THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON. THURSDAY, DECEMBER
10,
lS '.lfi.
□mum
"entinient" of V oltaire ami Paine,
It is said in the Hebrew S cript it hav* been creatures more or less
a id yet invoke the gracious favor ures, “ God m ade m an in his own like'itself. Im agine such a crea
Un the eight \ - hun t I» anni v i -it \
image.” 1 urn th e statem ent up ture trying to form and ex press
ot A lm ighty G o il.
side down, and it becomes tru e: a conception of the forms of ex
ni L iicoln b i n l u g - r.-oll (h -
“ Y oh also say. ‘T his
God’ “ Man m akes God in his own im istence of the plants ami anim als
llA .rcl ill New Y rk hi" li.;t"t« l i\ (m eaning the God whose favor Lin-
as known to us! — such an attem pt
or bimi <>ii A braham Lincoln. in coin invoKml) was not the D eists’ age.” A nd w hether the represen m ust he in vain. Then suppose
tation consists of the clay figure
iiii" oratinn h<- a li n i ned th it the God.* Tie- Deists believe in an
further this tin v creature trying to
made by an African negro,
the conceive he idea of God, th'- cause
r •,
> ì of L‘ i ' »1 u w;i- ! h»* re!¡¿i .? o d d i l c .J i d ii g , « h o .. c ......
re a te d ami
m enial iirragc constructed Ly-..v-i-. ■ 'a ’ > i i * i V i i »• w . ;; n > 1 to ilr-i ru t- Ini.',
ion of V o lta ire am i Pane-. Iniined- p resei ves the universe. The C h ris -1
ized mail, it is equally a vain and as mi invisible shell-fish, w ith a
i i o ly alter it s de.i »’er a Gem
! j ti;l ns believe no more. Deists a n d ;
foolish idol. T he most ignorant shell enoroinously large an d te n ta
of New York, a'ldr.-">ed the fol l o w - , c h r i ^ t i a u H believe in the sam e God,
-a \a g e and the A rchbishop of ( ’a n cles infinitely long: in fact a m ag
ing note to Col. Ingersoll.
Hut
differ as to what this God
te bury are eq u ally unable to form nified im age of itself. The folly of
•D ear Col. Ingersoll:
I
( jias done, and to what this God j
any true conception of the n atu re this attem pt to enter what was to
ju."t returned home from listening wiu
y o u fu rth er say that
of G»»d. Let us suppose one of the shell-fish the legion of the u n
to your most entertaining b-< Gio , •Uncoln worshiped his God under
knowable would he very plain to
upon the life of A braham Lincoln. ' , he forillH (,f- the C hristian C hurch. those small shell-fish in the slime
at the bottom of the ocean trying us. Hut let us suppose still fu rth er
1 th in k you sin<*enl\ I'd' all that of which he was a m ember.
Again
to form a conception of the loi ms ilmt this little creatu re not only
wa." good in ii, and imn cntii b-s j y (),, {J1.e m istaken
Lincoln was
of existence on the surface of I In formed i his conception of God hut
iiu* t«> be frank in condem ning w hat never a member of any church
earth. It knows ami can know u-lt so confident of its virtues as a
1 couHiler was bad. You say th at Mrg j j nco|„ state<l a f.-w years ago
nothing of light or colour, of air correct one th at it assured the
L o -oln’s religion was the religion (th a t M|. Lincoln was not a Christ-
or sound. Its experience has been o th er little shell-fish th at any of
«•1 \ oltaire ami loin I aiue. I ¡on.
H undreds of his acqiiain-
confined to a few feet of mud two tln-m th a t did not thus think o fth e
ki.i.w not where you get yout ,,u ' fauces have said the sam e thing,
thousand fathom s below the su r deity would “ w ithout doubt perish
im rity for this, lmt if the statem ent
only so, hut many of them have
face, where there m ust be u tter ev erlastin g ly .” T he ludicrous p re
he true Lincoln hims.-lf was untrue, |
t |,at }H, wa8 a F reethinker;
darkness and etern al silence. All sum ption of the creatu re wou.d
Io
no man inv >ked ‘the gracious liial
(i,.„ied ’ the inspiration of
the forms of existence know n to am use a ch ild .—Joh n Wilson.
f a v » r o f A lm ig h ty G o d ’ in every the Scriptures, and th a t he alw ays
effort of his lif.* w ith nm rc a p p a re n t insisted th at C hrist was not the
fervor than did lie. ami this 1 * 'L S()n of God, and th a t the dogma of
was not the D eists’ G > I lmt ihf the atonem ent was and is an a b
God whom he worshiped under the surdity.
for iis of the C uristian C mrcli, of
“ 1 will very gladly pay you one
w '¡eh he was a member.
