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THE
from th principle of ^rulljoug^t,
By
Gm
J. Holyoake.
Honour to him, who, self-complete, if lone,
Carves to the grave one pathway all his own;
And heeding nought that men may think or say,
Asks but his soul, if doubtful of the way.
Sib E. L. Bulweb.
[thirteenth thousand.]
LONDON:
AUSTIN & Co., JOHNSON’S COURT, E.C.
PRICE
ONE
PENNY.
�TO THE READER,
Br those who decry or depreciate Freethought, it is alleged that its principles
are either base and depraving, or loose, weak, poor, and mean; that they take
no hold upon the heart and furnish no guidance, no inspiration to those who
hold them. It is necessary to show that this impression is unfounded. It is
also said by ill-informed partisans of Freethought that when they are delivered
from the slavery of Superstition, and satisfied that the Bible is a human book;
that Theism is unproved and the Future of the Soul uncertain ; that they
have nothing more to learn and nothing more to do. If this were true, Freethought would result in a fruitless self-complacency—better certainly than a
state of terror-ridden superstition—but still rising no higher than a mere doc
*
trine of comfort, fulfilling no condition of a proud and heroic progress. To
some friends, therefore, as well as to all foes, I address these papers. I seek
to show that Secularistic Freethought, apart from all Theology, is self-acting,
self-sustaining, and necessitates the improvement of individual character.
Freethought, ever-fruitful, unfolds new aspects and applications to all who
study it. To some this brief treatise may be suggestive of overlooked duties
which the profession of Freethought implies. Such trust may be ill-founded.
Yet duty is not to be measured by result? alone—the duty which clear con
viction implies, Carlyle has expressed in his noble injunction—“ Cast forth thy
act, thy word, into the ever-living, ever-working universe; it is a seed of grain,
that cannot die; unnoticed to-day, it will be found flourishing as a banyan
grove, perhaps also as a hemlock forest, after a thousand years.”
G.J.H,
�THE
LOGIC
OF
LIFE.
The French have a saying which has always appeared to me
very instructive. It is s’orienter, which signifies “ to take one’s
bearings;” or, as the late Stanislas Worcell used to paraphrase it
for me, “We must find the East for ourselves.”* To understand
this is the first thing which can do any good to twenty-nine out
of the thirty millions of the inhabitants of Great Britain. About
one million of our population, those who inherit rank or riches,
are born with the East found for them. A great number of the
middle class know how to find that point of the compass very
well; but the great body of the nation, who, as Mr. Bright says,
“ in all countries dwell in cottages;” the workers in mine, factory,
and field; to whom sectarian disputes have denied education;
who have no well-placed connections to clear the way for them;
who must toil and endure penury—to these all ignorance is danger,
all delusion is pernicious, all hope which is not justified on a
survey of their situation, is traitorous. A working man who
intends to advance must see clearly what his own position is.
This knowledge is the first step in the logic of life to him—the
key to any extrication or improvement possible to him. He who
does not know what his social position is, is ignorant; he who
does not want to know it, is imbecile ; he who despairs on account
of it when he does know it, is a coward; he who is content with
it, if it be precarious, is a slave. Contentment with the ill which
is inevitable, is fortitude; contentment where improvement is
possible, is meanness. Therefore, in all cases of adverse destiny
“ it is,” to borrow a phrase of Fielding’s, “ of no use damning the
nature of things the sole question is their possible improvement.
Strive for this without sullenness and with a buoyant heart.
Of means which depend upon the individual, and of which every
person of sagacity, of resolution, and honesty may avail himself, I
name as first, Freethought and its consequents—Truth, Indepen
dence, and Courtesy.
These are familiar words, but the full acceptation they bear ip
* Il nous faut nous orienter nous memes.
�4
THE LOGIC OF LIFE.
Four Elements distinguished.
not at all familiar. They have hitherto been used in the world
as party words. Freethought has been understood chiefly as
opposed to slavery of mind; Truth as opposed to Falsehood;
Independence as opposed to Tyranny; Courtesy as opposed to
vulgarity of manner. In the stages through which society has
passed, these words, in these senses, were words of battle, and
very influential words too: but they have a more abiding and
fresher significance if we regard them, not as merely indicating
antagonisms, but as expressing sentiments inseparable from a
natural and manly character. In this sense they constitute the
elements of a Logic of Secular Life.
It is of little use that a poor man looks around him unless he
thinks when he looks. He will find that every inch of ground,
every flower of the field, every bird of the air, every spray of the
sea has an owner; but there is one thing at least left him—he
may be master of his own mind ; his intellect at least is in his
own keeping; and it is the first duty of man to maintain dominion
there. It is part of a wise self-defence in a man to own no master,
to brook no control, to obey no command, which contradicts his
own deliberate judgment of the right.
*
Be the interferer priest
or king, society or custom, let him bid them stand aside. Let a
man listen to those who advise ; reverence those who teach;
honour those who think, for they are donors; but let his opinions
he his own and not second-hand. Poverty of means may be caused
by others—poverty of thought is idleness or baseness of our own.
The world, except to the masters of armies, is no longer an oyster
to be opened with a sword—all conquests there by the people re
quire thought. The upward avenues of society are guarded by
the dragons of Privilege and Success. Industry may present
itself, but intellect is its passport. Self-thought, which is the
original name for Freethought, therefore, is the first means of
self-help. He who fails to exercise Freethought is defenceless—
he who relinquishes it is despised, even by those who encourage
his submission or coerce him to it. The destitute at a mine who
fear to gather the golden ore for which they have gone—the thirsty
at a well who fear to drink of the stream for which they are dying
—they who in danger see escape open to them and yet fear to flee
—are types of him who fears to use his own reason when he should.
Freethought is a primary condition of Truth: we can never
know much unless we are free to inquire into all. Freethought
is the instinct of enterprise—it proceeds, Columbus-like, upon an
f It is not intended to say that a man may disregard the alleged
“Will of God,” or a precept of high human authority, upon mere im
pulse, caprice, conceit, or antagonism. Our words are, “ his own de
liberate judgment (or conviction) of the right.” To act contrary to
this would not be to honour or worship God, but to act the hypocrite
knowingly.
�THE LOGIC OF LIFE.
5
Freethought not an agent of heresy, but of self-defence.
unknown sea to discover new lands. He who sets out knows not
that he may ever return to what he has left behind him, and
those who await his return know not what report of strange
countries he may bring back. The stationaries, the timid, or com
fortable, or component parts of vested interests, always look with
suspicion on the thinker. To-day, or to-morrow—there is no
telling when—he will raise the cry of “ Progress,” and the people
will be setting off, leaving the fixture party behind. The watch
word of the Freethinker is “ Excelsior!” “Higher!” “Forward!”
That of the fettered thinker is ‘ ‘ Lower!” “ Halt!” “ Retrograde!”
“Don’t go too far!” Cl Better to be safe!” The Freethinker is,
however, wiser. He hears the reverberations of Progress in every
footfall of the march of Nature. When the vibration of a social
earthquake is felt, apathy is fatuity. In every wreck of a human
being around us, we witness the falling of some edifice of religious,
social, or political superstition. It is in standing still when all
around is moving, or in going back when all the prudent are
escaping, which constitutes actual danger. If it be “ better to be
safe,” it is better to be a Free Inquirer, whether the object be
personal or public protection. Those who condemn Freethought
as heresy, do not understand that it is self-defence; those who
call it anarchy do not remember that order without progress is
tyranny. But in practising Freethought there may be passion
but not petulance, enthusiasm but not excitement. It must be
patient, persistent, and independent, obviously seeking two things
—truth and deliverance; and the sign of deliverance is indepen
dence, and the grace of independence is courtesy.
But if we claim to take Freethought as a fundamental and com
prehensive principle of action, we must justify the claim. Others
claim also now to act on the same principle, and to be freethinkers.
So much the better if it be so. We desire no exclusiveness here.
We will do injustice to none, but state our own case, and admit
the degree in which others approach to our own rule, and define
and explain what that rule is.
The Roman Catholic even seems to believe in Freethought,
though, as it appears, in a very limited degree, and he never
trusts it as we do. He so fears the independent use of Reason,
that lie only allows the inquirer to use it once, and that is to
light him to the Church; and when he arrives at the door thereof
the Priest meets him, takes the taper of Reason from his hand,
assures him that he will have no further need for that, and the
Priest keeps it henceforth in his possession. Once within the
Church, the Inquirer finds that his reason is never to be had even
on hire ever after. And the Roman Catholic Priest having been
obliged with your soul, soon finds occasion to trouble you for your
body. He cares for you spiritually and temporally, and woe to
that man or that nation whose liberty is in such keeping!
The Evangelical Protestant Priest will, we say it to his credit.
�0
THE LOGIC OF LIFE.
The Catholic, Protestant, and Secular conception of Freethinking.
..eave you considerable political liberty; but lie considers every
jnan utterly depraved by natu.re, and he has little more confidence
than his brother of Rome in the results of Freethought. He in«
deed places the Bible before you, and tells you to use your “ pri
*
vate judgment ” upon it; but he places the Devil on the top of it,
and Eternal Perdition at the bottom of it, and hangs up a Creed
before it, and warns you that if you do not go through the Bible
and come to that Creed, that the dark Gentleman at the top will
pay his respects to you, and conduct you to his subterranean
chambers at the bottom. And this is the Protestant idea of Freethought! This is not often said, it is not always seen to amount
to this by those who act so, and this representation of it will be
denied; but to this Protestant Freethought ever resolves itself in
the English Church, and among all the tribes of Evangelical Dis
senters.
Freethought, as the Secularist understands it, differs from the
Roman Catholic and Protestant conception of it. Freethought
from the Secular point of view, is not pride of reason (if that be
*
wrong), it is the use of reason. It is not caprice or wantonness,
or stiflf-neckedness, or wickedness, or rebellion, or enmity against
God. It is the duty of inquiry—it is rebellion against Ignorance—
it is enmity against Error. Freethinking is not “loose thinking,”
as the Rev. Charles Kingsley perversely puts it. It is the quiet,
resolute, and two-sided search for Truth without fear of the Bible,
the Priest, or the Devil—or what in these days is the same thing,
fear of that social intolerance, that tyranny of the majority, which
frightens many people as much. Freethought is sensible, not
sensual; it is fearless wherever error has to be attacked or truth
to be discovered. It proves all things, with Paul; or it proves
them in spite of Paul, if need be; it inquires if the Bible permits,
and it inquires if the Bible forbids. Its inspiration is self-develop
ment ; its object is truth; its reward self-protection; its hope
progress; its spirit is reverent and resolute.
Secular Freethought is the assertion of mental liberty. It is
the beginning of intellectual life and manhood. It is the first
step from mental slavery. It is the indication that a man is
setting up in the world of opinion on his own account. Freethought signifies free trade in intellect. It is the proof that a
man is not a toy or a tool, but that he has something in him. It
is a sign of self-respect and emulation. It implies a sense of res
ponsibility to God on the part of those who are Theists, and to
Conscience, to Truth, and to Society, on the part of him who is
not. And he who seeks to arrest Freethought by penalties, by
opprobrium, or disapproval, is the enemy of his kind, of their
liberty, growth, and development, whatever may be his motives^
base or honest.
___________________________________
* I never could see that the “ pride of reason ” is anything wrong.
To take pride in the noblest endowment of man is a good sign.
�THE LOGIC OF LIFE.
