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About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 31, 1896)
THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1896. I-TT" — n t 1. J*» ’ T was properly docile for ft time. One Sunday h<»wev»r, his teacher ClIICA«. >, II., Dec. 24, 1896.— To expatiated to her class al>out In-Il, th e Edit* r: 1 he ('liicag o S ecular what a terrible place it was etc., Union, organized since the close of and how sin* was sure tin y w ouldn’t the national congress, is now in a any of them want to g o there, etc., very prom ising condition On last and appealed to the “ gat h ered ’’ one Sunday ♦*•. ... wd-og ':*• «■*& • " >1 . < '. 4 - w e - 4 = « f c - ». », gam zaiion was term inât' ! by c h e r , ’’ -.iid •“riv- “ A rab,” adoption of a constitution and »-lec “ don’t give us any mon* o f'h a t rot. tion of officers in accordance with My Pa says there aim any such its provisions. Mr. Gamuiag»* who place.” was acting president is retained in Then there was silence for a that im portant office and the indi space. F. s. M. cations are th at In; can he de Q uestion Box. pended upon to do h 's wln»le duty. [Questions or anowere (or publication I am prepared to give hut lew n a m e s at this writing, but quite solicited. Semi them in early .] a num ber Iw-th men and women W hich is better to be a croaker take ;t lively interest in the organi- and croak at the m istakes of others zition find show by their liberal or do som ething ourselves? contributions that they w ant it to Because some men do wr mg live. One gentlem an, whose name . should we disown our connections J cannot recall, donat' d 40 acres of with the hum an race? land to the Union. Thin will j If a professed Secularist does probably be turned into cash in the ! wrong, does th a t lessen our duty most advantageous m anner. The tow ard the cause or increase it? membership fee is $1 per year and As a rule which are the more . « I • honorable 1 i kind • i and l charitable, l 1 the first d o llar was paid in h^ Wong Chin Foo, a C hinam an who professed C hristians or professed Secularists? was educat d in this country. Are little children natu rally 'This gentlem an i* ft reformer in its broad» si sens»» and a-4 I under C hristians or Secularists? W hich is nobler, io strive w ith all stand sjH-nds much of his time in aiding his own countrym en who our m ight to gain a future state of the get info difficulties in this country. bliss for ourselves, or for Mr. Foo was elected first vice- earth ly happiness of the h u m an race? president. Does a C hristian lady love her N»*xt S unday’s meeting will be a m em orial to Samuel P. Putnam Jesus more th an she does her bus- whose u n tim ely! death loaves a hand? If Jesus w a s a perfect exam ple, vacancy in the ranks of free- and have thought th a t will he h ard indeed should men m arry homes anti families? to fill. Was it as wrong fo r C hristians One of the most serious problems th at confronts us is the raising of to teach the Rom ans th a t their funds as we have no gods to fall pagan religion was wrong, as it is back on nothing but simple tru th for Secularists to teach th a t Cliris- and honesty— we are necessarily tianity is wrong? W hich is better an atheist that denied some of the most productive m ethods employed hy our C hris loves ,eB his fam ily and is a good, Iwr n e s t. n progressive n u r r e s tiv e m il, o oi r honest, m a an, tian friends, hut we expect to get sober, Im a m an who believes in God hut is t here just the same. .J. B. B eattie . cruel to his family, intem perate, 2202 Wilcox Ave. dishonest and unprogressive? C o m m u n icatio n s. T urner , O il , Dec. 26, 1896.—To he E d ito r: At the C hristm as tre e n th e Baptist church here on Christinas n ig h ', ft lady gave a ittle lecture to the juveniles, on he institution of C hristm as as a ioliday. She repeated the usual >rfcl»od<»x story, th a t the day was lie b irthday of C hrist etc., and probably believed the story she old th e m . And the undevelop» d nind of childhood, “ wax t«> receive, tnd m arble to retain,’ probably relieved it too, because there was io one to give the other side of hr story. T hus the “crying,’’ aye, he howling need of Secular Sun- av schools is apparent. But it appears th a t a ray of reel* thought is invading even the »rtho.lox Sunday schools. I, is related of a street “ A rab” here who was “ gathered in ” to the )rtho<lox Sunday school “ a s a brand •lucked from the b u rn in g ,” th at he flo ra lity vs Theology. Every good or moral act is fol low»*»! hy good, not only to others, hut also to self, because it tends to in»*reas»* the strength of those facul ties by which it is performed. On the other hand, not only is every al • “ Tniowed hy its » 'Wi objective bad results, hut it leaves its traces in the character of the actor—strengthening facul ties which should he left to dwindle into disuse. Instead of prayer, the utterance of petitionary words to a m an-like God, as a m eans of attain- irig our ends, will be substituted labor in the light of science. No. temples will beset ap a rt for propi-j tialing ami pleasing an im aginary deity; the mind itself will be a temple where conscience will be continually propitiated by the fulfilm ent of duty. In stead of the discoveries of science being received with continual dread and dislike, everyone of them will be welcomed as glad tidings of great joy. One "1 _ i it i _1 _ ~ be known, more advance, will has been made in the great work of dim inishing the pain and increas- ing the pleasure of hum an life. The foot of man, it will he felt, has been planted one step higher in the course of his evolution. At the close of life, again, no m irage of an im aginary heaven will be needed to generate hope; nor will any hideous phantom s of an angry God and an eternal hell be present to terrify the mind. The impene- trahlt darkness of the unknowable will be looked upon with calmness, and approached w ithout thought of fear.