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NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
' CW-H*
11 •
THE FREETHINKER’S
BURIAL
Reprinted from The Examiner of February 22, 1873.
Sir,—A recent pamphlet, one of Mr. Thomas Scott’s
series, entitled ‘ The Book of Common Prayer Examined in
the Light of the Present Age,’ by Mr. William .Jevons, and
in which the varying views of St. Paul on a future life are
pointed out, has turned my thoughts to the position ’which
Freethinkers of the present and future generations are
likely to take with reference to the burial service of
the Church of England, and to the question of burials in
general.
It will be well known to many of your readers that both
in France and Italy Societies of Freethinkers have been
established for the express purpose of preventing the
clergy from obtruding themselves unsolicited into the
presence of dying members of the Society. In this
country Freethinkers at present need not much fear beinginterfered with on their death-beds against their will by
the clergy; but still kind or officious friends may try to
make the world believe that those who have in their mature
years rejected the creeds and fables taught them in their
childhood, did at the last hour see the error of their way,
give up their deliberate convictions, and accept the orthodox
belief that their only chance of a future life of happiness
depends upon the merits of a crucified man. Under these
circumstances, and even independently of them, many a
Freethinker may, if he turns his attention to the subject at
all, be desirous of putting on record, as solemnly as
possible, his opinions and his wishes, and to such as do so
it may occur that, following the fashion of our ancestors,
but in an opposite direction, they may, instead of
invoking the Holy Trinity and professing to commit
their bodies and souls to the keeping of the Almighty,
and declaring their belief in the certainty of their
resurrection to a future life, or in any other speculative
matter, make their will as far as regards their burial
somewhat in the following form :—-
�With respect to my burial, although ! have no objection to being
buried in what is commonly called consecrated ground, I should
prefer non-consecrated ground, being not only fully convinced that t he
act of no man, be he pope, bishop, or priest of any kind, can make
any portion of this earth more holy or sacred than another, but
also wishing to enter my protest against the superstitious reverence
generally paid to this act of consecration.
Not believing in the dogmas of original sin, the fall of man, the
atonement or redemption, and not believing that the man Jesus
of Nazareth was born of a virgin, nor in his resurrection after
death by crucifixion, nor that he descended into a place called hell,
nor that, he ascended into a place called- heaven, and then sat on
the right hand of God, and as I shall not die “in the Lord’
according to the views of those who style themselves Orthodox
Christians, I express my desire that neither the burial service of
the Church of England nor any other religious service shall be
performed on the occasion of my remains being consigned to the
earth, as it would, in my case, be merely a farce and mockery.
I desire that as little funeral ceremony shall be allowed as
possible—a plain coffin [single, and of perishable wood or wicker], a
hearse with not more than a pair of horses, no trappings of any
kind and no mourning coaches. I request those of my friends who
may be present on the occasion will go in their own clothes, and not
allow themselves to be dressed like mutes or undertakers’ men in
grotesque hatbands or scarves.”
The above will probably express the real views of a
great number among us, and even if surviving friends
and relatives differ from those views and would gladly
think matters were otherwise, they ought to bear in mind
that concealment is not honest, and that the allowing what
they will consider a very solemn service of the Church to
be performed on such an occasion would simply be acting
a lie, and ought to be far more abhorrent to them than
their acknowledgment of facts that cannot be altered.
I am. &c.,
W. H. D.
P.S. — The following extract from the Musee de&
Monumens Francais, by Alexandre Lenoir (Paris, 1806),
may interest your readers: “ The refusal of the Clergy
to bury Moliere caused a great scandal in Paris. The
king Louis XIV., being informed of this abuse of the
�3
ecclesiastical power, sent for the priest of St. ■ Eustache
(to which parish Moliere belonged), and ordered him
to bury the poet. This he declined to do, on account of
his being an actor, saying that such a man could not be
buried in consecrated ground. ‘ To what depth is the
ground consecrated?’ inquired the king of the narrow
minded priest. ‘To the depth of four feet, sire.’ Then
bury him six feet deep, and let there be an end of it,’
replied the king, turning his back on the priest of St.
