Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 24, 1896)
.'.i .*■»*■> I»,» ,, - S IL \ ERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 189B. VOL. 1. Labor’s Field. If vou cannot on th e ocean, Sail am ong th e sw iftest fleet, Rocking*on th e highest billows, Laughing at the storm s you m eet, Yon can stand am ong the sailors A nchored yet w ithin th e hay. You can lend a hand to help them As they Launch th e ir lo u ts aw ay. If you are too weak to journey Up th e m ountain steep and high, Vou can stand w ithin the valley W hile th e m ultitudes go by; You can c h a n t in happy m easures As they slowly pass along; Though they m ay forget th e singer, They will not forget th e song. Do not, th en , stand idly w aiting For some g reater work to do; F o rtu n e is a lazy goddess, She will never come to you ; (io and toil in any vineyard, Do not fear to do or d a re ; If you w ant a field of labor, You can find it anyw here. E. H. G ates Keep Church and S tate Separate. The “ National C hristian C itizen ship le a g u e ” which has grown rapidly, of late, is in full co-opera tion with the “ National Reform As sociation” in the mischievous work of trying to make our national governm ent recognize as the only true religion, the orthodox belief in C hrist and the bible. The sec retary of the N. R. Association writes th a t he has already met with a most cordial reception in many q u arters and particulary from m em bers and officers of the National C hristian Citizenship League. The first great purpose for which this league exists is, as the official docum ent, states it to “ reveal Jesus C hrist as the savior of the state and nation as well as the individual. This league will co-operate most h eartily and vig orously on the work of the coming co n v e n tio n . The purpose is to un ite forces and bring to hear all influences pos sible to secure legislation, both state and federal, for governm en tal recognition of evangelical re- ligion and for enforcem ent of its claim s, and yet the men who fram ed the constitution and es tablished the governm ent of the U nited States, made the sep ara tion of governm ent and religion the fundam ental principle of toe Republie. They said: ‘Religious establishm ents aie highly injurious to the tenqioral interests of any com m unity.” “ T he religion of every inan m ust be left to the conviction and conscience <>f every man; and it is th e right of every man to exercise it as these m ay dictate.’’ “ Experience wituesseth th a t ecclesiastical establishm ents, instead of m ain tain in g the purity and efficacy of religion, have had a contrary operation.” T he people have a right to their religious beliefs, to aver them , a d vocate them and to worship accord ing to them , hut ’hey have no right to m ake the governm ent, which we all help to support, recognize and sustain th e ir religion, w hether it be Pagan, Jew ish or C hristian, Catholic or P rotestant. W hat ever people are or m ay become, C hristians or F reethinkers, keep the governm ent secular. No union of cuurch and state. r The C hristm as F estival. . ... * NO. 8. greatest festivities. At the w inter solstice the G erm ans held th eir great Y ule feast in com m em oration of the retu rn of the fiery Sunwheel. Many of th e beliefs and usages of the G erm ans and also of the Rom ans relating to this m atter passed over from heathenism to C hristian ity and have partly survived to the present day. No scholar even pretends th a t C hrist was born on the 25th of Dec. Rev. Talm age says; “ W hether it really took place On the day on which w’e celebrate it, cannot now be proven. In the question of the year, as in the day of his birth, there is some uncertainty.” H istory shows th a t Dec. 25th was «elected as the alleged b irth d ay of Christ because th a t date was r e garded from tim e im m em orial as the b irth d ay of Sol, (the bun) the glorious lu m in ary of heaven, it be ing the period when he is born again into the new year and com mences again his journey of life. Hence it is th at to heathen in ter pretation of n atu ral phenom ena we owe the festive day known as C hristm as, and it is, indeed, aheau- tiful custom. \\ ho does not rejoice after the short, dreary days of w in ter, when the world is seem ingly wrapped in m ists and clouds and darkness, to welcome again the re turn of th e sun, the great God of day, the light and life of every liv ing thing? However Ib is beautiful astronom ical fact has been celebra ted by our heatheu ancestors, it de tracts nothing from th e beauty and grandeur of it. And so we, glad and happy in the birth of the new’ year, m ay ju stly strive to bury the ills and w’rongs of the past year, to win again the peace and friend ship th a t is lost, and to eemeut the kindly feelings an d affections of our