T H E TORCH OF REASON, SIL V E R T O N , O REG O N , T H U R SD A Y , JA N U A R Y 28, 1897.
hut th a t we should rem em ber th a t
in their present m anifestations at
P. W. G eek .— D ear Friend: least, th» y are hut th e o u tg ro w th
Since I bad the pleasure of forming of centuries of religious tra in in g ,
your acquaintance when you were coupled with the barbaric, super­
here on your lecturing tour, I stitious tendency of the h u m an
have often resolved to write to you race, it would seem th a t some of
anil have as often pui ito ii, but at* the ancient belief in an uniathom -
last I will try to do so.
able com bination of Deistic a ttr i­
It pleases us very much to see butes has, by atavism , or some
th at your labor and capacity in the sim ilar process, become the h e ri­
great cause of M ental Liberty has tage of a great portion of our great
been duly appreciated in our n a ­ hum an brotherhood. To eradicate
tional, as well as in our state or­ this from the m ental and m oral
ganizations. T h at is as it should m an, should be our thoughtful and
be. We are keeping up our organ­ earnest task. If th e task some­
ization here, if it is sm all. We times seems to he a thankless one,
have Sunday School every other we have only to gaze backward
Sunday, and meetings every other through the cycles of tim e at
week on S aturday night, both well the slippery steps which have been
attended considering the small left behind and com pared to which
neighborhood. In the school-house our present road is a broad tu r n ­
above Yale where you delivered a pike, to feel encouraged and press
lecture, they have had Christian forward in th e glorious m a rc h ol
revival m eetings lately lasting from Liberty and Justice, as if we could
dav to «lay for nearly a week, and see a “ light about our feet.’’ \Ve
the poor preacher notw ithstanding realize our lim itations, and should
all his begging, coaxing, and per­ work accordingly, for we cannot all
suasions failed to get one of the he Ingersolls, able to m ake our
“ m iserable sinners’’ to come for­ words burn into m an ’s conscious­
ward to th e seat of mercy to be ness, with a realizing sense of th eir
prayed for; but there was one eternal tru th , hut if we will, we
th in g he did not forget, and that can clear a small space in front of
was to abuse the F ree th in k ers from our own dwelling, so th at the
first to last. According to his own weary trav eler’s feet will be g lad ­
statem ent lie had been an Infidel, dened thereby.
and at th a t time was a d runkard, a
Ah, soul-sick and heavy-hearted
gam bler, and guilty of other vices. brother, yon m ust keep yourself out
H e declared th a t Infidels do not of your “ slough of despond.” You
have more than half a teaspoonful are only held there by your own
o f brains in th eir heads.
beliefs and isms. Come out on the
As his estim ate of Infidels m ust dry land of reason. Let th a t sam e
have been from his own experience, reason be a land of hope and
I was led to wonder if he was still promise flowing w i'h milk and
em pty-headed, or if his brain had honey. You have only to grasp
started growing when he becam e your opportunities a u d io ! the cup
converted; but 1 think the former of happiness h ath been found.
was the ease, for he declared that
Z. J. M.
he would never enter into contro­
E d . T orch of R eason , Dear Sir:
versy, or debate with an Infidel, and
advised others to do the same for — N ight before last I went out to
they would he defeated, and the In ­ h ear the “ Rev. A. W. Snyder, the
fidels would get the best of them “ Evangelist” (w hatever th a t may
every time. At his last m eeting 1 m ean,) who is holding “gospel
sent to have arrangem ents m ade to m eetings” at the Baptist church
get the school-house, and notice here. He is a fairly good looking
gentlem an, with a
given out th a t I would lecture to middle-aged
them on the following Sunday. bald head a rath er high-keyed
To this, one pious brother objected; voice, a big m ustache, and sm all
the result was th a t after some con­ forensic power. His discourse was
su ltation on th e subject one mem­ neither new nor brilliant. O nly a
ber of the school hoard present fair average. The only notew orthy
withdrew’ his consent for me to get thing he said was, th a t people us­
the house, only on condition th at I ually “get religion” in th eir youth.
would cot speak in favor of Free- He said the age of fifteen was the most
thought, so I let the m atter drop susceptible. After th a t the liability
declines with years, and most peo­
for the present.
ple “ get religion” from fifteen to
Y our friend and well wisher,
twenty-five; and after the age of
M ichael J ohnson .
forty years, they seldom have it.
Vale, Oregon.
It is about the sam e wav onlv
E d . T orch of R eason . Dear Sir: more so, with children in their b e­
— W hen we rem em ber the great liefs in S an ta Claus and the pro­
strides th at civil and m ental lib­ verbial “ B lack-m an.”
As age
erty have taken in the last decade, strengthens th eir m inds ♦hey ont-
we should then and there rem em ­ grow these infantile conceptions,
ber to he ch aritable to those of a put them away as “childish things”
different belief from ourselves. I and never retu rn to them.
do not m ean th a t we should view
So “children of a larger growth”
superstition and ignorance with emerge from their early taught hal­
an y less
degree of abhorance, lucinations regarding the Christian
Correspondence.
conception of God, of Je>us C hrist, of greed and selfishness, and is h im ­
ami the Devil. Ami once outgrown, self an object of com passion; hut
the hallucination never re tu rn s,
ami the terrors ol the C hristian’s
god, his devil, of his hell, moves
them no more. \\ hat a blessing
for innocent, loving am i tru stin g
ch ild h o o d , to be tree !rom these
im a g in a ry g h o stly terrors.
