« THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON. OREGON, THURSDAY, Jesus of Nazareth. Sec u I a r Soc iet ies. The four Gospels which the council < f Laodicea in 363 decided by vote to he true and reliablec one far fro m agreeing in their different versions; the p rin tin g press was un- !<1 t h o e . a n d tie - o n ly ¿yay New ton, Iowa, M rs. E . B. Moffitt, See Riverside, Iowa, Daisy Fesler, “ C r e s e n t, O k la . B. C. B r e w s te r . “ Vancouver, W adi., f____ ______ M r ^ i ! J> t„ B u rro w s . m ultiplying copies of the gospels and epistles was hy the pen, and th is principally hy monks. Very few of these copies were m ade from the originals. They were sim ply copies of c »pies and there arc now in existence, no coj ieg m ade nearer th e tim e of Jesus th an 500 years. It is supposed th a t M athew 's gospel was w ritten first and th at Mark and Luke were copied more or less from it. They se» in to have been som ewhat uncertain as to M athew’s credibility, for they om it ted several of the most w onder ful parts, and rejected m any of his m ost astonishing miracles. An able E nglish w riter, in referring to the reliability of the gospel”, thus expresses himself: “ The o rd in ary notion, th a t the four gospels were w ritten by the persons whose nam es they hear, has no foundation in tru th , an d has now been given up l»y all C hristian w riters,” and here t he adm ission of Bishop E austus is conclusive and shows th a t the C hristian world has been all along kept in most strange and su p ersti tious ignorance on this subject. Upon the same subject, the Rev. E. E vanson th u s de-cants: ‘•Although the gospels are to he receive«! as the compositions «»f the Jews, yet th eir com positions do nevertheless betray so great a de gree of ignorance of the G eography, statistic-1, and circum stances of Judea at the time supposed, as to put it beyond all question, that the w riters were neither Jew s or in h ab itan ts of Ju d ea .” Jacolliot, th e e m in e n t nn<l le a rn e d JANUARY 21, 1SP7. "» U 4‘»V Spokane, \\ ash., R. Sharpless, W agner, Oregon, Roht. C arsuer, Vale, Oregon, Edwin J o h n s o n , •* N orth Y am hill, Oregon. Dealers in Genera! Merchandise Corner W a te r and Main Streets, Silverton, Oregon. M iss R o x ie L a u g h l in , Port la n d , O regon, A d a D ewey, M cM in n v ille, < )reg«m, M abel H o p k in s , • t Silverton, <)regon, Mis. J. D Guiss., F irst C la ra F irst ville, First Secular Church <>f Silverton meets every other Sunday, 7:3() p. m. Mr. John Hicks. Sec. The Silverton Secular Sundav school m eets every Sumhiy in Lib eral H all at 2 p. in. Yun are earn- estlv invited t<> atten d ami help in our great work of advancing the cause of scienca and m orality. J. E. H osmer , M rs . J. D. Guiss, . Supt. j Sec’y. L iberal U n iv e rsity F u n d . T he following is a list of those who have suhseri lied to tlie Liberal ( ' diversity Fund, w ith th e a m o u n t signed by each : E S tew art, Dayville, Or................. $50 00 L S D avid so n ,P o rtlan d , O r ............ 25 00 Michel Steffen,V ancouver, W ash . 5 00 H erm an K ehm , P o rtla n d , O r . . . . 1000 W E P a rro t, A storia, O r .................. 5 00 W G K ent, P o rtlan d , O r .................. 20 00 P W G eer, Silverton, O r .................. 10 00 I) H en g st, P o rtlan d , O r .................. 5 00 G ustave H ic k eth ie r, P o rtlan d , Or 20 00 Alice M Davidson, P o rtlan d , Or . . 20 00 R Sylvester, P o rtla n d , Or ............ 10 00 M P ritc h a rd , S ierra Valley C al. . 