DOG-VANES.

Freethought Review, Volume I, Issue 5, 1 February 1884, Page 13

DOG-VANES.

It is many years since I was a wanderer on the face of the ocean, but amidst all my subsequent wanderings on the face of the earth I have not forgotten the use of the Dog-vane. Like straws on a stream, the little fragile and generally fanciful bit of bunting hung on the back-stay gave evidence of the shifting currents of the breeze. In the present series of papers, I propose to direifl attention to such minor events in the social and political progress of the time as appear to me to indicate the currents of public opinion, which, like variable winds to the voyager, alternately hasten or retard the progress of humanity to its goal. The much hackneyed quotation, “ There are stranger things in this world, Horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophy,” receives daily confirmation, notwithstanding the long flight of time since those words were written. Can there be anything stranger than the persistency with which the priesthood of all denominations continues to preach, and their followers continue to believe, or profess to believe, in a merciful Divine Providence. So utterly at variance with the daily experience of our race, and the dictates of common sense, does this dodtrine appear to me, that all the philosophy I can muster fails to afford me a key to the blind gullibility of the people ; the persistency of the so-called shepherds of the human flock is more easily accounted for, although their audacity in the face of fadts is something wonderful. To illustrate the cause of my astonishment, it is not necessary that I should ask my readers to go back to ancient history, nor is a long retrospective survey of our own times needed, as numerous events within the memory of even the children of to-day arc sufficient for my purpose.

Among the thousands who can remember the sinking of the excursion steamboat Princess Alice* in the Thames,, is there one who cannot recall the feelings of horror which the details of that catastrophe excited ? Within the limits of this paper I cannot presume to give a complete list of the numerous accidents, as they are generally termed, but which in strict consistency should be called acts of God, which have resulted in the death and misery of hundreds of human beings from, infancy to old age. Theatres, crowded with people, have been destroyed by fire ; mines have exploded ; bridges have broken down ; railway trains have dashed into each other, and ploughed a road through throngs of helpless and- panic-stricken people; ships have collided in the English Channel, and vessels have been wrecked on our own coasts, as well as in every other known portion of the globe ; and lastly, though far from least, earthquakes and eruptions have destroyed whole cities and districts, involving in one common ruin rich and poor, young and old, the just and the unjust, proving most emphatically that God is no respeCfer of persons or of things, but, like some hideous cannibal, he sacrifices all sorts and conditions of men to his thirst for blood and his delight in human suffering. Banish the idea of an anthropomorphous deity and my impeachment falls to the ground, but as long as the personal interference with the affairs of the universe and man in particular is attributed to a personal God, my accusation is more than justified. W against such a barbarous and humiliating creed becomes one of the noblest occupations of the intellect. In order to assist in the battle against priestcraft and superstition, I have recently turned my attention to improving on the weapons of theology. The most effective means of blinding the reason and dwarfing the understanding has been the excitement of the imagination and powerful appeals to man’s emotional nature. High-flown language, the gorgeous imagery of Oriental poetry, the gilded trappings and costly vestments, the magnificently painted windows, shedding their dim, religious light through aisle and chancel, and above all, the heart-stirring and enthralling power of music and the united harmony of the human voice,have all been used with most consummate skill to enslave the mind, and with what success the present condition of society too plainly proves. The tinsel and millinery of ritualism I have no desire to imitate, but music is an element of human pleasure and instruction, and I propose to divorce as much of it as possible from the delusive rhapsodies and incantations of theology, and to unite it with the words of truth and the aspirations of a purer and nobler faith. I therefore offer the following verses in common metre as a humble contribution to the Hymnology of Freethought :—

JEHOVAH’S WONDROUS LOVE ! • Behold Jehovah’s wondrous love On Ischia’s isle displayed, Where stately halls and cottage walls Are in one ruin laid ! Show me the mercies of that God Who hears the widow’s cry, Who leaves in nameless agonies The old and young to die. Has he who marks the sparrow fall, E’er stretched his hand to save The hapless crews who on him call, While sinking 'neath the wave ? To Sunderland turn the eye of faith, And mark the floods, of tears, Shed o’er the mangled little one, Crushed on those fatal stairs. The startling " truth ” that " God is good," Though earthly tyrants reign, Is written deep in human blood On every battle plain. Millions of tongues in humble prayer To God for mercy cry ; He only laughs at man’s despair, And leaves the weak to die. Then ask me not to bend the knee To such a senseless clod ; Built up by ignorance and fear, And called by priests “ our God," Charles J. Rae. Dec. 30th, 1883.