Truth the first consequent of Fireetliought.
Truth is the first issue of Freethought—certainly the first object
that the Freethinker sets before him. The miracles and wonders
of nature and life incite to thought, and to solve with requisite
advantage any mystery, thought must be free. Freethought is
but a means, truth the end. But if we lose sight of the means,
we may never reach the end. People who think for us, some
times do for us. Self-thought is policy as well as duty.
Why do we want Freethought? Plainly for self-protection
and power—and the power is the power of truth. Freethought
is labour and responsibility, irksome and onerous. It is a luxury
to lie down without ideas. One might bless the priest or politician
who would undertake the labour of thinking. The Church of
Rome, or the reign of Despotism and Toryism, is the paradise of
the lazy, the reckless, the sensual, and the supine. Freethought is
intrepidity and duty. It is the instinct of Secular and Political
safety. Freethought is the revolt of manhood, conscience, dili
gence, and the noble thirst for truth.
The definition of Truth given by Samuel Bailey is probably the
simplest and widest that can be found :—“ Truth is a term by
which is implied accuracy of knowledge and of inference.”* The
meaning here is obvious and practical. Let us inquire into the
nature of its legitimate significance. “ I am a lover, utterer, and
observer of the Truth.” How many make this boast! All in
some way think themselves entitled to make it; yet how few un
derstand what is meant by this high profession !
Let a man resolve that he will seek the truth, speak the truth,
and act the truth : what an education lies in that resolve! To
seek the truth implies the power of distinguishing it. It implies
calmness, observation, penetration, and impartiality. The ex
cited discern nothing distinctly; the unobservant miss half of
that which is to be seen; those who lack sagacity are imposed
upon by counterfeits; the partial see only half a truth, and never
know which half. The study of the truth is the study of the Real.
The real, for practical purposes, may be described as that which
we can verify by the senses and enable others to verify, or as that
of which we can furnish to others the conditions of its reproduc
tion ; which may be submitted to the most searching investigation
and experiment. Accuracy of observation is the beginning of
truth. Error is the misapprehension of nature—disaster is mis
taking the way to it. All thoughtful life is a search for the real;
all philosophy is the interpretation of it; all progress is the attain
ment of it; all art is the presentment of it; all science the mastery
of it. Here the question arises, What is the test of the real ?
How do we know that we know it ? For the purposes of ordi
nary certainty about it, we require to be able to identify the thing
we mean; to show it or demonstrate it to others; to challenge
Essay on the Pursuit of Truth, chap, i., p. L
�8
THE LOGIC OF LIFE.
The profession of Truth, and what it involves.
their resources to combat it; to dare their judgment upon it; to
give them the means of testing it; to conquer prejudice by its
force and scepticism by its proofs. In fine, in some way or other
to display or explain the immediate causation of phenomena.
Men are never satisfied—never feel beyond the chances of delusion
till then. If any one would see the influence of a simple prin
ciple like that of the search for truth over character, let him reflect
merely on the ordinary processes which common sense and com
mon power may adopt for the acquisition of truth. By observa
tion the materials of thought are collected. When we can identify
facts they become knowledge, which, as Whately was first to
teach, implies truth, proof, and conviction. When knowledge
becomes methodised, and assumes the form of science, it becomes
for the first time power. This, however, occurs late, because
science is the hardest step in attainments. It is popular to talk
of science, but science is not popular. Its strictness, its care, its
patience, its discipline, its caution, its experiments—various, la
borious, and incessant—imply qualities of which the populace,
generally speaking, are deficient. A high state of general culture
must be reached before science can be popular. Thus the pro
fession of “seeking” the truth involves the question of self
education.
Next, the resolution “ to speak” the truth tells advantageously
upon a man’s character—no undertaking is nobler. A man rises
in his own esteem the moment he enters upon it, and in that of
others as soon as he is seen acting up to his profession. Falsehood
is the mark of meanness, cowardice, and slavery the world over. A
lie is the brand of servitude. In every part of the world we in
stinctively despise the race that is weak enough to lie. The mob
are false before they are contemned. Truth is the child of courage
as •well as of honour. The high-spirited alone are habitually
frank. It is weakness to affect singularity, but it is worse than
weakness not to be singular, if the singularity lie in acting out a
conviction of the right. Better even be eccentric than false. It
is sometimes dangerous to dissent from the public, and painful to
dissent from your friends. It is often very expensive to have an
opinion of your own, and avow it; but the partizan of truth must
be content to brave many penalties; and he is badly educated in
his art if he be not apprised of this. He must leave to valetudi
narian moralists to utter timid, base, and comfort-seeking acquiescences, in the hypocrisies of sects and society.
One whose noble words have been an inspiration to the workman
of this age, and who, above all writers, has invested art and industry
with higher purposes than were felt before, tells us that “ there are
some faults slight in the sight of love, slight in the estimate of wis
dom ; but truth forgives no insult and endures no stain. We do not
enough consider this, nor enough dread the slight and continual oc
casions of offenceagainst her. We are too much in the habit oflook-
�THE LOGIC OF LIFE.
9
Mr. Ruskin’s delineation of the lies which harm.
ing at falsehood in its darkest associations and through the colour of
its worst purposes. That indignation which we profess to feel at
deceit absolute, is indeed only at deceit malicious. We resent
calumny, hypocrisy, and treachery because they harm us, not
because they are untrue. Take the detraction and the mischief
from the untruth, and we are little offended by it; turn it into
praise, and we may be pleased with it. And yet it is not calumny
nor treachery that does the largest sum of mischief in the world,
they are continually crushed and felt only in being conquered.
But it is the glistening and softly-spoken lie; the amiable fallacy ;
the patriotic lie of the historian, the provident lie of the politician,
the zealous lie of the partizan, the merciful lie of the friend, and
the careless lie of each man to himself, that cast that black mys
tery over humanity, through which any man who pierces, we
thank as we would thank one who dug a well in a desert; happy
in that the thirst for truth still remains with us even when we
have wilfully left the fountains of it.”*
The courage of Truth also implies purity; because the utter
ance of truth implies the power of publicity. Now a man who
undertakes “ to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth ” on all occasions, must take care what he thinks and
what he knows. He must keep watch and ward over his thoughts
and his ears. There is sometimes tragedy in the resolution.
Lucius Junius Brutus had to condemn his own sons; the father
of Jeannie Deans to hang his own daughter. No virtue tries a
man’s soul like incorruptible and uncompromising veracity, nor
tries it so frequently.
Unless truth becomes the very essence of personal character, the
highest appeal of the moralist is without effect. The golden
injunction in Hamlet—
To thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man,
implies that man himself must be true, or the response of his
nature will be untrue. The true echo of a false nature will be
false. You can only trust the true.
There is however capacity as well as purity implied in the pur
suit and utterance of truth. He who succeeds must know how to
test a rumour, how to avoid being imposed upon by report. He
must be cautious and wary ; suspicious of the lurking prejudice
which unconsciously distorts; quick to detect omissions in state
ments, and able by preserving measure in his own thoughts, to
repel exaggerations by instinct. He requires to judge look, tone,
language, and logic. He who undertakes to utter only the truth
undertakes not to be imposed upon by the prepossessions, malice,
* John Buskin.
�16
THE LOGIC OF LIFE.
Exactness the only measure of strength.
incompetence, or sophistry of others; else he becomes a mere
retailer of falsehood second-hand. On his own part also there are
some requirements. The truth-speaker should be master of the
art of explicit statement. He should know the value of terms and
the force of speech. He requires to explain to others not only
what he means, so that they can understand it; but, as Cobbett
puts it, “ so that they cannot possibly misunderstand it,” other wise he misleads them in spite of himself. A truth speaker must
look all round his statements to be sure that there is nothing dis
coloured reflecting a false light; nothing redundant which over
states ; nothing deficient which obscures; nothing ambiguous
which cau leave a doubt. A piece of meaning, properly expressed,
is incapable of being abridged, else it is too long : it is incapable
of being amplified, else it is too brief: the very terms are un
changeable. else they were not well chosen. The perfect expression
of a thought is a work of art, and when perfect is a study and a
delight. We see in Beranger how a studious fitness of expression
was a part of his genius. A man who has judgment to cast, and,
if need be, recast his language, may attain excellence. This suc
cess costs no money; it costs only reflection; and it may be done
at the workshop as well as in the study. If it be worth while
speaking at all, it is worth while speaking to some purpose. He
who strives to do everything well may do little; but that little
will be worth mu eh. It is a great gain to guard against that
voluble feebleness which enervates your own mind, and wastes the
time of others.
Let a man be clear as to what he really knows, and confine
himself to that, and lock round and note the effect of what be is
saying on those who credit his words, and he will often find silence
a virtue and a mercy. We make tragedies every day by our
speech. Some words are like poisoned arrows, and affect fatally
the blood of those pierced by them.
But if the policy of truth has difficulties, it has also advantages,
which ambition itself might covet. A mau whose words are
measured and independent, and can be trusted, makes a place for
himself in the esteem and deference of his contemporaries which
no other qualities can win. All exactness (if I may repeat, for
the sake of illustration here, what I have said elsewhere) imposes
restriction; but exactness is strength. The rustic dancer, who is
the admiration of the village green, hesitates to take a step in the
presence of the dancing master ; the confident instructor of the
private class faulters before the professed grammarian; the singer
who is rapturously applauded at the evening party, cannot be
prevailed upon to utter a note at a concert; the provincial actor,
who nightly “ brought down the house ” in Richard the Third, is
timorous in a rehearsal before Macready, Phelps, or Fechter; the
orator who sets the country on fire, stammers in the House of
Commons, finding that, as Canning said, “the atmosphere in which
�THE LOGIC OF LIFE.
11
independence a second consequence of Frcethoaght.
the demagogue shrinks to his natural dimensions.” These per
sons, once placed in higher society than their own, are in that light
where their defects can be seen ; and, what is more to the purpose,
where they cannot be hidden. The single step which is right;
the single sentence wThich is correct; the single note which is
perfect; the single passage rendered by the actor with cultivated
success; the shortest speech which has the grace of close sense
and suitable delivery, is a source of more confidence to the indi
vidual, and gives him more power to eommand the applause of
all whose applause is worth having, than all gyrations, display,
screaming, gabble, gesticulation, and declamation, which make up
the bulky acquisitions of the novice, the pretender, or the quack.
The moment we step into the circle of those better informed than
ourselves, we feel our deficiencies, and are suddenly contracted
down to the little that we really know. A man may deceive those
who know less than himself, or the same as himself, but he can
never deceive those who know more. Knowledge once challenged,
pierces instantly through the thickest cloak ingenious ignorance
can put on. Our actual knowledge, whatever it is, is the measure
of our actual power; and to know what that knowledge is, is to
know upon what we can rely. Truth alone is strength. As
*
Shakspere makes Mark Anthony say—
Who tells me true,
Though in the tale lie death,
I hear him as he flattered.
*
Independence is one of the high attributes of character which
the passion for truth begets as the necessity of the enjoyment of
its conquests. Independence is self-direction, self-sustainment,
but not lawlessness. It is freedom from vice, from ignorance and
superstition, from the tyranny of all power and all opinion which
violate reason and nature. It is admitted that independence so
perfect is unattainable in existing society, yet the adequate con
ception of it will assist those who desire to approximate to it.