— John W ilson. J e s u s of N azareth . It is a well known tru th th a t in the second century the C hristians were divided into m any se*‘ts which biMei.lv aitiaKreed each other. / ,, .» Prom inent among these were the gnostics who stoutly claim ed that Je(jus |)ad nQ corp(,ral existc, ice, <m| they worship|K,(1 him as a N ew s from P o rtlan d . spirit only. It a t th at early date ----------- an im p o rtan t branch of the cliris- Since the last writing, grim death t ians doubted and denied the cor- has enter»-«! our fold and robbed poral existence of Jesus, does n usof one of our most precious lambs. not ai least present a plausible rea- Tuesday m orning last little R uth 8on why others who com e after Bailey ’lied of dipht heria after an ill them should be troubled with the ness of about 9 days. Mr. and Mrs. sam e class of doubts? The bitt»-r Bailey „ »»re , prostrated with _ g rie f and long-continued contest which over the loss of this flower of th e raged in the 4th century, between fam ily. Little Ethel takes it hard 1.....1 ihe Arians and the A thanasians hut is a great c o m fo rt to tie r p a r the one denying the divine nature ents. The funeral took place the «>f Jesus, the other affirm ing it, are same afternoon, Mr. P. W. Geer m atters of history. preaching the funeral sermon. Tin* No less than 38 councils w» re m any friends of the grief stricken called .................................... to settle their t prolonged c >n- family» tender them their most tentions, and during their session heartfelt sym pathy in this their soldiers were em ployed hy both h °u r of bereavem ent. sides to defend their positions, anil JoE B E R T . they sometimes engaged in the D uring early years every civil contest and blood flowed freelv. ¡zed man passes through that phase The conflict of opinion between the of character e x h ib ited by the bar- A rian bishop Macedomus and the barous race from which he is de- A thanasian Paul, caused the death geeuded.— H erheit Spencer. of 3000 persons in the streets of C onstantinople. The A rian bishop of A lexandria sought to convert the A thanasian widow’s am i virgins to sounder theolgoical view-» by stripping them naked, scourging the soles of their feet ami scorching them over slow’ fires. A C hristian Em peror sought to convince the opponents of the Aria» theory by drow ning 80 priests upon a single occasion. H. D, B. ( to be continued .) The fact is that all breaches of health are physical sins. W hen this is generally seen, then, and perhaps not till then, will the phy sical training of the young receive all the attention it deser ves.— H erbert Spencer. We give the T orch oe R eason and the T ru th Seeker for one year to new’ subscribers, for $3. The 'P orch of R eason and Free T hought Magazine for one year to new subscribers for $1.75. S eculdr N ew s. P. W . G eer was suddenly ealle<I to P o rtlan d T uesday to deliver th e funeral address of little ltu th ie Bailey who »lied at the hom e of her p aren ts on th e *29 in st. ltu th ie was one of our m ost active little w orkers in th e Secular Sunday school and her d eath will he m ourned by both young am i old. O b itu ary will ap p ear n ex t week. ' We have a n o th e r typo th is week and now we will be able to be m ore p ro m p t w ith our p ap er. N ettie A.Ol«ls lectured at M cM innville last Sunday evening on the subject of The C h ristm as Festival. llo lid av exercises at th e P o rtlan d Secular Sunday school n e x t Sunday. S ecularists of Chicago arc organizing. R em em ber w hat we say. T here will be g reat changes in th e religion of our country in the next deca«le. If we succeed in our work Silverton will see a big boom n ex t S um m er, and we will succeed. W hy not? T his is a lieautiful co u n try w ith its m ild clim ate, its fine fru it, its ex cellen t soil and best of all its lib erty loving people. Come am i help us. Miss Ada Dewey o u r p ian ist will be here n ex t week. All w ishing to tak e lessons on th e piano should let us know as soon as possible. Miss R after o u r new typo m akes a valuable addition to our ran k s of busy w orkers. Mis« Olds is tak in g a vacation am i so if the L ittle C andle is som e w hat d e layed th is week d o n ’t th in k th a t it has gone out. U nder a bushel, in a horn. T here will be a gram! concert given bv the Silverton M arine Band next S u n day evening in addition to th e sh o rt a d dresses by th e meml>ers of the faculty of th e Lib -ral U niversity. U n iv e rsity L ib ra ry . Those w ishing to l>e»*onie m em bers of th is A ssociation m ay «Io so by c o n trib u tin g one or m ore goo«l books. M em bers who have joined d u rin g the m onth of D eeem ber. P. W . G e e r. 10vol. C ooper's C om plete W orks. M. Fitzjerrell 2vol. H istory of C h rist- ian itv . IL L. Allen 12 vol. S co tt’s W orks. W a PPU R e 'c u ^ e a r t!