Eustache.”
THE
FREETHINKER’S
MOURNING.
Reprinted from The Examiner of March 8, 1873.
Sir,—As you have kindly favoured me by inserting my
letter on “ The Freethinker’s Burial,” I now venture to
trouble you with one on possibly a more delicate subject
“ The Freethinker’s Mourning.”
In these days, when men and women allow and encourage
their stationers to go on increasing their depth of mourning
borders till space is scarcely left for any writing, a few
words on the exaggeration of mourning, internal as well as
external, may perhaps be permitted. That the Orthodox,
full of their “certain hope” that the departed has at once
been translated to realms of eternal bliss, where they
themselves will (after an interval of the briefest as
compared with eternity) in the due course of nature join
them, should give way to weeping and wailing—that
grown-up children, themselves old enough to be parents, or
even grandparents, should be completely unnerved at death
laying its hands on their parents, who simply appear to fall
asleep, their bodily frames having gradually given way and
decayed like the leaf on the tree that has performed its
allotted task and drops in its autumn season, is a
psychological phase in human nature singularly puzzling to
an outsider; but as the ways of the Orthodox are not my
ways, I pass them by. My letter is addressed to those who may
�4
be, like myself, Freethinkers; and to them I would say,
ought we not always to be prepared for death ourselves,
and therefore equally prepared for it in the case of our
friends and relatives ? Shocks are disagreeable to all; but
constant contemplation of what is happening around us
will, in every respect, prevent the shock otherwise caused
by sudden bereavement. As we learn to look upon our own
deaths as the result of laws partly hidden and partly known
but never varying, so exactly shall we learn to look upon
the deaths of those most dear to us. This uncertainty of
life, so far from being an evil, ought to be one of the
strongest inducements to all good work. To an earnest
Freethinker it should never be possible to grieve over lost
opportunities of making those around him better and
happier. As I have lived so shall 1 die. Let my daily '
thoughts be—This is possibly my last day here ; how ought
I to act for the best towards myself and others ?
So when even the young are cut off from us, let our true
regret be lightened by the feeling that, while in no way
wasting our time and energies in the study of dogmas on
subjects beyond human knowledge, or troubling ourselves
about creeds and articles of faith, we have to the very best
of our abilities made ourselves masters of the laws of nature,
have done all in our power by obedience to these laws to
preserve the life of that dear one. When life is cut short
by our self-willed ignorance of, or our carelessness about
these laws—then, indeed, is there true cause for mourning
over an untimely death.
I am, &c.,
|
j
’
W. H. D.
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Victorian Blogging
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The freethinker's burial [and, The freethinker's mourning]
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Domville, William Henry
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Place of publication: [s.l.]
Collation: 4 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Reprinted from The Examiner of February 22, 1873 and March 8, 1873. Letters to the editor, signed W.H.D. Author's name handwritten in pencil on title page. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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Death
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Death
Freethinkers
Mourning
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b6c20a521f5789f1a57d0c96a6f0d45d
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Text
-®k^sra»s°a'iTV
WHY I AM A FREETHINKER.
AGNOSCO
(Author of “Freethinking and Free Inquiry," etc.)
London:
WATTS & CO., 17, JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET St.
Price One Penny.
��8^179
Mo/p
WHY I AM A FREETHINKER.
“ Whatever freedom for ourselves we claim,
We wish all others to enjoy the same,
In simple womanhood’s and manhood’s name !
Freedom within one law of sacred might:
Trench not on any other’s equal right.”
—-Janies Thomson.
“ In proportion as we love truth more and victory less, we shall
become anxious to know what it is which leads our opponents to
think as they do.”—Herbert Spencer.
Oftentimes has the question forced itself upon such of
us as avow our heresy, “ Why am I a Freethinker ?”