We must not, however, suppose that there is such a thing as ab
solute independence. Independence is relative only. Man is
dependent on Nature for existence and subsistence; on the ob
servance of the laws of nature and the laws of society, legal,
social, and moral, for they are necessary for his development,
culture, happiness, and security.
Independence, as it is possible to the emulative, is attainable in
two ways; one by abridging our wants to the minimum com-
* Elsewhere I have quoted these lines, to which I am attached; and
the preceding passage occurs in another work, and I have no excuse for
repeating it except its relevance to the argument. In this licence I
follow the example of Archbishop Whately; but what has not been
forgiven in him who has the right of genius to repetition, is infinitely
less likely to be pardoned in me.
�12
THE LOGIC OF LIFE.'
Independence is self-direction and self-sustainment.
patible with wealth, the other by acquiring ample means for the
gratification of the wants we elect to retain. Of course the shortest
way is by the simplification of wants, and most persons have
something to gain by this course.
Government is necessitated by the tendency of men to injustice,
disorder, and excess. A just man capable of self-direction and
self-control, is independent of government in his own case. Rulers
are necessitated by the blind, vicious, and violent. A weak man is
at the mercy of the strong, hence a lover of independence seeks
strength and skill as resources. Intelligent love of independence will
influence personal education in many ways. In point of knowledge
the independent man endeavours to put himself on a level with
those around him, that he may not be imposed upon by the
cunning, nor defeated by the subtle, nor borne down by superiors.
Ignorance is slavery, and he acquires knowledge that he may be
free. He practises economy in the use of hi3 means—he lives
within his income, that he may be above the necessity of extreme
labour, which is serfdom. Aman’s private habits are revised when
he is animated by a spirit of independence. He chooses truth be
cause it is simple and brave, rather than falsehood, which is per
plexing and cowardly. Temperance is not with him an arduous
virtue of self-denial; but is part of that policy by which he pre
serves health, means, liberty, and power. A true freeman will
not be the slave of dress, of stimulants, or of diet, or doctors, or
custom, or opinion, any more than the slave of priests or kings.
To cover a neglect of duty, a loss of time, a defect in work-—to
conceal a petty abstraction or an overcharge—what lies, prevari
cations, and deceptions, employers often detect in the working
class. For what petty and fleeting advantages the independence
of veracity is thoughtlessly sacrificed ! The employer may be
guilty of this as well as the employed. There is often meanness
in the counting-house as well as in the workshop. The tradesman
may overcharge as well as the customer higgle; but this conduct
bears the same mark in each class: it is the badge of the slave
spirit all round.
Again, independence implies self-possession as well as selfrespect. He who is excited is no longer master of himself. He can
neither see his way nor take it if he sees it. Events, real or imagi
nary, are driving him ; he has forfeited self-direction—his liberty
is lost.
Independence also exercises other influences. Independence
must fluctuate unless there be security around. But to attain
this there must be fairness and justice to others, or antagonisms
will arise; well founded, and therefore inveterate, which .will
occupy the passions imperiously, and such stimulated and coerced
occupation is a species of slavery. Independence, therefore, un
derstood as a consistent principle, is a check upon the lawlessness
or excesses of liberty. Liberty is no longer a capricious shout
�THE LOGIC OF LIFE.
13
The principle of courtesy is the consideration of others,
taken up in irritation and persisted in in antagonism; but is a
manly, positive, persistent, and rational principle, having inspiration
and purpose—influencing personal and public character.
Courtesy is that quality of Freethought which gives to truth
its agreeableness and to independence its grace.
Without
courtesy Freethought may be perverted into wanton aggression,
truth into outrage, independence into rudeness. Conviction of
every kind must be associated with the consideration due to others,
a desire of service and a feeling of kindness to others. Conviction,
service, and kindness to others must be regarded as inseparable.
Separate them and there is danger. “ Conviction” by itself, how
ever sincere, may be ferocity, as was the case with the Puritans;
“ service” alone may become selfishness; “kindness” alone may
become weakness. Free inquiry pursued on the principle of
self-protection is invincible; made an annoyance to others it is
endangered; truth made disagreeable is betrayed; independence
which is inconsiderate of others is insolence. Bluster, objuration,
rudeness, are the crimes which cowardice, ignorance, and selfish
ness commit. If justice and considerateness to others were
widely cultivated, there would be no need of charity in the world.
If a man hate the world, the world can acquit itself by multi
tudinous retaliation. If a man will profess indifference to the
world, he may perish amid the omnipresent apathy he invokes.
But if he would serve the world, or endeavour toserve it, mankind
may not reciprocate the disposition, but such a man alone has
established a claim upon their good offices.
There is one mode of success in the world in which ambition is
itself legitimate, a mode of success available to all, in which there
is little competition; it is the unselfish service of others. The
avenues to this kind of promotion are open always and open to all,
and the porches are never crowded. Thus courtesy is good sense
as well as good feeling. The indispensability of courtesy every one
upon reflection may see. By its own nature independence is un
social. It sets up for itself, acts for itself. It proposes to keep
other persons at a distance. Its principle is to owe nothing to
others, and is therefore under no obligation to oblige them. It is
self-reliant and defiant. Without courtesy independence is re
pulsive. But courtesy practised by the independent wears the air
of chivalry.
Courtesy implies fortitude and justness. Without fortitude to
bear much himself, a person will impose or obtrude on others a
consciousness of his sufferings, at times when it will extinguish
their enjoyment, and in no way relieve his own. It implies a
sense of justness in this way^—No man, unless he is always
judicially wary and inquiring, can determine the guilt of his
neighbour in suspicious cases, and a man always on the judg
ment-seat is a nuisance. A detective dogging you is not au
agreeable follower; a detective friend is a sort of private police
man. Courtesy is trusting and unsuspicious.
�14
THE LOGIC OF LIFE.
Courtesy is something distinct from etiquette and politeness.
It is to be understood that, by courtesy, I do not mean mere
etiquette, compliments, or conventional politeness, which may co
exist with hypocrisy and hateful selfishness. I do not mean a
ceremony, but a sentiment. By courtesy, I mean service—the
disinterested service of others in thought, speech, and act. I
mean that sentiment which, in the family circle, in company, in
society, in all human intercourse, pauses to ask, “ How can I pro
mote, or avoid impairing, the personal comfort or convenience of
others ?” Courtesy is often shown more by what it does,not dp,
than by what it does. The thoughtless word, the irritating tone,
the vexatious remark, anger, and impatience; observations upon
the appearance or manners of others, which do not affect us, nor
injure us, nor concern us, and which we are not called upon to
correct, and which are part of the proper personal liberty of
others—these are the wanton crimes of social tyrants, from whom
there is no escape. This is misery which all have the power to
inflict, and many inflict it all their lives without appearing to
know it. The simple and considerate omission of these things
would be true courtesy, though no acts of kindness or attention
were added. Courtesy may be known by this—it gives what
your neighbour or your friend cannot ask ; the grace of it con
sists in this—that it volunteers what cannot be exacted. The
poorest man who understands it may distribute around him the
riches of enjoyment. It needs no wealth but that of the,, mind,
and is the sign of a nobler character than wealth itself. Wealth
is but the emblem of refinement; courtesy is the possession of it.
Independence consults its own interests. Courtesy consults that
of others. The difference between etiquette and courtesy may
be seen in this—etiquette lies no deeper than the manners, cour
tesy has its seat in the judgment; one is the creature of the
accredited custom of the hour; the other is a dictate of moral
thoughtfulness. Etiquette is conventionality, courtesy is a con
viction. Mere etiquette begins in politeness and ends in proprie
ties ; it is fair spoken to your face, and may scoff at you, defame
you, and revile you behind your back; while true courtesy denotes,
the spirit; it is honesty as well as kindness; it is the same in
your absence as in your presence. It pays unseen compliments; if it
professes regard, it is a perpetual regard upon which you may count.
Such are some of the obvious significations involved in the fami
liar terms, Freethought, Truth, Independence, and Courtesy. In
pointing them out, I have no doubt laid myself open to the objection
of all who have something to excuse in themselves, and of others
who have not reflected upon the subject; that I set up a standard
so high that ordinary men, despairing of attaining excellence,
will be discouraged from attempting improvement. To such I
answer, that I do not exact perfection; I only give information,
and contend that every man should understand the nature and
purport of his own profession, for no one is likely ever to advance
unless he is made clearly conscious of what it is that he ought, in
�THE LOGIC O? LIFE.
15
The principles of a Secular Logic of Life.
consistency, to attempt. If he does mean what his words imply,
he will not object to be judged by them. If he does not mean
that, let him choose other terms which express what he does
mean, and no longer dilute high words with weak meanings.
The reason why great words grow pale in the memory of men,
and tame in their influence, is because their high significance is
not insisted upon. I hold that it may be no reproach that a man
does not excel ; but it is a reproach if he never strives after
excellence, and does not even know in what it consists. But
how can any one be expected to strive after it, unless it be shown
to him ? The majority of men do not do their duty, because they
have never been clearly shown what their duty is.
I sum up the Logic of Life in four inter-dependent things,
easy to remember, essential to practise, and which I endeavour
explicity to insist upon—namely, Freethought Truth, Indepen
dence, Courtesy.
Freethought is self-instruction and self-defence. Truth is
guidance, discipline, and mastery. Independence is self-direction
and security. Courtesy is tenderness and courage, and a perpetual
letter of recommendation, which each may provide for himself,
everybody respect. These are personal qualities that must under
lie all manly character: they are as inseparable from, and as
essential to, excellence, as temperance to health, as exercise to
growth, as air and food to life. These are qualities which ought
to exist in all conditions, and which are possible in the lowest.
The points which I have enumerated comprise a Logic of Life
which can be self-acquired, and is, therefore, as possible to him
who graduates in a workshop—to whom the priceless advantages
of learning are unknown—as to him who graduates in a college.
In the school of experience to which all the world go, every
scholar may be proficient, who has the sagacity to observe and
the patience to think. Of course a man may know with advantage
more than the four things I have enumerated, but he ought not to
know less ; and he will be able to conduct his life with intelligence
and dignity if he knows as much.
Of the connection of these views with the future little need be
said. He who lives a life of truth and service is always fitted to
die. If a religion of reason exists, it is one in which priests, have
no monopoly of interest, and God no sectarian partialities—it is
one in which work is worship, and good intent the .passport to sal
vation.
This is not an argument against Christianism. It is one inde
pendent of it. It dpes not question the pretensions of Christianity,
it advances others. Christianity may even indulge in an exagge
rated estimate of its powers and influences. Nothing is here said
to the contrary. Undoubtedly Christianity is a Logic of Life to
those who accept it. This argument is addressed to those who do
not, Christianity may claim to appeal to noble passions, and to
�1ft
THE LOGIC OF LIFE.
The relation of the whole argument to Christianity.
inspire lofty hopes, but it cannot deny that there are other prin
ciples, other appeals, other guidance independently of it.
An intrepid, two-sided Freethought is hardly the growth of
Christian soil. It is one thing to tolerate inquiry, it is quite a dif
ferent thing to inculcate inquiry as a duty. Secularism regards
the love of truth as native to the heart of man—as an instinct of
human nature—as deeper than Christianity—as the austere power
of character which bends all influences before it: which exists in
dependently, acts independently, and acts for ever. The simple
precept, seek the truth, respect the truth, speak the truth, and live
the truth, is one without which no character can be perfect; and
*
it is one which will make a character for a man though he never
read a line of theology, never listened to a single sermon, never
entered the portals of a church.
