HIE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON. OREGON, THVRSIIAY, APRIL 15, 1X97. Torch Reason of T h e O xly S ecular P a p e r P u b l is h e d ox t h e P a c if ic C o ast . Published W eekly bv th e Oregon S tate Secular Union. J. E. HOSMER, P. W . G EER, - - - - - - E d ito r M anager E ntered at the postoffiee at Silverton, Oregon, as second class mail m atter. SUBSCRIPTION RATES. One Year, in advance.......... ....S I Oi Six Month«, in a d v a n c e ............... ... 50 T hree Month», in a d v a n c e ..... ................. 25 in Glob» of 5 o r m ore one year, in a d v a n c e ... 75 Money t-hould be sent by reg istered le tte r or money order. Hleaee aen<l uh the nam es and addresaea of See- ulariata who are not reg u lar aubecriber». TH U R S D A Y , A P R IL 15, E. M. 297 The P lay of L ife. Let’s p lay a play and suppose th a t we are inspired by G o(o)d and able to look into the past as well the future and discover the hidden m eaning of the hieroglyphics of life. And why should we thus play? Life is all a great play and the actor who said th a t “ Life is real, life is earn est,” is hut one who has said his little p art and left the stage. So we see th at we m ust play our p a rt any way, and if we can touch a chord th a t will give some of our fellow players the cue th at will make th eir lives happier we may enjoy <>ur p art much more; so, let the play go on. Ilu sh ! Listen to the songs of the great actors of the past now th a t the lights of life arc turned off. Can you catch the m eaning of their song? Ah! here too come the liv ing actors and their voices seem to harm onize with the past, only it is fuller, richer, and the words more easily understood. W hat are they saying? W hat is the song? W hat m eans th is pointing of the finger to the future? Hark! Can you catch the words?— “ There is a God, a real true God; a God th a t feels a pity, and a boundless love for a ll!” This m ust he the Lord’s day and we are in the spirit for we hear a voice, and look! There are the lights an d in the m idst one like unto the Son o f Man, and see! His garm ents are white as snow; and the voice! Listen to the voice! It is like the sound of m any waters. And there is the two-edged sword coming out of his mouth! His countenance is tru ly like the sun; and as he speaks unto us the blessed words: “ F ear not; I am he th a t liveth and was dead, and be hold, I am alive forever m ore,” we fall at his feet as dead. “ Awake!” says the voice, “ and know th a t dream s are but the im agi nations of a troubled b rain .” But can we not use our dream s to our advantage? Can we not interpret them so as to learn a valuable les son? Yes; an d here is our in ter pretation of the dream . The great God is the great principle of Good th at is in H um anity. The power ful Devil or Evil is at war with this Good, but through the sacrifice of C hrist, i.e., those who have suffered far the sake of H um anity, good ness m av conquor and fill th e whole world with peace, and plenty and happiness. The Lord’s day is this day when all are aw akening from the spell th at has been cast over us by the evil spirit of selfishness, and in th e spirit, i.e., the right spirit, we can hear the great voice of the Good th a t is in m ankind and we know th a t it is the goodness of m an, and not a m ythical god, that we should serve. W ith garm ents (characters) white, and the two-edged sword of tru th , and with a bright, beautiful face, the true savior of man fills us with reverence and love and we bow ourselves, not in slavish fear, hut we yield our whole lives to the service of H um anity. In one of the early dream s of m an, when he was hut a child and had not a t ten d ed the great school of science and his young m ind was filled with the fantasies of childhood, a cruel, angry, dem on-like God seemed to perm it his only son to he crucified, hut this was only one of those pe- cu liar freaks of a dream when things seem to go by contraries, and now our dream is to crucify the devil (evil) and release the annointed kings of tru th and right, th a t they m ay save the world by laying on the hands of, love and reason. A B ig Confidence Game. All institutions are creatures of growth and, like a polliwog, no in stitution can tell what it will he like when it is full grown. If the old Romans who first started th a t great aud wonderful civilization had been told just what their later religious and political institutions would he like they could not have believed or even understood w hat was m eant. The M oham