Often, too, has the question been put to us by those
who do not share our opinions, “ Why are you a Free
thinker ?” The question is a natural one, and one which
is to be expected. All of us ought to be able to give
the reason why we hold the views we do ; if not at the
spur of the moment, at least after a little consideration.
Briefly to answer the question is the purpose of this
essay.
Before, however, we can do so, we must know what
meaning we are to put upon the word “ Freethinker.”
Among our opponents, whether from ignorance or with
intent, the word is used in a variety of senses, some of
them not over-complimentary. It will be necessary,
therefore, to examine a few of these alleged meanings ;
for, in thus showing what Freethinking is not, we shall
indirectly be showing what it is. Foremost among these
insinuations comes the well-worn taunt that a Freethinker
is a libertine, a man without moral restraint. This asser
tion is entirely the result of confusion of thought. “ A
Freethinker is a man who thinks freely and without being
bound down by authority,” our traducers tell us. “ Now,
�2
WHY I AM A FREETHINKER.
a man who declines to be bound down by, and who re
fuses to respect, authority, is one without moral restraint,
a libertine, and a dangerous citizen.” A little attention
will show that the word “authority” is here used in two.
different senses. In the first sentence it means simply
a referee upon disputed matters, or a man whose words
or writings show him to have a more or less exhaustive
knowledge of the subject at issue, or one who is claimed
to be such. In the second sentence it is used as
equivalent to law or morality, as the case may be. To
put it plainly, the expression is equivocal—that is, it in
volves a quibble. By parity of reasoning, it might be
:said that, a few years ago, the Protestant Episcopal
Church was not disestablished in Ireland, because a
church belonging to the Protestant Episcopal body can,
to this day, be found in almost every village in that
country. It is very evident here that a confusion of
thought has arisen through regarding “ church ” in the
one instance as meaning a body-corporate, and in the
other a building. The reasoning by which a Freethinker
is converted into a libertine is equally fallacious, although,
as put by opponents, the error is not so apparent.
Taking a matter-of-fact, instead of a logical, view of
the question, it may be noted that it is said by those
who are most conversant with criminals that a really
intelligent adversary to the popular dogmas is rarely, if
ever, seen within prison walls. Arguing after the manner
which I have just exposed, it is said by certain in
terested, but unscrupulous, individuals that all drunkards,
gamblers, and so on, are Freethinkers. It is evident
that, if these men had respected authority, in the sense
of the law, they would not have been where they are.
They are men without moral restraint, libertines, and
*
therefore Freethinkers. This is certainly a pretty piece
of arguing in a circle ! I venture to assert that, by means
such as this, you could prove anything you felt inclined
to prove. To claim as Freethinkers unintellectual
“ nothingarians ” is equally absurd. For Freethinking
implies thinking, and thinking is an act of the intelli
gence. Everybody who has come in contact with the
lowest classes knows that, in common with primitive
men, they have little ability for forming an independent
�WHY I AM A FREETHINKER.
3
judgment. But the word “ Freethought ” means inde
pendent thought, independent judgment. Like the
others, this allegation against Freethinkers turns out to
be worthless.
It is sometimes urged that Freethought is another
word for infidelity or unbelief. The absurdity of this
statement will be seen when it is pointed out that “ un
belief ” is a word having a meaning differing according
to the opinions of the user. Mohammedanism is un
belief to a Christian, Christianity is infidelity to a Moslem,
and so on. The doctrine that the earth is round is un
belief to the man who believes it to be flat. I have,
however, introduced this for the purpose of exposing
another example of confusion of thought. A Freethinker,
being an infidel (I have seen it stated), is necessarily an
untrustworthy man. The word “ infidel ” is here used
in two distinct senses. Literally, an infidel is one who
does not share your faith.
*
A Moslem, not sharing
the faith of a Christian, is called an infidel, and
•vice versa. As otherwise used, the word bears a secon
dary sense, and, to a logician, is a perfectly distinct word.
It is a pity that such playing upon words is indulged in
by sober controversialists. Let the words be used in one
sense or the other, but not in both, in the same connection.