Mental independence can scarcely be said to be cultivated by
Christianity. All Evangelical religion is the wail of helplessness.
It teaches that self-reliance, that iron string to which all noble
pagan hearts have vibrated, in all ages of the world, is mere sinful
self-sufficiency. Yet an intelligent sentiment of Independence,
which trusts the right, works for the right, which guards and holds
it, is a lion precept, considerate, equitable, impassable.
It would be well wrere I wrong in maintaining that courtesy is an
independent Secular sentiment. Unfortunately popular Christianity
recognises no sincerity, no good intention in opponents. It keeps
no terms with unbelievers. An outrage upon them it regards as
faithfulness to Christ. It still denies them social recognition and
civil rights.
• >
It is necessary, therefore, to find other ground of inspiration
and guidance, and such Secular Freethought furnishes. There iff
reason to maintain that soon after a man makes the simple pro
fession of Freethought, and understands all that that implies, and
acts up to it, he becomes another person, that his whole character
changes, and his whole mind begins to grew, and never ends till
death.
' The Principle of Freethought, with its consequents of Truth,
of Independence, of Courtesy, is capable of influence for good
where Theology is detrimental or powerless. I do not say, nor
assume (my argument does not require it), that there is no light
or guidance elsewhere; but I do say what is sufficient for the
purpose, and what I maintain is—that there is light and guidance
here ; that the light of Nature is neither dim nor flickering, but
bright and steady: that those who accuse Secularism of being
merely negative; who allege that it pulls down and does not build
up; that its instinct is to destroy, and that it has no capacity for
construction ; that it points out what is wrong and never what is
right; that it finds fault, and never commits itself to the respond
sibility of indicating what should be or might be; accuse Secu
larism without knowledge or accuse it in suite of it.
�
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The logic of life, reduced from the principle of freethought
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Holyoake, G.J.
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 16 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Thirteenth thousand edition. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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Austin & Co.
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1870
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Free thought
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Free Thought
Life
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Text
THE REASONER.
EDITED BY G.
No. 888.]
J.
HOLYOAK E.
LONDON, NOVEMBER i, 1868.
Price id.
“I am by the law of my nature a Reasoner. A person who should suppose I meant by that word,
an arguer, flPOuld not only not understand me, but would understand the contrary of my meaning.
I can tak^to interest whatever in hearing or saying anything merely as a fact—merely as
having happened. I must refer to something within me before I can regard it with any curiosity
or care. I require in everything a reason why the thing is at all, and why it is there or then rather
than elsewhere or at another time.”—S. T. Coleridge.
THE PRIESTHOOD OF SCIENCE: THEIR VISIT TO NORWICH.
NEW thing has occurred in the history of the old City, which has
seen many strange things in its time. The British Association for
the Advancement of Science has paid Norwich a visit, and has been
as cordially welcomed, as hospitably entertained, and as civilly treated,
as in any city into which it has travelled. Indeed Mr. Harvey and
Lady Henrietta Harvey, entertained the Members at Crown Point in a
Royal way. By day the grounds were resplendent with gaiety, by night
radiant with fire, accompanied by a costly profusion which knew no
limits, of all that the daintiest appetite could appreciate : and in addition
Mr. Harvey made no speeches and asked none in return ; so that the
philosophic digestion was never disturbed by untimely efforts at coining
phrases of thanks. This was a refinement of philosophic hospitality un
exampled in my experience. The Mayor’s (Mr. J. J. Coleman) final
dinner, truly, left upon the minds and palates of the guests, pleasant
recollections of the civic hospitality of the ancient city of Churches.
And what a pleasant old city of Churches, Norwich is. Ecclesiastical
genius once dwelt there. The old , temples, were no bare Bethels, but
such as a man of taste could worship God in. Even Dissenting Chapels
caught an air of grace which they lack in other places. Still having
regard to the prodigious number of Churches in the City, it is hard to
resist the impression that Norwich must at one time been as wicked as
Gomorrah; and when the population was scanty there must have been a
Church to every family. Certainly a grim taste dwelt among the
citizens once, when they hung up the Ketts alive—one on the Castle
and the other brother on Wymondham Steeple. There must have
been a revolting vigour in the pious stomach, which could look up
morning after morning and calculate how long the famishing wretch
would last in his irons: and go in to pray with the consciousness of that
ghastly agony writhing over the altar. Then there was that ugly hole
the Lollard’s Pit, where they roasted any man who had an opinion of
his own, as to the faith which he thought most acceptable to God.
Even gentlemen and women were scorched, who declined to enter
A
No. I. EIGHTH SERIES.
�2
REASONER REVIEW.
heaven in the Norwich way, and if any bystander expressed pity for
so forlorn an end, the clergy fried him on the shortest notice, until his
sympathies evaporated. Even now in the reverberations of the old
trees you may detect fragments of shrieks of the writhing wretches.
All this took place at the back of the Bishop’s palace, and his Grace of
that day had the scent of smoking heretic wafted into his breakfast
room, and even now in the old carvings and cornices of the Cathedral
the dreadful odour seems to linger. We have, however, come on better
times now. A series of the best Bishops England has known of late
years have filled the see of Norwich, of which the last, Dr. Hinds, has
displayed a brave conscience. But whether in the battle of pikes or
books, there was always pluck in your Norfolk man, whether Knight
or tradesman, priest or rascal.
It is within the recollection of many Norwich men, who inherit the
Lollard courage of thinking for themselves, that Richard Carlile who
was an occasional speaker to the City, used to pray, especially in the
latter portion of his life, that there might arise in England a Priesthood
of Science. It seemed then like the distant dream of a prophet •, but we
have lived to see it realized. The names of Tyndall, Huxley, Hooker,
Darwin, Spencer, Grove, Lewes, Lyell are names which rule in the
realms of thought, as those of priests did of old, but with a distinction
and beneficence no priests ever exercised. The visit of the philosophers
was attended with some spiritual perturbations, but they left behind
them many blessings.
One of the features of the British Association was the Pre-Historic
Society, the President of which was Sir John Lubbock. No word was
so often- pronounced, no placards were so copiously seen, as those of
the pre-historic people. Their very name smelt strongly of heresy.
Many theological nostrils started at it. To investigate the doings of
man before History began was a personal attack upon Moses, and
many good souls thought that a Baronet might be expected to set a better
example. The British Association commenced its career thirty-eight
years ago with only one Christian sign, which nobody desires to imitate
—that of “fear and trembling.” It begged permission to have an
opinion—it apologized next for having one, and several Presidents did
worse—they tried to harmonise the discoveries of Science with the
dogmas of Religion. Of late years, Presidents have put on more of the
dignity of philosophers, and the independence of thinkers, and have
asserted a right to the territory they have conquered. The British
Association in my time, has never had a President with so wholesome
and impassioned a mind as Dr. Hooker. The tones of his voice were
manly and sincere. He spoke like one who cared for Science, and
asserted its dignity with intrepidity no President ever ventured upon
before. . .Mr. Herbert Spencer’s system of philosophy is as Atheistic as
the positive philosophy of Auguste Comte: yet Dr. Hooker did not
hesitate to name the author and to praise him. The author of the
�THE PRIESTHOOD OF SCIENCE.
3
“ Vestiges of Creation” found it necessary to wear a mask, Dr. Darwin
wrote boldly without one, though proving what the other had only
ventured to suggest. Dr. Hooker distinguished Dr. Darwin by grace
ful homage, Though the President holds at Kew an appointment
under the Crown, he did not hesitate to avow opinions by the side of
which, those of Dr. Colenso, the most honoured and heroic of our
Bishops, seems orthodox.
Dr. Hooker, said “ Science has never in its search hindered the
religious aspirations of good and earnest men; nor have pulpit cautions,
which are but ill disguised deterrents, ever turned inquiring minds from
the revelations of Science.” The President knew the ill office the pulpit
had often done Science, and he drew attention to its “ deterrents.” He
did more, he pointed out where the Priest fails us and Science serves
us. These were his bold words: “ A sea of time spreads its waters
jbetween' that period to which the earliest traditions of our ancestors
[point, and that far earlier period, when man first appeared upon the
globe. For his tract upon that sea man vainly questions his spiritual
teachers. Along its hither shore, if not across it, Science now offers to
pilot himS Dr. Hooker then stated the mission and determination of
the natural philosopher. “ Science, it is true/may never sound the
depths of that sea, may never buoy its shallows, or span its narrowest
■creeks, but she will still build on every tide-washed rock, nor will she
deem her mission fulfilled till she has sounded its profoundest depths
and reached its further shore, or proved the one to be unfathomable
and the other unattainable, upon evidence not yet revealed to mankinds
The President next drew the line between the work of the religionist
and students of nature. “The laws of mind are not yet relegated
to the domain of the teachers of physical science, and that the laws of
matter are not within the religious teacher’s province, these may then
work together in harmony and with good-will. But if they would do
this work in harmony, both parties must beware how they fence with
that most dangerous of all two-edged weapons, Natural Theology—a
■science, falsely so called, when, not content with trustfully accepting
truths hostile to any presumptuous standard it may set up, it seeks to
weigh the infinite in the balance of the finite, and shifts its grounds to
meet the requirements of every new fact that Science establishes, and
every old error that Science exposes. Thus pursued, Natural Theology
is to the Scientific man a delusion, and to the religious man a snare,
leading too often to disordered intellects and to Atheism.” Dr. Paley’s
never received so scalping a criticism as this before.
Professor Tyndall who so astonished the “bold Duke of Buccleugh,”
in his famous lecture to the Working-men of Dundee, last year, carried
forward this year in Norwich'—his demonstrations which no one put
more boldly or brilliantly than himself, of the truths which materialism
may count as her own. When I last spoke in Norwich, it was in discussion with my friend Thomas Cooper, who was disconcerted, when I
�4
REASONER REVIEW.
told him, that as an humble student of Nature, I could discern some of
the processes of causation, but could not explain why they occurred 9
and maintained that Theology itself had not imparted any portion of
the secret to him. Now the greatest authority upon Materialistic Phil
osophy—Professor Tyndall—has told the people of Norwich, in the
presence of the most competent tribunal in Europe; that where the
Materialist is mute the Theologist is also dumb. Professor Tyndall
demonstrated, that the Atomic Action of common Salt, is as formative and
instrumental of design as the architect of the Pyramids of Egypt—that
the growth of thought is the result of processes, as definite as the me
chanical growth of the body, and that the agerft of development in Matter
and Mind “ is a power which has feeling, not knowledge for its base.’l
Hitherto it had been thought the “respectable and proper ” thing
for Scientific men to follow the policy of suppression ; no allusion to the
Atheist was ventured upon. If anything told in favour of the Materialist it
was thought better not to mention his name. Scientific men did not call
him gross or defame him, as a person whose liberal principles pro
ceeded from a loose morality; but they never admitted in high places,
places of public notice, that he had an existence which could be recog
nized or principles that must be taken into account. Professor Tyndall
however, is not one of this order; he did justice to truth, regardless
of “propriety.”—He said in his opening address to his Section:
“ In affirming that the growth of the body is mechanical, and that
thought, as exercised by us, has its correlative in the physics of the
brain, I think the position of the ‘Materialist’ is stated as far as that
position is a tenable one. I think the Materialist will be able finally
to maintain this position against all attacks.”