2 50 F rench’ » F H y la n d , C o rv a llU , O r ................ w riter, in his Bible in In d ia (p M atie V an h o u ten , P o rtla n d , Or. 28U) says: “The life of the g reat ¡ j e H osm er, S ilverton, Or .. C hristian philosopher as tra n sm it Jo h n L eiteh, Mazo M anic, W is.. . ted to us by I he evangelists, his J W H addock, New Y o r k , .............. apostles, is liuta tissue of apocryphal J F W rig h t. N orth Y am hill, O r . . . Free T hought M utual Im p ro v e inventions, destined to strik e the m ent Society. Rock S prings. Wy A g r i c u l t u r a l I m p le m e n ts , F is h in g T a c k le , C u tle r y , S p o rtin g G au d s. H . I). B. Press Fund Previously A c k n o w le d g e d .......... $40 26 Dr. A. Slam ali. Lennox S. I). 10 00 W . J . Dean, T alen t ( ) r e ......... 1 00 Jo h n Price, Scapjmose (Ire. 4 00 M rs. M. W e s t,___“ ........... 2 «»O Mrs. lx*e L aughlin N orth Y am hill, 1 00 I IL L .G is t,....... T). A. B ra n c h ,........ “ . . . . , Je rry W i l l i a m s , ........................ e . L Totom , “ Total .................................. . . . G u n s, S i l v e r t o n , O re . A STORE FOR ["HE PEOPLE W h e re All can buy to A dvantage. Some Store-keepers pride them selves on the fact th a t they cater to a special class 5 00 2 50 10 00 10 00 5 00 2 50 ------- IN H ard w are, Stoves, T inw are, 6 00 T o t a l ................................................... $415 50 ^ m e s, DEALERS of trade. We don't. Everyone can buy here and be suited. One price to all, and th at the very lowest. 5 00 ___ p o p u lat im a g in a tio n , a n d so lid ly to Jo h n W o o l P o rtlan d , O r . .............. 5 00 establish the basis of their new re- A K Olds, M cM innvile, O r .............. 20 00 J II F isk, P o rtlan d , O r .................... 5 00 lig i o t i.” 3 00 I The following very pertinent a r Ii C F ulkerson D ayville.................. A Officer, D ayville.......................... 5 00 j gum ent is m ade use of hy the R e v . W C arsner, W agner, O r ................ 5 0« T. Baring Gould in h is “ L o st w R S m ith , S ilverton. O r ............ 100 00 a n d H o stile g o sp e ls.” “ It is some- flo ra B urtis, W atrousville, M ich.. 5 (KJ w h at rem arkable th a t no c o n te m -jH E Klein, Silverton, O r . ........... 2ft 00 porary, or even early account of t h e " L ig h t, Rose L aw n, I n d ...........3 00 t 1 • i f L D L eonard, S ilv e rto n ,.................. 1000 life of o ur Lord exists, except from , ... v . . O..A ; 1 J \\ N ew huru, C hester, D id .......... 2 00 DEALER I X the pens of Christian w riters.” T h at we have none hy G r e e k o r R<>- m an w riters is not, perhaps, to he wondered at; hut it is singular that neither Philo, Josephus nor G ustus of L iberia, should have ever alluded to Christ or to prim itive C h ristian ity. Philo was Ixirn at A lexandria about 20 years before C hrist and traveled extensively in Palestine i and , speaks of t the *v Essenes i lie saw 1 there; hut he says not a word about Jesus C hrist or his followers. Samuel Ames. Hicks S e c u la r C h u 'c h o f P o rtla n d ,! B ailey, See. S ecu lar C h u rch o f M cM inn-! W in. L a m b e rt, Sec. W W Je sse , Barlow , O r .................. John Hicks A. W o lf &. Son. S ilv e rto n , Oregon J. E. Hammond, DRUGGIST, C hem icals, I )rugs, Medicine, Toilet A rticles, P erfu m ery and Soaps, S tationary, P a te n t Medicines, P ain ts and Oils, i ’oinhs and Brushes. Sil verton, Oregon. 26 | 25 ! 50 26 $59.50 TORCH OF REASON, Only $i per year. Subscribe Now!