THE TORCH OE REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, H I I'RSI) AY, JAN CARY 28, 1887.
Torch of Reason
U N I V E R S A L M E N T A L L IB ­
ERTY,
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□ N E W ORLD A T A 7
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The Only Secular Paper Published on the
Pacific Coast.
Published Weekly by the Oregon State
Secular Union.
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THURSDAY . . JANUARY 28, E. M. 297
Our W orst Enem ies.
The cause of h u m an ity has al­
ways had a great deal to combat
and in our work of establishing the
Liberal U niversity we do not ex ­
pect to he an exception.
The worst enemies however will
not be from the r a n k s of orthodoxy,
hut will come from those profess­
ing to love our cause, who will en ­
deavor to use us for th eir own per­
sonal schemes. Enem ies ofthis kind
who are skilled in deceit, having
practiced it for years, are the worst
enemies
of all, for
the very
n atu re of our work requires friends
in whom we must trust, and workers
being few’, we are alw ays ready to
accept help from one who professes
to love our work, and then wliat a
shock it is to find th a t we have
again been deceived; but w’e will
not lose faith in hum anit y for we
know th a t under the conditions
th at we are trying to bring about,
‘‘M an’s in h u m anity to m a n ” will
not exist and so we’ll push for­
ward and h«»pe th at others m ay see
our light ami come to our assist­
ance. Help us to hold the T orch
oe R eason aloft now while w’e need
your help and when our work is
fully established it can easily with-
stan d the attacks of traito rs from
w ithin and the enemies from w ith ­
out.
W hat Is ’Your M otive.
It is said th a t Joseph S m ith ’s
reason for introducing polygam y into
the Mormon church was th a t he
had several wives and by so doing
h e would justify his own actions.
Now’, whether this is true or not,
we know th a t m any have very poor
motives for their work, and th at in
our ranks as well in Christian
churches
some
people
work
v ery hard but with motives not to
l»e com m ended, for if ones motives
are poor his work is sure to he de­
fective ami sooner or later it will
fall for want of a tru e and lasting
incentive. Our idea is th a t the
motive which should inspire every
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his fellow’ men. We should not
endeavor to tear down the works of
others just because their ideas
differ from ours n<>r because they
eail us had names hut because we
w ant to do good and because in
order to get our brothers ami sis­
ters on the right track we m ust
show them the folly of treading the
old trodden p ath s of error.
Secularists let us see to it th a t
our motives are pure and reason­
able 'and our work will prosper as
it never has before.
S alvation .
The theories of im m ortality are
not worth wasting our tim e on and
they sink into insignificance when
we think that there is so much to be
done to help along the grand work
of solving th e great problems of
our present condition which is so
im portant and essential to the ad ­
vancem ent of our race. W hy, this
story of im m ortality, is
like
telling a child a fairy tale when
t he poor little creature is starving for
the want of a crust. When we look
around us and see the m iserable
condition of thousands who lack
nourishm ent for their bodies and
m inds we feel like preaching a sal­
vation for this e a rth —a salvation
th at w’ill not he lim ited to individ­
uals hut will save the whole hum an
family.
Can theology do this?
No, a
thousand tim es no.
W hat can
save us then? A developm ent to
a higher appreciation of our pow­
ers and privileges through the
teachings of secularism .
Concentrate.
It is a well known fact th a t in
order to accom plish any reform,
it m ust he done by organized
work, and the reason th at Secular­
ists have not accom plished nm ie is
th at we have not been well organ­
ized.
O ur real earnest workers are
scattered and it is very much to the
interest of onr enemies to keep us
scattered; but now we have a good
opportunity to concentrate our
forces and build up such an organi­
zation as will be the m eans of com­
pletely putting to route the hosts of
superstition.
Let us decide at once to concen­
trate. W here shall we m uster our
forces? At Silverton, for we have
a goodly num ber here who have
enlisted for life, and no better
place can he found in the world.
Old veterans and young recruits
come on, and we’ll build up an
arm y th at will conquer the whole
world and issue the greatest em an­
cipation proclam ation that m an­
kind has ever known.
Let Abuse Cease.
All our lives we have heard infi­
dels called had nam es, and infidels
and skeptic« both dead and living
are the subjects of ridicule and
of all Christian lite ratu re is in
m any parts perfectly filthy and
scarcely fit for people to read.