It is sometimes said that Freethinking is identical with
scepticism. This is not so. Freethinking is positive,
scepticism is negative. Every man who changes his
opinion is a sceptic; but he is sceptic only so long as
he halts between two opinions. A convert from Protes
tantism to Catholicism is a sceptic until he makes a
definite acknowledgment of his Catholicism. Scepticism
is the transition period of belief.
The average dictionary definition of a Freethinker is
one who disbelieves in revelation.” This definition,
however, confuses the product with the process, the
effect with the pause. Disbelief in revelation is not
necessarily a factor in Freethinking. That it usually
* Why not, as Professor Huxley suggested to Dr. Wace, say
.miscreant t Its literal and ancient meaning is “unbeliever” (miscroyant), and it has the advantage of being extremely unpleasant
io the person to whom it is applied.
�4
WHY
AM A FREETHINKER.
accompanies the latter is due to the principle of Freethought leading men to question received opinions, and
to form what appears to them to be more rational and
invulnerable views of nature. Whether a Freethinker
accepts revelation or otherwise, he rejects the argument
drawn from the antiquity of the belief. Revelation, likeevery other theory, must be tried solely upon its merits.
Frequently is it asserted to be equivalent to Atheism.
The word “ Freethinker,” however, has no connection
whatever with any questions relating to a god or to
divinities. It represents neither theological beliefs nor
unbeliefs, but a method of philosophic inquiry. Such
words as “Atheism,” “Agnosticism,” “ Positivism,” and
the like, imply Freethinking, it is true; but it is not
correct to say that any one of them is synonymous with
it. To make the matter clearer, let us look at in another
way. Suppose it were asserted dogmatically that there
is no God, nor anything answering thereto; suppose it
were said that this was the belief of all the great men—
all the great warriors, all the great statesmen, all the
great poets, prophets, and philosophers, all the great
teachers, preachers, and scientists—who had been since
the world began ; suppose it were said that the truth of
this belief was proved by the fact that it had been held
for thousands of years; suppose it -were enforced by
pains and penalties and social ostracism; then, I say,
the man who dared to say, “I am a Theist; I believe
in the existence of God,” would be a Freethinker in
every legitimate sense of the word.
A considerable space has now been taken up in discuss
ing what Freethinking is not; but the arguments have,
I trust, been so put as to have long ago suggested to
the mind of the reader what it is. That it expresses,
not a religious system, but a method of philosophic
inquiry, has just been stated; in fact, I have elsewhere
maintained that, to be valid, the principle must be
applicable, not only to religion, but to science and poli
tics, and every form of human thought and activity. As
I have already defined it: “ Freethinking is the right of
thinking upon any subject independently and without
undue restraint, without unnecessary reverence for autho
rity and without being influenced by the fact that
�WHY I AM A FREETHINKER.
5
certain beliefs have been held upon that subject from
time immemorial.”* Beyond the collection of facts
every authority is to be regarded as a theorist like our
selves, and the closeness of his observations, the exactness
of his reasoning, and the apparent truth of his theory—
not his name—must be our guide. The only legitimate
restraint is that which flows from the nature of things—
those restraints which are due to the limitations of our
faculties, or are necessary to our life in society. Briefly,
the definition of Freethinking may be summarised in
the words of the poet: “Trench not on any other’s equal
right.”
Having thus made manifest what Freethought is, I
can now give a few reasons for being a Freethinker.
These I shall discuss as three propositions—viz., Freethinking is a necessary condition of progress ; it is the
outcome of the history of the race and of man’s mental
and social evolution ; and its principle forms the rational
basis of ethics.
If we compare China and Western Europe; if we
compare Spain with England, or the Catholic with the
Protestant Church, we note that in one of each pair
progress is an unknown quantity. And with this we find
a profound respect for ancestral opinions, or thought
fettered by the authority and dogmas of the Church, or
a compound of the two.
Long ago Bacon told us that “ knowledge is power.”