Two memorable Lectures were delivered in Norwich, one by Pro
fessor Huxley and the other by Mr. Ferguson. A miracle of audacity
was Mr. Ferguson’s Lecture upon Buddhism. Stolid as an Assyriarl
Statue, bronzed with the sun of every clime, Mr. Ferguson told the
story of a great religion which arose ages before Christianity, and
disseminated nobler sentiments, and maintained a career by the side
of which that of Christianity seems poor and petty. This religion which
existed ages before Christianism, taught how pain might be avoided
and life made happy. The great object of the religion was to inculJ
cate kindliness to animals, and above all to establish thoroughly, love
and kindliness among men. One of the edicts of this religion was called
the edict of toleration, and it was one which Christians might with much
propriety follow. It was to the effect that a man must honour his own
faith without blaming that of another, and that there were circumstances
under which the faith of another should be honoured. This Prince
preached the doctrine all over India, and it was by persuasion alone
that it was propagated. There was not a single instance of religious
persecution on the part of this people, although they had to endure
much persecution themselves. Their faith and doctrine was good-wUl
�THE PRIESTHOOD OF SCIENCE.
5
to men, and they never sought to obtain converts to it.” Mr. Ferguson
very quietly said that Christianity might learn a lesson of toleration
from [its memorable and nobler] predecessor. Mr. Ferguson told us
of an old religion, that of the tree and serpent worship, which once
Jcovered the earth, the proofs of which (the best accessible to us) were
locked up forty-five years in a stable, in Whitehall Yard. After
demonstrating the prevalence and antiquity of this extraordinary Faith,
he said in the quietest manner possible, looking the Bishop of Norwich
(who sat near him) in the face. “If this kind of worship had been a
mere local superstition of India, it would be hardly worth his while to
devote so much attention to this point, but I believe that it had pre
vailed in the world from the earliest times. The history of the tree
and the serpent in the book of Genesis, I believe, was a remnant of
that old worship, and the curse of the serpent was a curse of that
impure religion.” Then arises the question ! Why, said Moses nothing
about it? Was Moses ignorant, or why was Moses silent? The
author of Genesis dropped both ages and nations out of his narrative,
and told us nothing of his stupendous omissions. But more wonderful
than the matter, was Mr. Ferguson’s manner. He announced these
revelations, new to the World and wondrous to the Norwich mind,
which takes Moses to be a reliable, historian—in the quietest matter
of fact way, as though each knew that Moses/cOld be nowhere
in his facts, if he read a pre-historic paper aMrojffie British Association.
Dr. Hooker introduced Professor Huxley to thelarge meeting in the
Drill Hall as “a friend of the woAinp'-man whollilP at^trouble to
instruct him.” Without a word of preface, Mr. Huxley said “ if a
shaft were sunk at my feet, deep ijjtp' the eaWhiSthose who conducted
the operation would pass through various strata of earths, but at
length they would arrive at that substance of which every carpenter
carries a piece in his pocket—and which we call ‘ chalk” and for one hour
and a half, he discoursed in language of perfect simplify'and trans
parency, of the diffusion, formation, and marVefi|us age of chalk. The
narrative never halted, and was never obscure. It had no brilliant periods
which illuminated dark passages. It was all light, you saw all along the
line of thought, and over all the vast field through which the Professor
travelled, who ended with a simple, single metaphor of such beauty and
brilliancy that it re-illumed, in a double sense, all the tracks through
which his discourse had extended. He saidjEl have now reached the
end of my task. If I were to take a piece oCTwijand put it into the
dull and obscure flame of burning hydrogen, it would, after a while
be converted into a substance which would shine like the sun, and
which would illuminate on all sided if theseSlalls were not about us,
the darkness of the night without. I have been endeavouring to turn
upon this piece of chalk the heat of by no meaifi a particularly brilliant
course of reasoning, and by degrees, I hope, you helping me, that this
piece of chalk has in an intellectual sense begun to shine, that it has
�6
REASONER REVIEW.
lighted up the remote vista of the past history of the world, that it has
enabled you to get some sort of glimpse into that marvellous and
astonishing history of the planet which we men of Science are trying
patiently and quietly to unravel. And the most important conclusion
of all is that wherever its rays have shone, it has revealed to you,
always working without haste and without rest, Natural Causation?]
A working-man got up and said “they had never heard anything
like that in Norwich before ; they had all been delighted; many had
been instructed; and some, he feared, had been alarmed.” It was
a simple and worthy speech. For never did Science seem so vast and
mere creeds so little, as during Professor Huxley’s masterly discourse.
The Bishop of Norwich said at the Mayor’s Dinner “ he welcomed
men of Science as fellow workmen, as fellow students of different
volumes, occupying different departments of the one Divine Master.”
This is an admission that the field of Science is a Divine department.
“ The great meeting ” he said, “ tended to show that men of faith
should enquire more and men of Science believe more.” It is necessary
advice that “ men of faith should enquire,” men of Science are sure to
believe all that is true. Lamarck when he started the theory of the
origin of species was regarded on all hands as an Atheist and was
treated as one, and Darwin paused twenty years before he ventured
to incur the inheritance of the same odium.
The Rev. J. M. Berkeley, the president of the Biological Section, very
generously defended Dr. Darwin—he said “ nothing could be more
unfair or unwise than to stamp at once this and cognate speculations
with the charge of irreligion. Of this, however, he felt assured, that
the members of that Association would unite with him in bidding that
great and conscientious author, God speed, and join in expressing a
hope that his health might be preserved, to enrich Science with the
results of his great powers of mind and unwearied observation.”
Canon Robinson, who preached at St. John’s, Maddermarket, said,
very liberally, “ that geology teaches us the eternity of God, astronomy
His power, and chemistry His wisdom,while the Bible—His revelation—
speaks to us of His righteousness.” This gives three things to Science—
reserving one to Revelation—a considerable reduction of the magnitude
of theological professions, to which we have been accustomed !
The Dean of Cork made, in his sermon at the Cathedral, concessions
equally remarkable. “We cannot,” he said, “ demonstrate the super
natural. The demonstration of the supernatural is an impossibility: it
is a contradiction in terms. No amount of facts in the world of nature
will ever prove the existence of a world above nature. The very facts
produced to prove the supernatural are supernatural facts; they
are miracles and prophecy. No amount, therefore, of this kind of
evidence would demonstrate the supernatural. Between the man who
believes only what he sees, and the man who believes in order that he
may see, there is a necessary and an endless opposition.”
�THE PRIESTHOOD OF SCIENCE.
7
As for not being able to “ prove the supernatural,” Theologians have
been trying to do it all their lives; and have only just found out
that they- cannot succeed : and the man “ who belives in order that he
may see ” will wear out his faith before he improves his eyesight,
k The Rev. G. Gould preached at St. Mary’s Chapel the most irrelevant
sermon in the Science Week. He, however, admitted that “ Science
may lead us into the secrets of God’s work round about us,” and that
is more than Theology has done. “ But Science,” added Mr. Gould,
“ cannot change the moral nature of man, cannot uplift him of itself
from the degradation into which he may have sunken, through his lusts
and passions, through the caprices in which he has indulged, and the
(mistakes in which he has delighted, that nothing but light from heaven
can irradicate the gloom in which man has immured himself by sin;
nothing but the grace of God, as it is manifested in Christ Jesus, the
light of the world, can at once lay hold of the corrupt human nature,
and by its very teaching purify that nature ; ” Theology, however, has
been so long in trying to do this, and has not done it yet—that
pcience is now entitled to a turn. Even the Earl of Shaftesbury admits
that Spiritural light cannot be expected to grow out of bad material
Conditions, and Science which makes possible good conditions may
“ purify human nature ” faster than Mr. Gould supposes.
The Rev. J. Crompton delivered a lecture worthy of a free Christian
Church and of the occasion that gave rise to it.
In future Free-enquiry in Norwich will have honourable recognition.
The Norfolk News which has not usually been regarded as a Freethinking Journal, wrote upon the subject at the close of the Association
in terms which might be fit for the Reasoner Review or the National
Reformer. It said, “ we therefore strongly urge on our readers the
duty of encouraging the utmost freedom of thought and investigation.
Let no such weakness be exhibited amongst us as some miserable
‘ apologists ’ for Christianity have shown elsewhere, lest something
[may be found out, which ‘ the defenders of the faith ’ would be unable
to answer. They are poor defenders, and that must be a poor faith
which has to supplicate gainsayers, not to gainsay, and sues for mercy
This is boldly and bravely said: it is impossible not to respect Christi
anity when it assumes this frank, fair and courageous tone.
Norwich has an Ecclesiastical atmosphere. If Churches could save
the people the whole county of Norfolk might hope to be translated
to heaven. But in the sacred City itself there are poor, ignorant,
Iniserable and unhealthy people. If every preacher were a teacher,
every creature in Norwich should be well taught. But there are
purlieus no man could wish to see; wretched habitations; courts noisome
with disease; dwellings in which Prince Albert would not have
Buffered his hounds to live. These have grown up with the Churches,
and subsist with them. But a Priesthood of Science would purge the
City in twelve months and make it as intelligent and wholesome as
�REASONER REVIEW.
it is rich in historic renown. Piety has never given the people a park.
Dr. Hooker pleaded for one, but the trust of the people is more in
Mr. Harvey than in the clergy, for the possession of it.
Mr. Ferguson told us that before the time of Asoko, 250 b. c. there
was not in India a single temple worthy of the name, but he taught
the art of gracefulness in such erections. It would be well if the
Free-thinkers of Norwich had some Prince Asoko, who would teach
them that honourable art, for though the temples of Baal do abound,
they have done nothing, as yet, to secure to themselves a place, where
the new cause of Science can be adequately illustrated. The books,
the aims, the news of Science, its moral and liberalising tendencies,
must be entirely unknown to thousands of the inhabitants of Norwich,
and a Society careful of things decent, and afraid of nothing' true,
might open its doors to people who would be grateful for the oppor
tunity of reading and hearing. It is likely that persons of very
opposite opinions would carry into effect a plan by which the humbler
men of all parties would benefit.
The people of Norwich have now the means of judging of the
relative value of men of Creeds, and men of Science. The Clergy save
souls—men of Science save lives, and by improving human conditions
of existence, save from sin which endangers souls: and the people
of Norwich will now see how different is their mode of proceeding.
How timid and supplicatory the one—how manly, how confident the
other—how commanding in its influence is this Priesthood of Science !
Its language how courageous, its tone how independent! The priest
begins with a prayer for help, in addition to his own strength, he
invokes supernatural aid—he points a collect like a Chassepot rifle
at the head of the hearer. The Dissenting minister piles prayer upon
prayer, and puts all heaven in a flutter to aid him in his discourse,
and creates such a din of Hymns in the air, that no aspiration of the
philosopher can be heard as it ascends.
But the man of Science imitates none of these arts of feebleness:
he tells his straightforward story, he adduces his facts and trusts to
reason to give him the victory. He appeals to no terror, he raises
no fear, he scolds no hearer; he does not tell him that he is
stiff-necked, or rebellious, or that he withholds his assent from
depravity of heart.
The Priest of Science is proud and decent
in language, and asks nothing from his hearer, but attention. This was
a new tone in Norwich, and it will be long before the memory
of it dies away.
G. J. H.
The subject of the Next Number will be WORKING-CLASS REPRE
SENTATION. Published November 15, 1868.
’
LONDON BOOK STORE, 282, STRAND.
�
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Text
THE
Logic of Death,
Qi, fclju sfyonlb i^re
fear to
?