thousand dollars for your trouble
“ I do not write this in defense of to show th a t one statem en t in your
Tablets, Papeteries,
his religion or as objecting to yours, letter is correct—even one. And
m aterial
or for
luii I think it was better for the now, to quote you, ‘Do you not
books call at Uitv
trut h of history th a t you
Hiink it were better for th e tru th
maev.
hl.m e him for w hat he was than l)f history t |,.H V()ll should state
com m end him for what lie was the facts about Lincoln, and that
G U IS S & S O N
n »t. Sincerely y<>ur- n
you should commend him for wh it
“ C iirle II. f. J »11 i s ”
he was rath er than for what he was
WAS LINCOLN A
CHRISTIAN?
In a n sw e r to th e above, Col. In not?’
gersoll penned tin* following reply:
“ Gen C harles IL T. Collis,— My
Dear sir:
I have just
received
your letter in which you criticise a
Ma lenient made by me to the effect
th a t Lincoln's religion was the re
ligion of V oltaire and Thom as
Paine, and you add, ‘I know not
w here you get your au th o rity for
tins, hut if the statem ent he true,
Lincoln him self was untrue, for no
man ever invoked tin» favor of Al-
j •
« 4
e i :
m ighty God m every effort ot his
life with more apparent fervor than
did he.’
“ You seem to he laboring under
the impression th a t V oltaire was
not a believer in God, atid th at he
could not have invoked tin* favor of
A lm ighty God. The tru th is that
V oltaire was not only a believer in
God, but even in special Provi
dence. I know th a t the clergy
has alw ays denounced \ oltaire as
. /
, .
.
ac
an Atheist, hut this can he ac-
counted for in two wavs:
F irst bv
*
*■
the ignorance of the clergy, and
Second, by their contem pt of tru th .
Thom as Paine was also a believer
in God, and wrote his creed as
follows: ‘I believe in one God and
no more, and hope for im m ortality.'
T he m inisters have also denounced
Paine as an A theist.
“ You will, therefore, see th at
first statem ent is without the
• your
»
slightest foundation in fact. Lin
coln could he perfectly true to him
self if he agreed with the religious
Yours t r u l \ ’
“ K G. Ingersoll."
S C IE N C E VS T H E
j
LO G Y.
(C o n tin u e d fr o n t l i s t Issu e.)
The argum ent for the existence
of the hum an a ttrib u te of goodness]
O T T O W E T T S T E IN ’S
P o p u la r F r e e t h o u g h t
B adge.
“ A pin whose torch and golden sh een ,
W ould grace th e b reast of S h e b a ’s queen ;
And will lend grace (now and) in com ing tim e
To q ueens of lieauty m ore su b lim e .’’
in God is founded on the sam e im
perfect reasoning as th a t we have
Should be worn bv every m an and woman favoring
just considered. Facts producing
results such as a good m an m ight
th e cause of F reeth o u g h t and reform . See design
produce, are cited as proofs of the
in heading of th is paper. Now is th e tim e to buy.
goodness of God: while facts such
H
’
, . , ,
as only the most cruel and wicked
would or could be guilty of, are O tto W e tts te in ,
either passed over unnoticed, or put ,
aside labelled “ m ysterious.” A
The Liberal jew eler and w riter, Designer of the O tto
healthy and beautiful child is taken
W ettstein W atch ,’ the C ol . I ngersoll S ouvenir
as proof of God’s goodness; hut
nothing is said of infants horn in
S poon , and the beautiful F reethought B adge . Es
a state of disease or deform ity,
tablished in R ochelle,‘Illinois, in 1857. Send for
destined to a short and m iserable
existence. W hat, again, is to be
price-lists of goods ami work.
said of creatures so form ed th a t
.
. , ..
life to them is possible only bv the
.
. , .,
.
..
Do all you can yourself, and get o th ers to help.
sickness, pain and death of other
living creatures?
L ib e ra l U n iv e rs ity P o p u la r S u b s c r ip tio n
It facts sim ilar to w hat hum an
goodness would produce are proofs
of God having the attrib u te of h u
IS! Hi.
m an goodness, it follows th a t facts
sim ilar to w hat hum an cruelty and
I hereby prom ise to p ay ................................. dollars to
wickedness would produce—and
the Oregon State Secular U nion on dem and, for the erec
they are just as num erous— are
equally proofs of God having the tion of a Liberal U niversity at S ilverton, Marion county,
attributes of hum an cru elty and
Oregon, provided, th a t the sum of five thousand dollars
wickedness. But
the tru th is
neither one nor the other is any is subscribed by good, responsible parties before said de
proof at all th a t th e n a tm e of God
mand is made*.
is man-like.