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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.