By G. J. Holyoake.
“Even in the 'last dread scene of all’ personal conviction Is sufficient to produce
calmness and confidence. There was one, who for three months suffered agonies
unutterable, who evAla-imod in his anguish, ‘ So much torture, O God, to trill a
poor worm! Yet if by one word I could shorten this misery, I would not say it.
And at lasi^ folded his arms, and calmly said, ‘ Now I die!’ Yet this man was
an avowed infidel, and worse, an apostate priest.”—Spoken by Father Nbwmah
yn the Oratory of St. Philip Neri) of Blanco White.
[EIGHTIETH THOUSAND—
ENLARGED AND REVISED EDITION.]
LONDON:
AUSTIN & Co., JOHNSON’S COURT, E.C.
1870.
PRICE
ONE
PENNY.
�il
' I1'
Hi
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�THE LOGIC OF DEATH
When the cholera prevailed in London in 1848, many were carried
away without opportunity or power to testify to the stability of
those conclusions which had been arrived at when life was calm, and
the understanding healthy. The slightest summary of opinions,
concientiously prepared, would have been sufficient to prevent mis
representation after death, provided the person who had drawn up
such statements had strength to revert to them, and to make some sign
that a conviction of their correctness remained. Mr. Hetherington
and myself drew up brief statements of tenets which appeared to us
to be true. He, as we know, sealed his in death. In several lectures
delivered, at the time when no man could calculate on life an hour,
I recited the grounds on which the Atheist might repose, and it has
since appeared that their publication would be useful. The book, of
which a second volume has since appeared, entitled 4 The Closing
Scene,’ by the Rev. Erskine Neale (in which the old legends about
infidel death-beds are revived), lauded by the Times, and patronised
by the upper classes, is proof that there are some priests going up and
down like roaring lions, seeking consciences which they may devour,
and proof of the necessity of some protest on this subject.
Since my trial before Mr. Justice Erskine, in 1842,1 have in some
measure been identified with sceptics of theology, and many ask the
opinions of such on death. If the world ask in respect, or curiosity,
or scorn, I answer for myself alike respectfully and distinctly. I love
the world in spite of its frowning moods. For years I have felt
neither anger nor hatred of any living being, and I will not advisedly
resuscitate those distorting passions through which we see the errors
of each other as crimes.
In my youth I was in such rude contact with the orern realities of life,
that the visions with which theology surrounded my childhood were
eventually dispelled, and now (so far as I can penetrate to it) I look
at destiny face to face. Cradled in suffering and dependence, I was
emboldened to think, and I took out of the hands of the churches,
where I was taught to repose them, the great problems of Life, Time,
and Death, and attempted the solution for myself. It was not long
hidden from me that if I followed the monitions of the pulpit, the
�4
THE EOGJC OF DEATH.
Those who must answer for themselves, have the right to think for themselves.
responsibility was all my own : that at the ‘ bar of God,’ before which
I was instructed all men must one day stand, no preacher would take
my place if, through bowing to his authority, I adopted error. As I,
therefore, must be reponsible for myself, I resolved to think for
myself—and since no man would answer for me, I resolved that no
man should dictate to me the opinion I should hold: for he is impo
tent indeed, and deserves his fate, who has not the courage to act
where he is destined to suffer. My resolution was therefore taken,
and I can say with Burke, ‘ my errors, if any, are my own: I have
[and will have] no man’s proxy.’
In the shade of society my lot was cast, and there I struggled
for more light for myself and brethren. For years I toiled, with
thousands of others, who were never remunerated by the means of
paltriest comfort, and whose lives were never enlivened by real
pleasure. In turning from this I had nothing to hope, nor fear, nor lose.
Since then my days have been chequered and uncertain, but they have
never been criminal, nor servile, nor sad: for the luxury of woe, and the
superfluous refinement of despair, may be indulged in, if by any, by
those only who live in drawing-rooms—sorrow is too expensive an
article to be consumed by the cottager or garreteer. The rightminded in the lowest station may be rich, accepting the wise advice
of Carlyle:—‘ Sweep away utterly all frothiness and falsehood from
your heart: struggle unweariedly to acquire what is possible for every
man—a free, open, humble soul; speak not at all, in any wise, till
you have somewhat to speak; care not for the reward of your
speaking : but simply, and with undivided mind, for the truth of your
speaking: then be placed in what section of Space and of Time soever,
do but open your eyes, and they shall actually see, and bring you
real knowledge, wondrous, worthy of belief.’ Thus have I en
deavoured to see life; and it is from this point of view that I explain
my conceptions of death.
The gates of heaven are considered open to those only who believe
as the priest believes. The theological world acts as if we did not come
here to use our understandings, as if all religious truth was ascertained
2000 years ago, and we are counselled to accept the conclusions of the
Church, on pain of forfeiting the fraternity of men, and the favour of
God. I know the risks I am said to run, but ‘ I am in that place,’ to use
the expression of brave old Knox, ‘ in which it is demanded of me to
speak the truth; and the truth I will speak, impugn it whoso lists.'
And after all, the world is not so bad as antagonism has painted it.
It will forgive a man for speaking plainly, providing he takes care to
speak justly. To give any one pain causes me regret; but, while I
respect the feelings of others, I, as conscience and duty admonish me,
respect the truth more—and by this course I may be society’s friend,
for he who will never shock men may often deceive them.
It becomes me therefore to say that I am not a Christian. If I
could find a consistent and distinctive code of morality emanating
from Jesus I should accept it, and in that sense consent to be called
�THE LOGIC OF DEATH.
fl
The four tenets of the popular theology.
•
Christian. Butl cannot do it. Nor am I a believer in the Inspiration
of the Bible. That which so often falls below the language of men,
I cannot, without disrespect, suppose to be the language of God.
Whatever I find in the Bible below morality (and I find much), I
reject; what I find above it, I suspect; what I find coincident with
morality (whether in the Old Testament or the New), I retain. 1
make morality a standard. I am therefore the student of Moralism
rather than Christianity. It seems to me that there is nothing in
Christianity which will bear the test of discussion or the face of day,
nothing whereby it can lay hold of the world and move it, which is
not coincident with morality. Therefore morality has all the strength
of Christianity, without the mystery and bigotry of the Bible.
But I am not a Sceptic, if that is understood to imply general doubt;
for though I doubt many church dogmas, I do not doubt honour, or
truth, or humanity. I am not an Unbeliever, if that implies the
rejection of Christian truth—since all I reject is Christian error.
There are four principal dogmas of accredited Christianity which I
do not hold:—
1. The fall of man in Eden. 2. Atonement by proxy. 3. The siy
of unbelief in Christ. 4. Future punishment.
A disbeliever in all these doctrines, why should I fear to die ? I
will state the logic of death, as I conceive it, in relation to these
propositions.
1. If man fell in the Garden of Eden, who placed him there ? It is
said, God! Who placed the temptation there ? It is said, God!
Who gave him an imperfect nature—a nature of which it was fore
known that it would fall? It is said, God! To what does this amount?
If a parent placed his poor child near a fire at which he knew it
would be burnt to death, or near a well into which he knew it would
fall and be drowned, would any deference to creeds prevent our giving
speech to the indignation we should feel ? And can we pretend to
believe God has so acted, and at the same time be able to trust him ?
If God has so acted, he may so act again. This creed can afford
no consolation in death. If he who disbelieves this dogma fears to
die, he who believes it should fear death more.
2. Salvation, it is said, is offered to the fallen. But man is not
fallen, unless the tragedy of Eden really took place. And before
man can be accepted by God he must, according to Christians, own
himself a degraded sinner. But man is not degraded by the misfortune
of Adam. No man can be degraded by the act of another. Dis
honour can come only by his own hands. Man, therefore, needs not
this salvation. And if he needed it, he could not accept it. Debarred
from purchasing it himself, he must accept it as an act of grace. But
can it be required of us to go even to heaven on sufferance? We
despise the poet who is a sycophant before a patron, we despise the
citizen who crawls before a throne, and shall God be said to have
less love of self-respect than man ? He who deserves to be saved thus
hath most need to fear that he shall perish, for he seems to deserve it.
�6
THE LOGIC OF DEATH.
The offence of sin reaches not to Deity. Proof by Jonathan Edwards.
3. Then in what way can there be a sin of unbelief ? Is not the
understanding the subject of evidence ? A man, with evidence before
him, can no more help seeing it, or feeling its weight, than a man with
his eyes or ears open can help seeing the stars above him or trees
before him, or hearing the sounds made around him. If a man
disbelieve, it is because his conviction is true to his understanding.
If I.disbelieve a proposition, it is through lack of evidence; and the
act is as virtuous (so far as virtue can belong to that which is inevit
able) as the belief of it when the evidence is perfect. If it is meant
that a man is to believe, whether he see evidence or not, it means that
he is to believe certain things, whether true or false—in fine, that he
may qualify himself for heaven by intellectual deception. It is of no
use that the unbeliever is told that he will be damned if he does not
believe; what human frailty may do is another thing; but the judg
ment is clear, that a man ought not to believe, nor profess to believe,
what seems to him to be false, although he should be damned. The
believer who seeks.to propitiate Heaven by this deceit ought to fear
its wrath, not the unbeliever, who rather casts himself on its justice.
4. There is the vengeance of God. But is not the idea invalidated
as soon as you name it ? Can God have that which man ought not
to have—vengeance ? The jurisprudence of earth has reformed itself;
we no longer punish absolutely, we seek the reformation of the
offender. And shall we cherish in heaven an idea we have chased
from earth ? But what has to be punished ? Can the sins of man
disturb the peace of God? If so, as men exist in myriads, and action is
incessant, then is God, as Jonathan Edwards has shown, the most
miserable of beings and the victim of his meanest creatures. Surely
we must see, therefore, that sin against God is impossible. All sin is
finite and relative—all sin is sin against man. Will God punish
this which punishes itself ? If man errs, the bitter consequences are
ever with him. Why should he err ? Does he choose the ignorance,
incapacity, passion, and blindness through which he errs ? Why is
he precipitated, imperfectly natured, into a chaos of crime ? Is not
his destiny made for him ? and shall God punish eternally that sin
which is his misfortune rather than his fault ? Shall man be con
demned to misery in eternity because he has been made wretched,
and weak, and erring in time ? But if man has fallen at his
conscious peril—has thoughtlessly spurned salvation—has wilfully
offended God—will God therefore take vengeance ? Is God with
out magnanimity? If I do wrong to a man who does wrong to
me, I come down (has not the ancient sage warned me ?) to the
level of my enemy. Will God thus descend to the level of vindic
tive man? Who has not thrilled at the lofty question of Volumnia
to Coriolanus ?—
‘ Think’st thou it honourable for a noble man
Still to remember wrongs?’
Shall God be less honourable, and remember the wrong done against
�THE LOGIC OF DEATH.
|
Christ’s death the great testimony against eternal retribution.
him, not by his equals, but by his own frail creatures ? To be un
able to trust God is to degrade him. Those passages in the New
Testament which we feel to have most interest and dignity, are the
parables in which a servant is told to forgive a debt to one who had
forgiven him; in which a brother is to be forgiven until seventy
times seven (that is unlimitedly): and in the prayer of Christ,
where men claim forgiveness as they have themselves forgiven
others their trespasses.
What was this but erecting a high
moral argument against the relentlessness of future punishment of
erring man ? If, therefore, man is to forgive, shall God do less ?