Equally true is it that knowledge is essential to
human progress. Mark the man of business. Had he
no knowledge of his profession, he would make no pro
gress in it. The man who lives in a country village,
where every year’s business is a repetition, or nearly so,
of that of the previous year, does not rise to the top of
the tree. He whom we come to recognise as the head
of his profession is the man who has obtained a com
plete knowledge of every branch of it. Still more true
is it that the systematised, unified knowledge which we
call science—that knowledge which is so completely
organised that our astronomers can discuss the chemical
composition of stars so distant that light, travelling at
* “ Freethinking and Free Inquiry,” p. 8.
�6
WHY I AM A FREETHINKER.
the enormous rate of eleven million miles per minute,
or nearly two hundred thousand every second, takes
centuries to reach us; that our biologists can trace, in
two million or more species of living beings, the action
of those same laws of matter and motion by which a
nebula becomes a world, a cloud falls as rain or con
denses as snow, by which the candle burns, or the frost
bursts a water-pipe, by which the earth is kept revolving
round the sun, or a limited liability company divides
into chairman, directors, and shareholders, and its share
holders into “ founders ” and “ ordinary ”—has a vast
influence in the progress of mankind. To what is our
progress due ? Is it to the spread of education among
the masses ? Those most potent factors in education,
our books and newspapers, are printed by the applica
tion of the laws of mechanics. We are made familiar
with the sayings and doings of other nations by the
electric telegraph. The principles of higher mathematics
show themselves to be our servants in every map. We
are informed of the beauties of other lands, of the pecu
liarities of other races, of the appearances of other
worlds, by means of the photograph. Do we owe our
progress to political improvements? The science of
ethics and the sub-science of jurisprudence meet us
here; empirically though the older statesmen had formed
their knowledge of political economy, yet they had it to
some extent. From the time of Pitt, however, we find
that this science has been held to be one of the founda
tions of political action. “ Pitt was the first English
minister who really grasped the part which industry was
to play in promoting the welfare of the world. He
was........... a statesman who saw that the best security for
peace lay in the freedom and widening of commercial
intercourse between nations; that public economy not
only lessened the general burdens, but left additional
capital in the hands of industry ; and that finance might
be turned from a mere means of raising revenue into
a powerful engine of political and social improvement.”*
Perchance our progress is due to industrial improvement.
* Green’s “ Short History of the English People
769, 770.
1880 ; pp,
�WHY I AM A FREETHINKER.
7
Here, more than anywhere else, do we realise the great
■debt we owe to science. Whether your house be lit with
gas or electricity, it is to science that you owe it. The
purification of the coal-gas from ammoniacal and bitu
minous impurities, and the segregation of the crystals
of naphthalin, are all chemical processes. So is sugarrefining; so is the fermentation which produces alcohol.
That nitrogen, when combining, takes up a large quan
tity of motion, in addition to what it already contained,
which it will give up on decomposition, is a fact partly
chemical, but chiefly physical; and the blast used in
mines, whether dynamite, or gunpowder, or bellite (which
■contains an extra quantity as ammonium nitrate), brings
the fact into practical use. Turning from the production
to the conveyance of commodities, the application of the
physical facts connected with the pressure of steam meets
us everywhere. The shipbuilder in modern use applies
to his vessels the mathematical angle of least resistance.
The mechanical laws exemplified by the engineer need
merely mentioning. To astronomy we owe our ability
to predict the tides. And to what principle are these
sciences due ? Surely to the right of independent thinking.
Conventionalism, the mere repetition of the opinions of
the multitude, never yet added to the world’s progress.
The real agent is now, ever has been, and ever will be,
untrammelled freedom of thought. And I am a Free
thinker because I believe that humanity can progress,
that humanity ought to progress, and that humanity will
progress.