Hence the need of freethought
schools, to di-pel these priest-m ade
delusions, and tide the young over
this early period of their lives.
To this hum ane end freethinkers in
every school d istrict should work
harm oniously together to run S u n ­
day schools, and m ake them useful
and entertaining. It doesn’t take
hut a few persons to do it, if they
onlv will take hold and woik and
persevere. The opp »sitioii of the
christians will avail hut little, if
they m anage well. Spread
the
light. And by all m eans support
the U niversity. E vervone can do
som ething. Do it, however little,
and the school will live and thrive.
You wdll be glad o f it,- brother
freethinker in after years.
F. S. M atteson .
C h a rity .
[ F o r t h e T orch o f R ea so n .]
There is a kind of ch arity th a t
gives scanty meals and h alf worn-
out clothing to poor people. Those
who practice this kind of ch arity
usually look upon the poorerclasses
asdifferent beings th a n them selves.
They regard them not as brothers
and sisters in the great hum an
fam ily, but as an inferior class
created for the express purpose of
affording the w ealthy an opportun­
ity for exercising th eir feelings of
pity. M inisters do not hesitate to
say from the pulpit, th a t God
created the poor for the benefit of
th e rich, th .it they m ight have sonic
one upon w’hom to bestow charity.
And so the poor are tau g h t to he
contented with th e ir condition and
the rich are encouraged in the idea
th at it is perfectly right they should
rem ain so. This kind of education
has tended to divide the feelings
and sym pathies of th e h um an race.
It has set up a m oral as well as
social h arrier between equally good
and honest people in all countries
and climes.
It has fostered ins» i-
t nt ions entirely foreign to individual
and national welfare— in stitu tio n s
of so called c h a rity and philanthropy
which are but festered heads of social
corruption. It has discounted gen­
uine m oral worth and purchased the
nam e of honor for a few p a ltry
nuggets of gold. It has narrow ed
the conception of justice, and
sm othered the kindlier prom ptings
of the hum an heart.
True ch arity , which is better
explained by the word justice, does
not m easure a m an’s worth by the
num ber of dollars he possesses, nor
does it deem the deeds of pliilanthopy
and love as especially m eritorious.
The m an who w ithholds aid from
his needy fellow’m en, exhibits traits
he who extends th e helping han d
whenever needed, w ithout question
of rank or race, does so from the
prom ptings of his strong moral and
benevolent nature, nor considers it
ought but w hat, being a member
of the hum an fam ily, it became his
du ty an d pleasure to do. This
kind of
ch arity ,
instead
of
h u m iliatin g the u n fo rtu n ate ones,
cultivates the better tra its of th eir
natures and strengthens th eir power
for usefullness; while with the
more fortunate it elevates and en ­
nobles every p a rt of th eir being,
m aking their lives a leverage in
the great work of reform ation and
hum an progress.
C harity in this broad and com­
prehensive sense is one of the
underlying principles in the tru e
religion of hu m an ity .
N ettie A. O lds
C hicago N ew s.
To the E litor; Professor C haney
is giving a course of lectures before
the Secular U nion. The Professor
is an astrologer and took for his sub­
ject last S unday evening “ The F ic ­
tion of C reation.” The lecture was
illu strated by a m ap showing the
signs of the zodiac and the app aren t
path of the sun through the heaven
and I honestly believe I learned
more about heaven during th a t lec­
ture than I would learn by going to
church every S unday for a thousand
years. The lecturer claim ed th a t
the Bible was sim ply a story based
on astronom ical observations of the
ancients and th a t the story of cre­
ation and all the subsequent d isast­
ers recorded in the Bible were fnllv
explained in th e signs of the zodiac
no god no devil no nothing was ne­
cessary in the beginning for there
w asn’t any beginning.
After the lecture
the
P ro­
fessor read
a
horoscope p re­
pared for the occasion by one of
his pupil's.
lie described v ery
accurately President Gam m age, who
was the subject of the hoioscope,
w ithout any knowledge of who the
subject was, nor did the m an who
prepared the c h a rt know’. I don’t
know how he did it, hut he did.
The m inisters of th is city seem to
think som ething m ust he done so
they have decided to hold a series
of revivals throughout th ecity . At
a meeting held for th a t purpose 300
of the gentlem en who w ant o th er
people to rest on S unday, m ade
prelim inary arran g em en ts for a
great aw akning.
The president
explained the objects to be “ to m ake
conversions and prom ote th e growth
of higher life in the churches.” Dr.
P. S. H enson said: “ B um ptious in ­
tellectuality is our besetting sin ”
“ the early c h u rc h ” he said “ had no
higher critics.” I w onder if the Rev.
Doctor th in k s th a t the absence of
the two
above
m entioned
ob­
stacles is w hat m ade the early
church such a howling success.
J. B. B.