Shall man be more just than God ? Is there anything so grand in
the life of Christ as his forgiving his enemies as he expired on the
cross ? Was it God the Sufferer behaving more nobly than will God
the Judge? Was this the magnificent teaching of fraternity to
vengeful man, or is it to be regarded as a sublime libel on the
hereafter judgments of heaven ? The infidel is infidel to falsehood, but
he believes in truth and humanity, and when he believes in God, he
will prefer to believe that which is noble of him. Holding by no
conscious error, doing no dishonour in thought, and offering his
homage to love and truth, why should the unbeliever fear to die ?
Seeing the matter in this light, of what can I recant ? The perspicuity
of truth may be dimned by the agonies of death, but no amount of
agony can alter the nature of moral evidence.
To say (which is all I do say) that theology has not sufficient
evidence to make known to us the existence of God, may startle those
who have not thought upon the matter, or who have thought through
others—but has not experience said the same thing to us all ? Where
the intellect fails to perceive the truth, it is said that the feelings
assure us of it by its relieving a sense of dependence natural to man.
How ? Man witnesses those near and dear to him perish before his
eyes, and despite his supplications. He walks through no rose-water
world, and no special Providence smoothes his path. Is not the sense
of dependence. outraged already ?
Man is weak, and a special
Providence gives him no strength—distracted, and no counsel—
ignorant, and no wisdom—in despair, and no consolation—in distress,
and no relief—in darkness, and no light. The existence of God,
therefore, whatever it may be in the hypotheses of philosophy,
seems not recognisable in daily life. It is in vain to say, ‘God
governs by general laws.’
General laws are inevitable fate.
General laws are atheistical. They say practically, ‘ We are without
God in the world—man, look to thyself: weak though thou mayest
be, Nature is thy hope.’ And even so it is. Would I escape the keen
wind’s blast, I seek shelter—from the yawning waves, I look up, not
to heaven, but to naval architecture. In the fire-damp, Davy is
more to me than the Deity of creeds. All nature cries with one voice,
‘ Science is the Providence of man.’ Help lies not in priests, nor in the
prayer : it lies in no theories, it is written in no book, it is contained
in no theological creed—it lies in science, art, courage, and industry.
�8
THE LOGIC OF DEATH.
Atheism suspensive worship.
Some who regard all profession of opinion as a mere matter of
policy, and not of the understanding, will tell me that I can believe as
I please, and that I may call the Deity of theology what name I please:
forgetful that names are founded on distinctions, and that he who does
not penetrate to them is unqualified to decide this matter. It is in
vain to say believe as I please, or entitle things as I please—philoso
phical evidence and classification leave no choice in the matter.
The existence of God is a problem to which the mathematics of
human intelligence seem to me to furnish no solution. On the
threshold of the theme we stagger under a weight of words. We
tread amid a dark quagmire bestrewed with slippery terms. Now
the clearest miss their w.Q,y, w the cautions stumble, now the
strongest fall.
If there be a Deity to whom I am indebted, anxious for my grati
tude or my service, I am as ready to render it as any one existent, so
soon as I comprehend the nature of my duty. I therefore protest
against being Cviisidered, as Christians commonly consider the
unbeliever, as one who hates God, or is without a reverential spirit.
Hatred implies knowledge of the objectionable thing, and cannot
exist where nothing is understood. I am not unwilling to believe in
God, but I am unwilling to use language which conveys no adequate
idea to my own understanding.
Deem me not blind to the magnificence of nature or the beauties of
art, because T Zflerjc’et their language differently from others. I
thrill in the presence^of the dawn of day, and exult in the glories of
the setting sun. Whether the world wears her ebon and jewelled
crown of night, or the day walks wonderingly forth over the face of
nature, to me—
‘ Not the lightest leaf but trembling teems
With golden visions and romantic dreams.’
It is not in a low, but in an exalted estimate of nature that my rejec
tion of the popular theology arises. The wondrous manifestations of
nature indispose me to degrade it to a secondary rank. I am driven
to the conclusion that the great aggregate of matter which we call
Nature is eternal, because we are unable to conceive a state of things
when nothing was. There must always have been something, or
there could be nothing now. This the dullest feel. Hence we arrive
at the idea of the eternity of matter. .And in the eternity of matter
we are assured of the self-existence of matter, and self-existence is the
most majestic of attributes, and includes all others. That which has
the power to exist independently of a God, has doubtless the power to
act without the delegation of one. It therefore seems to me that
Nature and God are one—in other words, that the God whom we
seek is the Nature which we know.
I will not encumber, obscure, or conceal my meaning with a cloud
of words. I recognise in Nature but the aggregation of matter. The
term God seems to me inapplicable to Nature. In the mouth of the
�THE LOGIC OS’ DEATH.
The distinction between the Pantheist and the Atheist.
Theist, God signifies an entity, spiritual and percipient, distinct from
matter. With Pantheists the term God signifies the aggregate of
Nature—but nature as a Being, intelligent and conscious. It is my
inability to subscribe to either of these views which prevents me
being ranked with Theists. I can conceive of nothing beyond
Nature, distinct from it, and above it. The language invented
by Pope, to the effect that ‘we look through Nature up to
Nature’s God,’ has no significance for me, as I know nothing be
sides Nature and can conceive of nothing greater. The majesty of
the universe so transcends my faculties of penetration, that I pause
in awe and silence before it. It seems not to belong to man to com
prehend its attributes and extent, and to affirm what lies beyond it.
The Theist, therefore, I leave; but while I go with the Pantheist so
far as to accept the fact of Nature in the plenitude of its diverse,
illimitable, and transcendent manifestations, I cannot go farther and
predicate with the Pantheist the unity of its intelligence and
consciousness. This is the inability, rather than any design of my
own, which has exposed me to the unacceptable designation of
Atheist.
One has said, I know not whether in the spirit of scorn or suffering,
but I repeat it in the spirit of truth—‘ What went before and what
will follow me, I regard as two black impenetrable curtains, which
hang down at the two extremities of human life, and which no living
man has yet drawn aside. Many hundreds of generations have
already stood before them with their torches, guessing anxiously what
lies behind.. On the curtain of futurity many see their own shadows,
the forms of their passions enlarged and put in motion; they shrink
in terror at this image of themselves.. Poets, philosophers,, and
founders of states, have painted this curtain with their dreams, more
smiling or more dark as the sky above them was cheerful or gloomy;
and their pictures deceive the eye when viewed from a distance.
Many jugglers, too, make profit of this our universal curiosity: by
their strange mummeries they have set the outstretched fancy in
amazement. A deep silence reigns behind this curtain ; no one once
within will answer those he has left without; all you can hear is a
hollow echo of your question, as if you shouted into a chasm.’*
Theology boasts that it has obtained an answer. What is it ? The
world will stand still to hear it. Worshipper of Jesus, of Jehovah,
of Allah, of Bramah—in conventicle, cathedral, mosque, temple, or in
unbounded nature—what is the secret of the universe, and the destiny
of man ? What knowest thou more than thy fellows, and what dost
thou adore? He has no secret to tell. You have still the old
dual answer of centuries, given in petulance or contempt—‘ All the
world have heard it, and so has youor, ‘ None can understand the
Infinite, and you must submit.’ The solution of the problem must
therefore be sought independently.
Separate individual man from the traditions of theology, and what
is his history? A few years ago he sprang into existence like 9
�It,
THE LOGIC OF DEATH.
The actuality of life apart from theology
*
bubble on the ocean, or a flower on the plain. He came from the
blank chaos of the past, where consciousness was never known, where
no gleam of the present ever pierces, no voice of the future is ever
heard. He exists—but in what age he appears, or among what people
or circumstances he is thrown, is to him a matter of accident; To him
no control, no choice is vouchsafed. His physical constitution, his
powers and susceptibilities, his proportion of health or disease, are
made for him: and fettered in nature and fixed in sphere, he goes
forth to struggle or to triumph, and encounter the war of elements
and strife of passion, and oppose himself to ignorance, error, and
interest, as best he may.
Three or four years pass away before sentient existence is lighted
with the spark of consciousness, which burns faintly, intensely, or
flickeringly till death. Gradually the phenomena of the universe
disclose themselves to man. The ocean in its majesty, or the earth in
its variety, engage him—spring is exhilarating, summer smiling,
autumn foreboding, winter stern. By day the sun, by night the moon
and stars, look down like the eyes of Time watching his movements.
Above him is inconceivable altitude—around him, unbounded dis
tance—below, unfathomable profundity; and he arrives at such idea
as man has of the infinite. What is, seems to exist of its own inherent
power. It always wvas, or it could not be. The idea of universal
non-entity is instinctively rejected. Utter annihilation never enters
into his most desultory conceptions. The sentiment of the Everlasting
seems the first fruit of meditation, as an impression of the Infinite was
the first lesson of comprehensive observation. Man stands connected
with the infinite by position, and is related to the eternal in his
origin, and an emotion of conscious dignity follows the first exercise
cf his reason—and his pride and his confidence are strengthened by
perceiving that this infinite is the infinite of phenomena, and the
eternal that of matter. He may be but the spray dashed carelessly
against the shore, or the meteor-flash that for a moment illumines a
speck of cloud—or a sand of the desert which the whirlwind sweeps
into a transient elevation with scarcely time for distinction: yet he is
sustained by conscious connection with the ever-existing,though ever
changing—his home is with the everlasting, and when he sinks, it is
into the bosom of nature, the magnificent womb and mausoleum of all
life.
As youth advances, and his experience increases, he finds his
knowledge amplified. With nothing intuitive but the aptitude to
learn, he feels that his wisdom is ever commensurate with his industry
or observation—and as even aptitude is but progressively manifested,
he perceives that to attempt the untried, is to develop his being more.
Prematurely wasted by sudden efforts to change the order of society
or influences of things, he sees that nature never hastens, and that in
measured continuity of action lies the rule of success. Neither the
* Thomas Garlyle.
�THE LOGIC Gif xmCATH.
11
The epitaph of a student of nature.
muscle of the gladiator, nor the brain of Newton, acquired at once
their volume or power—the leveling of the mountain or the raising
of the pyramid is not the result of a single hasty attempt, but of
repeated and patient efforts. Thus, while man learns that his degree
of intelligence depends upon his industry and observation, his con
quests depend on the strength of his perseverance—and he looks to
himself, to the exercise of his faculties, and the right direction of his
exertions, both for his knowledge and his power. His lot may be cast
in barbarian caves, where ignorance and wildness ever frown, or under
gilded pinnacle, where learning and refinement are lustrous : he may
have to tread the very rudimental steps of civilisation, or he may
have but to stretch forth his hand to appropriate its spoils—still what
he will be will depend on his aptitudes, and what he will acquire on
his discrimination, application, assiduity, and intrepidity.
As his improvement, so also his protection depends on his own pre
cautions. lie defends himself from the inclemency of the elements
by suitable clothing—for health he seeks the salubrious locality,
wholesome, nutritious food, exercise, recreation, and rest in due pro
portion, and observes temperance in all things. His security on land
is the well-built habitation—on the sea, the firmly-built vessel. His
relation to the external world, and the conditions of fraternity with
his fellows, are the physical and social problems he has to solve. He
sees the strength of passion and the educative force of circumstances,
and he studies them to control them. The affairs of men are a process
which he seeks to wisely regulate, not blindly and violently thwart.