loved ones by gifts and tokens of grateful remembrance. The celebration of C hristinas as the b irth d ay of C hrist is exclu sively C hristian, hut the celebra tion of the 2 5 th of Dec. as a day of m errim ent, rejoicing and p resen ta tion of gifts is a custom which from time im m em orial has l»een observed by the most ancient jieople in a l most every p art of th e globe. By the im agination of men it has been clothed in a m ythical garb, yet the idea, in its true origin, rests upon a well-established fact in nature. To all except those who, like St. Paul, are determ ined “ to know only B. E. U nderw ood . C hrist ami him crucified,” it will he interesting to note th a t C hrist was E volution of Species. only on e o f m any so-called Gods The D a rw in ia n theorv, now uni- and Saviors of the world, sixteen of versally accepted, is th a t “ all or whom were crucified. ganism s produce offsprings, on the In reading the history of Chrisna, whole, like them selves, but ex h ib it ing newr and indiv id u al features. contained in the B ig h av at G ita, As the result of the severe stru g one would almost believe himself to gle for existence, only a sm all per be reading the history of Christ. centage survive to become repro In the life of Buddha, a sacred God ductive adults. The survivors are I of the Hindoos, who was crucified those whose variations enable them GOO B. C., we find very m any ch ar to gain some advantage over their acteristics corresponding alm ost to fellows in the struggle for food, the letter with those of the life of m ates and other conditions o f well C hrist. We are confronted by like being. A fit variation not only se sim ilarities in the liv«3 of many cures the survival of its possessors, other Gods, worshipped hundreds hut is tran sm itte d from parents to of years before such a personage as offsprings an d is intensified from C hrist was ever dream ed of. But geueration to genetation. By this the most im portant point in this process of “ n atu ra l selection” of ad connection is th a t th eir birth was vantageous variations, continued celebrated on the 25th of Dei*. H aving found sufficient cause for for m any generations, th e modiii- catiou of species has been affected. th e fixing o f th e d a te of C hrist’s T he variatio n s in species have as birth on Dec. 25th, it rem ains for sumed their present definite c h a r us to determ ine whv * the ancient acters through long periods of time. people chose this p articu lar date for Dom esticated anim als, h a v in g a ll the birth of th eir Gods. the essential characters oi new Among the causes th a t co-oper races, afford us good exam ples. ated in fixing this period, perhaps These variations or changes may the most influential was th a t a l arise from sustained envirom ent, most all the heathen nations re i. e., external inlluences and su r garded the w inter solstice as the roundings; from persistent change most im portant point of the year. N ettie A. O lds . of function, as the result of use and They observed th a t at th is point in disuse; or from various protoplas the ecliptic the sun is farthest re The Slanderer. mic causes. The developm ent moved from the equator, and th a t In the name of the most m erci of a new species liecomes more in lie i-. consequently, a t th e turning tensified by sexual selection, in point in his a p p a ren t course. ful God. Woe unto every slanderer, who heapeth up which choice exercises an im prov I’hev regarded w hat we call Dec. and backbiter ing influence in reproduction, thus 25th as the shortest day in the year. riches, and prepareth the sam e for He th in k eth tending to transm it certain q u ali They believed the old sun died and the time to come! ties; and from sustained isolation, th e new Min was lo rn , and taught; th a t his riches will render him im By no means. H e shall preventing, by geographical separa let old feuds end; rejoice in th e new* m ortal. tion, intercrossing. M an, by cu lti Sun; renew’ old friendships and surely l»e cast into Al H otam a. vating his good faculties, anil re form new ones; cem ent them by And who shall cause thee to un d er | stand w h at Al H otam a is? I t is straining and subduing bis bad gifts. ones, can im prove th e m ental and Here, then, in this sim ple astro the kindled fire of God; » which shall moral qualities ol his children; nomical fact in nature, we find the m ount above the h earts of those an<l of perpetuated through sul>se- reason why these heathen people who shall be cast therin. V erily it quent generations, m ake an im celebrated the 25th of Dec. T he sh all be as an arched v a u lt above press on, and so improve the race. Celts and G erm ans from the oldest them on colum ns of vast ex ten t.— tim es celebrated the season with the The Koran, — Agnostic’s Prim er.