THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 2 1 , 1S9T .
happier away as long as you th in k
old belief is fought with all the oU's could see. • M here «lid th is ga>
so differently from u s a ll.”
|M>wer ami venom ih a t can possi come from? Let us be honest and
Isn ’t it sad to th in k th a t a son
bly he used. Experience teaches say we do not know.
who l«»ves his m other m ust either
Scientists say th a t m atter can
U N I V E R S A L M E N T A L L IB us that if i he w orshippers of the meek
play the hypocrite or be looked
ami lowly one who called the not he destroyed and so the ele-
ERTY.
upon as one who needs the divine
>crih!'- and Pharasnes such vile nipnis <»f which this was cum posed
•■-.-.'I«, arm oi ah orthodox preacAef to
.
ft
nam es as serpents and vipers could m ay he eternal, if you know’ w hat
lean upon.
T his m other knows
git the power they so much de- th at m eans. We do not for we can
The Only Secular Paper Published on the siiehut ire s »rapidly loo-ing, th a t n«n think of som ething without a be th at her son is as moral as Rev.
Pacific Coast.
all philosophei s would me tth e sa m e ginning ami if we think of a begin Wood.
W hy should not Rev. \\ ood have
fate as Bruno, hut, th an k s to the ning we can ’t help thin k in g of a
Published Weekly by the Oregon S u te developm ent of the hum an m ind lime before the beginning and her son by him to help him in his
ami the bravery of such men, we when we th in k of a tim e b e fo re the weakness?
Secular Union.
Her s«»n believes in everything
can express our opinions freely if beginning th a t spoils our idea of
th a t is good, honest, m oral and
we are willing to suffer the sm all the beginning. There is one thing
J E H O S M E R ....................... E d ito r.
tru e—in everything th a t will make
P. W .ö E h 'R - - - B u sin e ss M a n a g e r. inconveniences of ridicule, boycott certain however, th a t it is more
and ostracism which are about the logical t«> think of m atter as being us better and happier, and is p u t
ting in his whole tim e in try in g to
E ntered at th e postoffice a t Silverton, only weapons left t<> the holy w ar eternal than to think of a God who
m ake this world w hat it ought to he
Oregon, as second class mail m atter.
riors, and so we «tan, like the w riter created all things cu t of nothing
of old, sing our little song of the and who was not created him -elf. — in working for hum anity.
Rev. Wood believes in working
B U B S C K IH lIO N H A l’h o .
beginning of the world, of the a d Il is impossible to im agine such a
for a future life, in working for the
lin e Year, in advai ee..........
..... “ * 'J0
vent of life, its growth, and its de b* ing for the m aterial of which he
six Month«» in advance........................
glory of a supposed Creator, in
parture into the great unknow n. would he composed m u-t have been angels, in m iracles and a holy
T h ree Month«, in advance .. .
.................
In Glut»« of •> o r m ore one year, in advance. . 75
If we claim
to
know more created if other m atter was or else
Money should be sent by registered le tte r or
ghost. 0 , m others, should the Rev.
th an Moses did, we ought not to some m atter was eternal, and in
m oney order.
Woods he thought more of than
Please .-end us the nam es and ad Iresses of Sec
this case the creator did not create
he
condem
ned
too
hastily,
for
it
u larists who a i t not regular m b sc rib o is.
your own sons?
Isn ’t honesty of
inu-t he rem em bered th at thous all things, and, if it is claim ed th at
thought b- u e r th an deception?
ands of years have passed since his the creator is a spirit and not com
How do y o u know th a t your sons
THURSDAY_ _ _ JANUARY 21 E. M. 297.
time and the children of earth have posed of m atter at all, this leaves
are not right and the Rev. Woods
im proved their school days and are us in a worse dilem m a for our m inds
either m istaken or playing the
From K now n to U n know n.
not only possessed of much more cannot grasp the idea of im m aterial
hypocrite? Look around you. Do
knowledge
th
a
n
was
possible
for
things;
in
fact
im
m
aterial
simply
It is claim ed by m any that peo
you not see good people who do not
ple like to be hum bugged i. e., that Moses to po-sess, hut we have d e m eans nothing to n s. Ami so we believe in orthodoxy, or any ancient
any doctrine or creed will be ac veloped m orally and we will he hon lielieve as the Presb.i t«*rians do that religion?
cepted more readily if it contains a est and not give our ideas as in God is w ithout form parts or pas
They are Secularists. They m ay
fallible,
hut
will
sim
ply
state
th
a
t
sion.
T
hat
which
is
without
form,
large clem ent of m ystery and th e
not be organized in your locality
they are our present conc eption of parts or passion is nothing at all.
ories which can not lie proven.
on account «if the power of su p er
things.