The world has two ages—those of fear and love. The barbarian and
incipient past has been the epoch of fear. Even now its dark shadows
lower over us. Love has never yet emerged from poesy and passion,
has not yet put forth half its strength, nor kindness half its power.
These graceful forces of humanity, whose victory is that of peace,
have scarcely invaded the dominions of war—but Love will one day
step into the throne of Fear, the arts of peace become the business
of life, and fraternity the watch-word of joyous nations. Plainly, as
though written with the finger of Orion on the vault of night, does
man read this future in his heart. The impulse of affection that leaps
unbidden in his breast, though suppressed in competitive strife, or
withered by cankering cares, yet returns in the woodland walk and
the midnight musing, ever whispering of something better to be
realised than war, and dungeons, and isolated wealth have yet brought
us. The student of self and nature, thus impressed, goes forth in the
busy scene of life, to improve and to please. The attributes which
rationalism prescribes to man, are perennial discretion and kindness.
Thus I have believed. I accepted the order of things I found with
out complaint, and I attempted their improvement without despair—
and it might be written on my tomb,
‘ I was not troubled with the time which drova
O'er my content its strong necessities,
But let determined things to destiny
xlold unbewailed their way.’
�19
THE LOGIC OF DEATH.
The physical fear of death as groundless as the theological.
And looking out from the bed of death, over the dim sea of the
future, on which no voyager’s bark is seen returning, I can place no
dependence on priestly dogmas, which all life has belied. The paltry
visions of gilt trumpets and angels’ wings seem like the visions of
irony or levity. The reality it is more heroic to contemplate. The
darkness and mystery of the future create a longing for unravelment.
The enigma of life makes the poetry of death, and. invests with a
sublime interest the last venture on untried existence.
Many honest and intelligent persons, who do not feat the future,
fear the transit to it. Novelists and dramatists, in illustrating a false
theory of crime, adopted from the Churches, have drawn exaggerated
pictures of the aspects of death, through which the popular idea of
dying has become melodramatic, and as far from truth and nature, as
is the extravagance of melodrama from the pure tone of simple and
noble tragedy.
A little reflection will show us that the physical fear some have of
death is as groundless as the moral. Eminent physicians have shown
that death being always preceded by the depression of the nervous
system, life must always terminate without feeling While appre
hension is vivid, while a scream of terror or pain can be uttered, death
is still remote. Organic disease, or a mortal blow, may end existence
with a sudden pang, but in the majority of cases men pass out of life as
unconsciously as they came into it. To the well-informed, death, in
its gradualness and harmlessness, is, what Homer called it—the half
brother of sleep: and the wise expect it undisturbed; and if they
have no reason to welcome it, bear it like any other calamity.
Were we not from childhood the victims of superstitions, we should
always regard death thus; but priests make death the rod whereby
they whip the understanding into submission to untenable dogmas.
For men know no independence, and are at the mercy of every strong
imposition, while they fear to die. That ancient spoke a noble truth
who said nothing could harm that man—tyranny had no terrors with
which it could subdue him who had conquered the fear of the grave.
How often progress has been arrested—how often good men have
faltered in their course—how often philosophy has concealed its light,
and science denied its own demonstrations, only because the priest
has pointed to his distorted image of death!
Among people of cultivated intelligence the idea of a punishing
God is morally repulsive. It is rejected as a fact because demoralising
as an example. The Unitarian principle, which trusts God and never
fears him, is the instinct of civilisation: it gains ground every day
and in every quarter. The parent coerces his child in order to cor
rect him, because the parent wants patience, or time, or wisdom, or
humanity. But as God is assumed to want none of these qualities, he
can attain any end of government he wishes by instruction, for in
moral discipline ‘it is not conduct but character which has to be
changed.’ In Francis William Newman’s portraiture of Christian
attributes, he enumerates ‘love, compassion, patience, disinterested-
�THE LOGIC OF DEATH.
The Golden Rule considered as a maxim of the Last Judgment.
aess,’ qualities incompatible with the sentiment of eternal punishment
—and as was before observed, God cannot be supposed as falling short
of the virtues of cultivated Christians. If we accept the hypothesis of
God, we must agree with Mr. Newman that ‘ all possible perfectness
of man’s spirit must be a mere faint shadow of the divine perfection.’
‘ The thought that any should have endless woe,
Would cast a shadow on the throne of God,
And darken heaven.’
The greatest aphorism ascribed to Christ, called his Golden Rule,
tells us that we should do unto others as we would others should do
unto us. It is not moral audacity, but a logical and legitimate
application of this maxim, to say that if men shall eventually stand
before the bar of God, God will not pronounce upon any that appalling
sentence, ‘ Cast them into outer darkness : there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth;’ because this will not be doing to others as he, in
the same situation, would wish to be done unto himself. If frail man is
to ‘ do good to them that hate him,’ God, who is said to be also Love,
will surely not burn those who, in their misfortune and blindness,
have erred against him. He who is above us all in power, will be also
above us all in magnanimity.
Wonderful is the imbecility of the people! The rich man is con
ceded the holiest sepulchre in the Church, although his wealth be won
by extortion or chicane, or selfishly hoarded while thousands of his
brethren have perished, while children have grown up hideous for
want of food, while women have stooped consumptive over the needle,
and men have died prematurely of care and toil. The priest-soothed
conscience feels no terror on the pillow of plethoric affluence—then
why should the poor man be uneasy in death ? Kings and queens, who
cover their brows with diadems stained with human blood, and main
tain their regal splendour out of taxes extorted from struggling
industry, are, in their last hours, assured by the highest spiritual
authorities of their free admission to Heaven, and Poets-Laureat have
sung of their welcome there—then why should the obscure man be
tremulous as to acceptance at the hand of Him who is called the God
of the poor ? The aristocracy pass from time unmolested by death-bed
apprehensions, although they hold fast to privilege and splendour,
though their tenants expire on the fireless hearth, or on the friendless
mattrass of the Poor Law Union—then why should the people enter
tain dread ? While every tyrant who has fettered his country—and
every corrupt minister who has plotted for its oppression, or betrayed
its freedom to the ‘ Friends of Order ’—is committed to the grave ‘ in
the sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection ’—why should the
indigent patriot fear to die ? While even the bishop, who federates
with the despots, and gives his vote almost uniformly against the people
—while the Priests, Catholic, Protestant, or Dissenting, work into the
hands of the government against the poor, and fulminate celestial
menaces against those whose free thoughts reject the fetters of
their creeds—while these can die in peace, what have the honest
�14
THE LOGIC OF DEATH.
It is only the slave soul that imagines a tyrant God.
and the independent to fear ?
If the insensate monarch, the
sordid millionaire, the rapacious noble, the false politician, and
the servile clergyman, meet death with assurance, surely humble
industry, patient merit, and enduring poverty, need not own a
tremor or heave a sigh ! If we choose to live as freemen, let us at
least have the dignity to die so, nor discredit the privilege of liberty
by an unmanly bearing. If we have the merit of integrity, we should
also have its peace—while we have the destiny of suffering we should
not have less than its courage !
The truth is, if we do not know how to die, it is because we do not
know how to live. If we know ourselves, we know that when we
can preserve the temper of love, and of service, by which love is
manifested, and of endurance, by which love is proved, we acquire
that healthy sense of duty done which casts out fear. They who
constantly mean well and do well, know not what it is to dread ill.
And the fearless are also the free, and the free have no foreboding.
‘It is only the slave soul which dreads a tyrant God.’* Therefore—
‘ So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, that moves
To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night
Scourged to his dungeon; but approach thy gravo
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.’f
�THE LOGIC OF DEATH*
13
The Queen’s Views.
Since this article was written in 1849, the religions doctrine o'
death in England has entirely changed. The highest minds in
the Church of England, the most cultivated preachers among the
Dissenters have, in some cases, since originated, and in others, now
accept views similar in spirit to those advocated in these pages.
Bishop Colenso found that when the honest and clear thinking
Kafir of Natal was told of the “dreadful judgment of God,” which
an ignorant orthodox Missionary carried to him, he replied with
great simplicity but with natural dignity and resolution—‘ If
that be so we would rather not hear about it;’ and the
Bishop has found the means of proving, even from St. Paul him
self, that the doctrine of eternal punishment is alien to the genius
of Christianity and must be given up. Professor Maurice, the
most influential name in the Church of England, now teaches
that the conception of punishment by physical pain is a gross idea,
and that the sense of having incurred God’s moral displeasure is the
deepest natural punishment to the spiritual man. Her Majesty
the Queen has authorised the publication, since the death of the
Prince, of ‘ Meditations on Death and Eternity, of which the
*
leading idea is that even ‘ sudden death is a sudden benefit ’ to
those who live well, and that those ‘ who endeavour to make
amends for every fault by noble actions’ ought no more ‘to
dread to appear before God ’ ‘ than a child ought to fear to ap
pear before its loving parent, even though it had not yet con
quered all its faults.’ This is nobler and more humane doctrine
than was ever taught by authority in this country before. But
incomparably the finest passage in the whole compass of litera
ture, which depicts the spirit in which all should conduct life so
as to meet death in a patient and noble way, is from the pen of
Mazzini. It occurred in a criticism upon George Sand, in an
article in the Monthly Chronicle in 1839. It contains the whole
of that philosophy which has given to Italy its heroes and its
freedom, .and taught the Italian patriots in so many forlorn
struggles how to die without sadness and without regret. The
sublime passage is this—‘ Schiller, the poet of grand thoughts,
Las said, I Those only love that love without hope.” There is in
these few words more than poetry ; they contain a whole religious
philosophy that we do not yet well understand, but that futurity
will. Life is a mission; its end is not the search after happiness,
but the knowledge andfulfilment of duty. Love is not enjoyment,
it is devotedness. If on the path of duty and devotedness God
sends us some beams of happiness, let us bless God, and bask our
limbs enfeebled by the fatigues of the journey ; but let us not
suspend it for long; let us not say—“We have found the secret
of existence, for the action of the law of our existence cannot be
concentrated in ourselves; its development must be pursued from
'Without. And if we meet only suffering, still march on ; suffer and
�THE LOGIC i'F DEATH.
Mazzini’s Views.
ad. God will measure our progress towards him not by what
we have suffered, but by how much we have desired to diminish the
sufferings of others, by how much our efforts have been directed to
the saving and the perfecting our brethren.''' Of those who believe
in God intelligently, this is the language they hold—and those
who are not Theists, this is the doctrine they trust. People who
say they could not be happy with the convictions of the Atheist,
the Sceptic, or the Heretic, speak merely for themselves; they do
not speak for us. With regard to us, they speak of that of which
they know nothing, and of that of which they have no experience.
With their views what they say may be true. But different views
and different principles bring with them their own consolations.
Conviction makes all the difference. It is not the formal creed
which gives mental support, but the consciousness of truth and
integrity and pure intent. Nothing can disturb the peace of mind
of those armed by a fortitude founded on love and justice, on rec
titude and reason.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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The logic of death, or, why should the atheist fear to die?
Description
An account of the resource
Edition: Enlarged and rev. ed.
Place of publication: London
Collation: 16 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Eightieth thousand edition. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway and part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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Holyoake, G.J.
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Austin & Co.
Date
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1870
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G4958
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N310
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Death
Atheism
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (The logic of death, or, why should the atheist fear to die?), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
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Text
Language
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English
Atheism
Conway Tracts
Death
Death-Religious aspects-Comparative studies
NSS