No we will not burn your books
dear eh ristian friends hut you have
nit r i g h t to horn. ni,r< . pud when
you do, you are as bad as the Jew s
w hocrucified your Messiah, and the
wretched mob that burned Bruno
for teaching
th at
the
earth
moves. We believe that it is best
for p* ople to exam ine both sides of
every im p o rtan t
question and
Christian literatu re is welcome in
our free reading room at Silver-
ton; in fact we not only have the
bil>le in our library, hut ehristian
papers m ay he found o n our tables.
No one but a coward is afraid to
exam ine both sides.
pulpits and religious papers today.
Now isn ’t this true? And isn’t it
true th a t secular lecturers and p a ­
p e rs have just as much right to
call orthodox preachers fools and
liars and make tun o f them as they
have of us; hut my b ro th er, does
this kind of work pay?
How
wouhl it do to stop calling nam es
and see wno can produce the best
reason for his m odus o p ira n d i?
()urreason fo rdiseardingthe worship
of yourgods, and for w orking for
one world at a tim e is v eiy
easy V to
•*
com prehend. We th in k th a t our
Our B est Friends.
valuable time is all needed in
working for h u m an ity and th a t we
There have b‘*en, in all ages, a
can best do th is by bringing about few men who have not been afraid
a union of all good men in the sec­ to step out alone and advocate their
ular w’ork. Now’ this can only be views and it seems th a t the higher
done by showing that creeds are these men could hold the banner of
very u n im p o rtan t com pared with their principles, the better it suited
the earth ly salvation of our race. them. No m atter w hether kings or
“ One world at a tim e” is our motto. priests approved, no m atter if they
Now’ friends, who still cling to some w’ere im prisoned, scouraged
or
old m usty creed, we believe it is burned a t the stake; they could not
your d u ty to let go, and put in be silenced u n til death took away
your tim e w orking W illi us to m ake th eir power of thought and speech.
this world what it ought to he.
O, how the world applauds such
Can you give any good reason for men after th ey are dead, hut this
not leaving the gods, if there are age has its share of heroes and th e y
any, to take care of their own busi- are today the friends of liberty who
ness and for n< t p u ttin g in w hat boldly stand alone, if need be, and
lime you can spare from your in contem pt of the sneers of hypo­
struggle for existence, in bringing crites and hirelings dare to lift
a b o u t a union of all liberty-loving, aloft, for all to read, th eir declara­
hum anity-loving w orshippers of tion of independence.
good, and help to save the world
Only a, few m en a to n e tim e ad-
for the sake of poor, suffering, vocated the principles now u n i­
down-trodden hum anity?
versally accepted, and so it is in
Now, if our ideas are wrong don’t this age; only] a few dare boldly,
abuse us, hut show us where we are ! and on all occasions, proudly show
at fault and if you th in k we are their colors. These are the ones
right, come w’ith us. We need w’ho will make the pattern for com ­
help and your help m ay he just ing generations however, and while
what is needed to turn the scales in the silent, two-faced hum an hyenas
fav«»r of justice an d right.
are stealthily and "craftily picking
at dead m en 's bom s, they, the best,
Fire and Dead L aw s.
the only true friends of h u m an ity ,
We see from one of our exchanges are tearing away the rubbish of de­
th at the m anagem ent of a free cayed dogm as and building a foun­
reading-room in Snom ish, Wash., dation on which com ing genera­
burns all Free!bought literatu re tions m av erect a ’ more beautiful
th at is brought in, and from the civilization—a civilization in which
Oregonian we learn th a t the mem­ the real and im ag in ary hell will
bers of a large audience in one of have vanished and a real heaven
the cities of M aryland were ordered enjoyed here, which w ill fit men to
arrested for holding a m eeting on enjoy an y good th a t m ay come
Sunday, because it is against the hereafter.
law in th at sta te to hold meetings
Rev. H astings R andall, Hertford
on Sundays th at are not religious;
and yet some people think there is college, Oxford, says in th e In te r­
national Jo u rn a l of E thics th a t ‘‘it
no <1 anger.
is quite easy to show th a t at the
If our ideas are to he burned and present day there are few’ clergy­
we are to lx' arrested for meeting men whose p riv ate belief corres­
on S unday in these U nited States ponds with the letter of the formula*
where is our liberty? Suppose we to which they profess adhesion.’’
He says th a t there is a wide differ­
should take a notion to burn all ence between the belief of men and
ehristian hooks and papers. We the creeds they profess, h e claim s
have ju*-t as m uch right to as th a t ‘ if anybody supposes th a t the
C hristians have to burn ours and articles of the church of E n g lan d
perhaps more for our literatu re is really express the actual views of
the clergy, he m ust he singularly
clean an d m oral while the l»ook inobservant of th eir pulpit and
which is considered the foundation other utterances.”