Another
great
difference
Therefore
there
is
no
God
accord
This m ay he true of ignorant
stition, b u t there are m any of them ,
people, but we Secularists believe between holy Moses and ourselves is, ing to this <‘hri-tian definition.
and although it m ay be after you
th
at
we
will
not
he
obliged
to
make
th a t we are ready for the solid
and the son th a t you «1«) not n«»w
H isu n d ersto o d .
n u tritio u s food of tru th
which up our story of nothing, but we
understand nor apj reciate is gone,
when properly ^digested and assim- will try to reason from the known
In order for those who have been this same Secularism , this Religion
ulated will give us more sym m etri to the related unknow n.
of H u m an ity , will be u n iv ersally
It is a well known fact of science biased hv orthodoxy to understand
cal and well balanced m inds.
Secularism , it seems th a t a regular accepted and practiced.
We should he very careful in th at the three states of m atter i. e.,
course of training is necessary,
teaching things as facts which are the solid, the liquid and the gaseous
F e a r of D eath.
either
in
practical
w
’ork
or
d
ili
onlv theories. We should always are caused by the different degrees
Death has been a great bugbear
gent inquiry and conversation with
state th a t our unproven theories of heat and pressure to which m a t
in the past, and we have inherited
are merely our ideas and not fall ter is subjected and it is believed those who do undersand it.
This seems like a w a k statem ent a great dread for w hat has been
into the beastly error of stating th a t the different degrees of heat
to one wh«» understands Secularism , called th e cold icy hand of death,
theories as the tru th ; hut there arc are caused by the rates of motion
for it is so easy of com prehension hut when we have become th o r
some theories which can not he of the molecules or particles of
th at w ay-fa'ing men though fools oughly acquainted with the laws of
actually dem onstrated which never- which all m atter is composed N o w
need not ha ve as n .a "y «litTeient no nature, and religious teachers cease
tln-lcss explain certain phenom ena if this he 'ru e, and we believe it is,
tions (cre«*ds) about it as t he wise ( ?) to scare p« op e by holding up vivid
so well th a t they are generally accep the earth and probably all p la n
C hristians d«> about their religion. and awful pictures of death-be«l
ted by th a t grand body of benefactors ets, suns and satalites—the whole
In order to show how* S e c u la r is m scenes and the hist souls w rithing
called scientists. N early all facts universe — was all in a gaseous state
is misund« rsto"d we will quote the in hell we will learn that it’s not
known to science were once in this at one tim e and th is is th e n v re
following from a ch ri-tian mother’s such an awful thing as we have
state and have h -en proven and ac reasonable when we find th a t th e
been made t<> th in k .
If we had
cepted, not by the help of the m ys earth is slowly growing cooler. letter. Her son, who is a Secularist,
We believe been ta u g h t lor \e a rs ami years
tery teachers called theologians, Now if this tendency of the earth is is in the far W est.
th a t this will clearly show’ th at Sec th a t death is perfect re-t, no pain,
but in spite of them , and when applies to all bodies alike, it brings
u larists ought to organize ami let no worry. n«i care, we couhl now
some great discovery has been us hack to a tim e when m ercury,
the world know w h at Secularism is. look up n it as some do with no
m ade by some noble sacrificing venus, mars, jupiter, s »turn, ura-
Here is the «juotatio n : “ John, I more dread th a n we have for going
philosopher, the holy dealers in n u sa n d neptune with a ll th e ir moons
cannot
circulate those
papers to rest at night, after our d a y ’s
m ysteries have always, like Betsy’s the sun ami all suns, in f ict every
(“ lo p ’hes” ) because I c in n o t think work is done. The present condi
husband when Betsy killed the thing was in th e form of gas.
as you do and I do not see anyone tions of so« iety cause us to feel
bear, shouted from the top of the This gas m ay have been u n i
th a t docs. The C hristian Science sorry to h ave our loved ones in the
house i. e., their pulpit, Oh yes, ted iu a cotnponn I or li <e <«ur
atm osphere, it m ay have been sim comes the nearest, h u t tin re are world to h a 'tie against their ene
Betsy
and
I
killed
the
hear!
•/
onlv a few of them and they mies, lint when society has reached
These holy men have tau g h t th a t ply a m ixture. Our m inds can not
a more perfect state, m uch, if not
the powers controling the universe grasp the idea of endless spa«*e so d<> not m ingle with others and do-
all of this sorrow will lie taken
are gods, angels, devils, spirits, we’ll not mention it, hut we can not seem to advance. I wish you
aw ay, for in a perfect stat»* of society
ghosts, and witches and in th e p a ^ t, th in k of all the m atter being in the had Rev. Wood by you always. He
all would he as brothers and sisters
whenever they could, they have form of gas and we m ust he sat was a good m an and I th in k such
The m aterial a m an couhl «I«» you lots of good. and i he danger of our loved ones
forced the freethinkers or philos isfied with th a t.
suff ring from want «if care or pr<»-
ophers to keep silent, and. in m any of which we are composed inu-t The last we heard of h im he was in
tection would he gone and our only
cases they have silenced them by have been there if this is true. had h ea lth .’’
“ It d o e s seem hard, «inly one hoy gri f would be for the sorrow of
force, and today every discovery of W as it d ark? There were no eves
those who wou d m issus.
science which tends to weaken the to see and nothing th a t eyes like and he is so far away, hut you are
Torch of Reason
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