Were I to discuss at length the historical view of
Freethought, I should require more pages than are allotted
to me for the completion of the whole argument. A
study of history will show us that humanity has pro
gressed by a series of revolutions—or, rather, that a
series of revolutions stand as landmarks to point out to
us the advance of the race. In the early Church, hete
rodoxy took the form of petty squabbles about the nature
of Christ. Passing over to the time of Wyclif, we come
face to face with a healthier form of criticism. This
famous divine distinctly proclaimed the gospel of Free
Inquiry. One significant fact it is necessary to refer to.
�8
WHY I AM A FREETHINKER.
Just before Wyclif’s time the old feudalism had begun
to decay. The men who formerly had been slaves to
the barons now became free men. While this social
freedom was being born there was coming into existence
that political liberty which we associate with that Great
Charter of England which contains those memorable
words : “ To no man will we sell, or deny, or delay right or
justice.” It was certainly no accident that brought forth
at almost the same period the great struggles for freedom,
social, political, and religious. If we turn from Wyclif
to the reformers of the close of the next century, we are
conscious not only of greater learning, but also of greater
freedom both from dogma and from conventional think
ing. Sir Thomas More, in his “ Utopia,” preached a
gospel of liberty, to which Wyclif was a stranger. In his
ideal state considerable freedom of opinion was tolerated.
Amid the squabbles of the Tudor period, in which
Protestant bigotry vied with the bigotry of the older
creed, we to-day can see, to use the words of Green,
*
that “ the real value of the religious revolution of the
sixteenth century to mankind lay, not in its substitution
of one creed for another, but in the new spirit of in
quiry, the new freedom of thought and of discussion,
which was awakened during the process of the change.”
A century later brings us to Lord Bacon, whose Freethinking was as much an advance upon More’s as that
of the latter was upon Wyclif’s. Merely to quote the
names of Lord Herbert and Hobbes, Locke and Hume,
Bentham and Mill, Darwin, Huxley, and Spencer, will
serve to show that every advance in thought has left
conventionalism further behind than did the last. And it
might be added that human life is so short, human capa
bilities so limited, human opinions so diverse, that it
seems presumptuous for any man to claim absolute recti
tude. Further, modern philosophy has everywhere con
firmed the opinion of the inhabitants of More’s “Utopia,”1
who were “persuaded that it is not in a man’s power to
believe what he list.”
I am a Freethinker because Freethought is the out* “ Short History,” p. 352.
�WHY I AM A FREETHINKER.
9
*
come of man’s mental and social evolution. Psychologists,
or those scientists who deal with the facts presented by a
study of the mind, tell us that thoughts—or, as they are
called, cognitions—and sensations can be divided into
two groups, those which are presentative and those
which are representative. These groups merge into one
another, and names are given to the different grades in
each. They tell us, too, that during man’s evolution
the simplest presentative cognitions come first, and the
more representative last. Liberty is one of the most re
presentative of cognitions, and justice is another. Every
one of us knows the joy we feel when our daily or weekly
work is done and we can realise our hoped-for liberty.
And the origin of the gratification we receive from
freedom, of a more abstract sort, such as political or
religious, is to be found in the joys experienced from
most concrete liberties during generations past. And,
as Freethinking is more representative than any of the
liberties of which it is composed, political liberty, social
liberty, religious liberty, and so on, so we may regard it
as a later product of evolution. Just as liberty is the
characteristic of more highly-developed men, and is not
experienced by savages, so Freethinking is the necessary
outcome of a still higher stage of mental evolution.
Primitive man displays neither exactness of thought,
scepticism, nor criticism, and little or no modifiability of
*
belief.
As we should expect from one in whose mind
these more abstract ideas are absent, he is almost wholly
influenced by the beliefs of his rulers or of his ancestors.
He is a consistent upholder of the rights of authority
and antiquity ! We are told that “ the Fijians are
slaves to custom............ Though they may condemn a,
thing in itself, yet, if it is ‘ the custom,’ they abide by
it. Custom decides the most trifling observance.”! Of
the Dyaks, Rajah Brooke tells us that “ custom seems
simply to have become the law, and breaking custom
leads to a fine.” Kolff tells us of the Arafuras that there
is no other “ authority among them than the decisions of
* For a longer discussion on this point see “Freethinking
and Free Inquiry,” p. 60.
