PUBLIC MORALITY.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4380, 17 January 1883, Page 2

PUBLIC MORALITY.

(To the Editor, of the Evening Star.)

Sib,-—The sapient ej3it©r of your morning contemporary and the Key. H. Bull have informed the people of the Thames that Freethonght publications were largely to blame for the immoralities which hare lately~~come 'to light. The all-wise ex-" pounders of this idea seem to forget that according to the ecclesiastical lay of.'Englandthey themselves are horetios.inasmuch as they do not conform to the dogmatic,' rules of religious worship as laid down in. the Prayer Book. They do not regard the, beautiful prayers, in the Church, of EnKlan&Prayerßookasbewgeffieaeiousin their supplications to the Heavenly thrbse, neither do they beliere in the choral serTic& of the English CMirch. They,die-, regard the 39 articles of*a^jGhmtiaitV faith as enunciated in the befdre*mentioned book, and by their' op on denial of the .supremacy of the Church of England, prove themselves to be "freethinkers " — because they hare the courage to think for themselves, and do not consider it impossible to reach a Heavenly home without believing in the established Church doctrine. As this is the ease, may I ask in what manner I, as a freeihiakfer, am different to them? They think that it is necessary to utter devout prayers to the Almighty, to believe in the Deity of Christ, and to acknowledge the Bible as being the Word of God, in order that they may attain immortality. They profess to believe in baptism as a preliminary step on the way which spans between us and Heaven. Innumerable other' belief's are requisite in their opinion. If I believe in' none of theße things, but believe that Man's whole duties on Earth consist in helping his neighbors, tending the sifk, and leading a truly sober and virtuous life, am I to be branded as a " Freethinker " in the worst sense of the word P.- Striving to act up, as near as possible, to the Great Eeformer's prinni-. plea.^ ftm I to be considered as a^ man devoid of truth, morality, and rectitude, simply because I have the courage to believe in a higher worship of the Great Unknown Creator than obtains with, orthodoxy.? The, orthodox Christian not only tells me who and what the great First Cause is,' but he further informs me where He lives, and goes into details as to His likes and dislikes. All these circumstances considered do you not think that Man has gone a little too far when he attempts to judge his follow creatures as if be were intimately acquainted with the Maker of all things, terrestrial and celestial? If I consider orthodox notions of God to be mean and unworthy of so great a Creator, and acknowledge that Hit omniscience is beyond the power of human thought, and that no man can justly appreciate or divine his reality, is not this nobler than setting God up as a. little better than man. It is impossible to judge of anything we have not sees, and we cannot comprehend anything outside ,' of natare. The Almighty is beyond nature, and we oumot therefore form a true conception of KM characteristics. We Freethinkers belie?* iv the AU-powerfu!&Mß of the G»tt

Unseen, and worship him, not in mere empty words coming from unthinking minds, but in the appreciation elf nature's wonders, in the contemplation of the master hand which guides the fast unknown worlds, in space and in the exemplification of his goodness to us his trail tenants of the earth. We ■strive to follow the path which is set before us. The Creator does not withhold food even from the most unthankful, and neither do we. We do not cast odium upon Churchmen and Dissenters, or upon any members of any sect became-^ttoey-mi hold to doctrines which we believe to be erroneous. Bat is the same justice held out to us P No. The Churchman, might be staffing, and might be neglected by his own colleagues, but the Freethinker would share what he had with bn»r— Would the orthodox thus treat, the-Ewer thinker? There are no dobbtf blifk sheep amongst our flock—but are there none among religionists ? p Are all Christians incapable of sin,,,and.are there no cases on record of even ministers of religion.straying from tbVpatft'bfi-rigbt' 1? We do not go to church ; we do not commune with the saints; we baire li>d:"bei:<3 surpliced evangelist to teach US the difference between right and wrong, and yet we manage to live -without -either fraud or begging. In the time jofLHeriry . VIII. the reformers gradually rent asunder the chain which had, up to that immaculate Monarch's time,?, <bondo England to Borne. In Mary^s" ireign " Freethinkers" were burned by the. score—nay, by the hundred—because they refused to help in the,endfavopf to overthrow* Protestantism; 1 hemartyfli. of that time were desirousoorf r bringing a purer and simpler worship into use thai? that of the Eomish Cuurcb; and for that" laudable desire were rewarded with the^ stake and the faggot.- It Is ihe tame now-a days. We Freethinkers only wish to purify religion, to have true sincerity for false and misleading ceremonials—and for this purpose we can bear the hard and untruthful statements made about us by thosfe who profess to believe in Chfiit'amandate, " Do unto others "as -you would be done "by." and can console durselves with the reflection (bat a day will surely come when the FreetfiiokerT, f ball? be heeded instead of scoffed at, aQ.£ r phea,,a;. truly conscientious and useful life willjbb^ the principal recognised qualification* for heaven.—l am, &c,

A FBBKTHIKEIB. ~—