they dare the judgment of mankind; refused co-operation, they invoke opposition, for opposition is their opportunity." This was the maxim I wrote at the beginning of the Secularistic movement, to show that we were willing to accept ourselves the controversy, which we contended was the sole means of establishing truth. No proposition, as Samuel Bailey showed, is to be trusted until it has been tested by very wide discu
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CHAPTER XVIII. ITS DISCRIMINATION
CHAPTER XVIII. ITS DISCRIMINATION
IN 1847 I commenced in the Reasoner what I entitled "The Moral Remains of the Bible,"—a selection of some splendid moral stories, incidents, and sentences having ethical characteristics such as I doubted not would "remain" when the Bible came to be regarded as a human book. I wrote a "Logic of Life."* My Trial of Theism was only "as accused of obstructing Secular life," as stated on the title-page. The object was to show how much useful criticism could be entered upon without touching the questi
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CHAPTER XIX. APART FROM CHRISTIANISM
CHAPTER XIX. APART FROM CHRISTIANISM
SECULARISM differs from Christianism in so far as it accepts only the teachings which pertain to man, and which are consonant with reason and experience. Parts of the Bible have moral splendor in them, but no Christian will allow any one to take the parts he deems true, and reject as untrue those he deems false. He who ventured to be thus eclectic would be defamed as Paine was. Thus Christians compel those who would stand by reason to stand apart from them. To accept a part, and put that forward
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CHAPTER XX. SECULARISM CREATES A NEW RESPONSIBILITY
CHAPTER XX. SECULARISM CREATES A NEW RESPONSIBILITY
NO ONE need go to Spain to meet with animals who kick you if you serve them. Spanish asses are to be found in every land. Could we see the legs of truth, we should find them black and blue with the kicks received in unloosening the panniers of error, strapped by priests on the backs of the people. Even philosophers kick as well as the ignorant, when new ideas are brought before them. No improvement would ever be attempted if friends of truth were afraid of the asses' hoofs in the air. He who mai
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CHAPTER XXI. THROUGH OPPOSITION TO RECOGNITION
CHAPTER XXI. THROUGH OPPOSITION TO RECOGNITION
LADY HESTER STANHOPE said she knew "Lord Byron must be a bad man, for he was always intending something." Any improvement in the method of life is "intending something," and society ought to be tolerant of those whose badness takes no worse form. The rules Secularism prescribes for human conduct are few, and no intelligent preacher would say they indicate a dangerous form of "badness." They are: 1. Truth in speech. 2. Honesty in transaction. 3. Industry in business. 4. Equity in according the ga
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CHAPTER XXII. SELF-EXTENDING PRINCIPLES
CHAPTER XXII. SELF-EXTENDING PRINCIPLES
SO FAR as Secularism is reasonable, it must be self-extending among all who think. Adherents of that class are slowly acquired. Accessions begin in criticism, though that, as we have seen, is apt to stop there. In all movements the most critical persons are the least suggestive of improvements. Constructiveness only excites enthusiasm in fertile minds. After the Cowper Street Discussion with the Rev. Brewin Grant in 1853, see Chapter X, page 50, societies, halls, and newspapers adopted the Secul
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SECULARIST CEREMONIES.
SECULARIST CEREMONIES.
CERTAIN ceremonies are common to all human society, and should be consistent with the opinions of those in whose name the ceremonies take place. The marriage service of the Church contains things no bride could hear without a blush, if she understood them; and the Burial Service includes statements the minister ought to know to be untrue, and by which the sadness of death is desecrated. The Secularist naturally seeks other forms of speech. It being a principle of Secularism to endeavor to replac
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ON MARRIAGE.
ON MARRIAGE.
Marriage involves several things of which few persons think beforehand, and which it is useful to call their attention to at this time. The bridegroom, by the act of marriage, professes that he has chosen out of all the women of the world, known to him, the one to whom he will be faithful while life shall last. He declares the bride to be his preference, and, whoever he may see hereafter, or like, or love, the door of association shall be shut upon them in his heart for ever. The bride, on her p
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NAMING CHILDREN.
NAMING CHILDREN.
In naming children it is well to avoid names whose associations pledge the child, without its consent, to some line of action it may have no mind to, or capacity for, when grown up. A child called "Brutus" would be expected to stab Cæsar—and the Cæsars are always about. The name "Washington" destroyed a politician of promise who bore it. He could never live up to it. A name should be a pleasant mark to be known by, not a badge to be borne. In formally naming a child it is the parents alone to wh
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I.——READING AT A GRAVE.
I.——READING AT A GRAVE.
Esdras and Uriel, [An argument in which the Prophet speaks as a Secularist.] And the angel that was sent unto me, whose name was Uriel, said:—I am sent to show thee three ways, and to set forth three similitudes before thee: whereof, if thou canst declare me one, I will show thee also the way that thou desirest to see.... And I said, Tell on, my Lord. Then said he unto me, Go thy way; weigh me the weight of the fire, or measure me the blast of the wind, or call me again the day that is past. The
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