+ Rev. J. Waterhouse’s “The King and People of Fiji ” (Wes
leyan Con. Off. ; 1866), p. 309.
�IO
WHY I AM A FREETHINKER.
their elders, according to the customs of their fore
fathers.” So ruled by custom are the Turcomans that
even Mohammedanism among them has to adapt itself
to their customs. “ Long-acknowledged customs,” we
are told, control the Bechuanas of South Africa. Space
will not allow me to give any more examples of how
completely primitive man is ruled by the opinions of his
ancestors. And the myths which have gathered round
the names of great men show us how great has been his
respect for authorities. This is all we can expect among
men whose individual actions are spasmodic and cannot
be trusted. Shall we be reckoned among these ? I
sincerely hope not. During the progress of civilisation
the influence of custom has been considerably weakened.
The perusal of the history of our constitution will leave
us no doubt as to the dwindling of authority. At first
the House of Commons was entirely at the mercy of the
king. He called it together when he pleased, and dis
missed it when he pleased. Its duty was simply to lay
before him petitions; the king, with his council, made
the laws. Gradually, but surely, has the popular House
gained its supremacy. But, while it has done so, it has
lost much of its own authority. It is now governed by
the nation at large, and relies for its existence upon the
people.
Shall we be condemned, then, for completing what
human nature has already worked out ? Society is yet
far from being perfect. Let us, then, not rest upon our
oars; let us be up and doing. Let us remember that
our goal lies above us, and not in the depths beneath.
Heedless of the rocks that crumble beneath our feet,
heedless of pitfail or cranny, fearless of avalanche or
ice, having left the reeky atmosphere of bond-thought
behind us, let us not be content until we have planted
upon the summit of thought the standard which has
borne through all our watchword, “ Excelsior,” in the
purer air of unadulterated freedom.
I am a Freethinker because the principle of Freethought forms the rational standard of morals. Moral
action can come into play only when two or more indi
viduals are concerned by that action. As Mr. Spencer
�WHY I AM A FREETHINKER.
I»
says, in his “ Data of Ethics ” : “ Acts are called good
or bad according as they are well or ill adjusted to ends
and he says elsewhere: “The ultimate standards by which
all men judge of behaviour are the resulting happiness
or misery. _ We consider drunkenness wrong because of
the physical degeneracy and accompanying moral evils
entailed on the drunkard and his dependents. Did theft
give pleasure both to taker and loser, we should not find
it in our catalogue of sins.”* This extract contains the
whole gist of my argument. We consider that the
highest morality which gives the greatest possible free
dom to every one, and at the same time produces the
least friction between all. Two armies go out to war.
Now, every man is at liberty to kill any of his oppo
nents. If we take a horde of savages, like the Turco
mans, we have still less restraint. But their war cannot
be called moral. Their freedom is purchased at the cost
of the lives and liberties of their enemies. We do not
consider murder and theft wrong because they have been
condemned by several great men ; nor because they have
been considered wrong from time immemorial. We
consider them wrong because they infringe the liberties
of the victim. In deciding this question we, as Professor
Fowler says, “ look to the manner in which the action
will affect the happiness or pleasure of those whom it
concerns, or their welfare or well-being, or the develop
ment or perfection of their character.”! We do not
regard prudence as right because miracles have been
worked in its favour, but because the want of it throws the
individual upon the charity of others, and thus makes him
a burden upon them. Unchastity is condemned because
the practice of it would entail the complete, or at least
partial, extinction of parental and filial cares and obliga
tions, connubial unhappiness, and the physical and moral
enfeeblement of offspring. It would, in fact, entail in
juries not only upon one’s neighbours, but also on untold
future generations. Untruthfulness not only brings
misery on the subject by incapacitating him from the
trust of others ; but, taken in its widest sense, as includ
ing deception, breach of faith, etc., it lays its victim open
* “ Education,” p. 102.
+ “ Progressive Morality,” p. 91.
�WHY I AM A FREETHINKER.
to misery and unhappiness of all kinds. The evil effects
of injustice need scarcely be discussed. We have all
heard of men who, by a miscarriage of justice, have been
reduced from easy circumstances to beggary. And we
have sympathised with those who, from the injustice of
their “ sweating ” employers, are dragging out, in the
slums of our great cities, a life which is scarcely better than
death itself. We have - wandered somewhat from our
point, still we shall be better able to see that the standard
of rational ethics can be Expressed in that motto of
Freethinking : “ Trench not on any other’s equal right.”
I have now briefly summarised the reasons for my
Freethinking. These do not certainly exhaust the sub
ject ; but they will, no doubt, suffice for the present.
This shall be my creed as a Freethinker: I believe in
equal freedom for all men, so far as their natures will
allow. To me, one of the grandest articles of religion
yet formulated is to be found in these lines of our
Freethinking poet:—
“ Freedom within one law of sacred might:
Trench not on any other’s equal right.”
�iisl
Well
We hope wli^MEiaHsEEtf;
suits of his
An admirable
and religion, wln^^BE^K
greatest thinkers. ^EjsL
an extensive course oi^^B
and said upon great sui^
index, is strongly recoinm.
58 pp., in neat w?
The Old and New
By TULI^Mm
Contents:—What the Old Testament
Old Testament Unhistoric and Unscienlili
The Subject of the Four Gospels.
Well calculated to serve the purpose for which it is i”
at home in his subject, and has many able points.—Free
The only authorised edition, 30 pp., in neat wrawB®
ORTHODOXY: AN IMPEACH^
By R. G. INGERSOLL.
By the same Author.
The Women of the Bible. With a Sketch of Colonel Inger
soll, by Charles Watts.
Price id.
The Oath Question. A splendid statement of the Freethought
Position.
Price id.
London : Watts & Co., 17, Johnson’s Court, E.C.
�WHY I AM A FREETHINKER.
to misery and unhappiness of all kinds. The evil effects
of injustice need scarcely be discussed. We have all
heard of men who, by a miscarriage of justice, have been
reduced from easy circumstances to beggary. And we
have sympathised with those who, from the injustice of
their “sweating” employers, are dragging out, in the
slums of our great cities, a life which is scarcely better than
. J
death itself. We hav^ wandered somewhat from our
point, still we shall be better able to see that the standard
. I
of rational ethics can be Expressed in that motto of ■'
Freethinking : “ Trench not on any other’s equal right.jI have now briefly summarised the reasons for rrhay
Freethinking. These do not certainly exhaust the
ject; but they will, no doubt, suffice for the prenework
This shall be my creed as a Freethinker: I beJitian’ ^ew
equal freedom for all men, so far as their nat-----------allow. To me, one of the grandest articles xs., by post
yet form'ulated is to be found in these
Freethinking poet:—
“ Freedom within one law of sac(
Trench not on any other’s ec
(JLD.
_en accorded unstinted praise in all
art, it is entitled to take high rank
lginal in conception, the story is told
_ity—every character is so natural—that
ay entranced, and is impelled to pursue
<• It may safely be asserted that no orthoise from a perusal of the work without having
a and his intellectual capacities widened. “ The
is just the book to put into the hands of a liberal
as to understand and appreciate the faith of the
.tic.
ust issued, New Edition, price 2d., by post 2j£d.,
THE
- CURSE OF CONVENTIONALISM.
On its first production this brochure, containing a terrible indict
ment of Orthodox Christianity, created a remarkable sensation
among the religious public. The Pamphlet is now issued in cheaper
and more popular form.
London : Watts & Co., 17, Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, E.C.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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Why I am a freethinker
Creator
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Agnosco
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 12 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references. Date of publication presumably between 1880 and 1900. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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Watts & Co.
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[n.d.]
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N042
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<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (Why I am a freethinker), identified by </span><span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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Text
Language
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English
Free Thought
Freethinkers
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