m edan, the B uddhist, the ancient Jews have all grown into their religions and if one had been asked to be lieve what was tau g h t his progeny a few hundred years later he would have been much offended. This is tru e of the dom inant religion in our country today. If the Christian of a few years ago had advocated w hat the strictest of anv sect does today they would have been put to death. I t harldy seems possible th a t this is a fact hut all we have to do to prove it is to m ention Bruno who was burned in 1600 for teaching th a t the earth moves and th a t there is a p lu ra lity of worlds. The changes come so g radually th a t m any people do not realize th a t anv change is taking place and such people are not open to conviction; they will not investigate all sides; they are not freethinkers or truthseekers. They claim th a t th eir religion is the whole tru th , the seek-no-farther and so instead of try in g to advance they have not the porper incentives and out one of the blanks <»r copy it and are even afraid to investigate. sign w hat you can. If every Secu So in the course of tim e it has larist does what he or she can we come about th a t the religion of will have a tine U niversity b u ild Jesus has grown into a huge co n ing into which we can move at the fidence game and those who are opening of th e next term , and the swindled the worst are the loudest prophesies of the false prophets be in its praise. proven false. M inisters, who are the worst con We m ust not listen to Mr. and fidence men in our country, are Mrs. C roaker, hut all take right often ignorant of the fact them hold and th e good work will be selves which m akes th eir work of done. deluding other innocent parties B lank No. 2 was p u t in so th a t more com plete and this big game those who wish to pay som ething with its m illions of agents has so hut who hav en ’t the money on tangled our m achinery of progress hand may let us know w hat they th at at times we seem alm ost at a can pay after aw hile. T his will standstill. H eavy taxes are paid give us an idea of w hat we can do by those already burdened alm ost and furnish a basis for our future beyond endurance in order th a t work. Now if you c a n ’t p ay for more these confidence men m ay have their place of business go free. The th an one hunch of shingles, let's have pennies, the nickels and the the shingles— with your prayer? dollars are taken from our starving No, a kind word to the friends of people and sent across the ocean to progress who will be apt to hear a heathen people to teach them to our call for help. help perpetuate this confidence trick. G u r young people are driven S ta n d Fast. wild with excitem ent and in this state yield them selves a w illing The enemies of purity and those prey to any foolish work th a t the who do not believe in our motto, preacher m ay ask, even to giving up “ One world at a tim e” will do all their reason and believing any thing they can to combat our w<»rk, now th a t is told them . W omen who th at we have am ended our by-laws have good, kind husbands a r e 1 so as to make it am ount to induced to confide in the priest or som ething; hut if every one who preacher instead of th eir own hus believes in Secularism will now bands am i thus oftentim es a cold stand fast, all the hosts of super ness springs up, causing dis&ention, stition and crim e can not move us separation and misery. How long from our position. will the people stand th isev il which Let every subscriber to the Torch has crept upon us like a thief in get a new subscriber at once. This the night? Secularists say th a t it will double our circulation. Do will continue to curse the world u n som ething for the Liberal U nivers til som ething better is put in its ity. It is our hope. If we can place’. Dear reader, if you are grad u ate a class of young men and hound by the chains of sin, or if women we will then have more you have ignorantly become a vic workers in the field. tim of the greatest confidence game D on’t forget to write to us. Send on earth, for the sake of H u m an ity a short article if you can. The break your bonds and help us to young man who wrote the song lay the foundation of a purer and published last week entitled a truer civilization. Torch of Reason did more A n E x p la n a tio n . The Secularists and friends who do not live in or near Silverton m ay need a word of explanation in regard to the blanks on the last page of this issue of the Torch. T he sole object of these blanks is to raise as m uch m oney as we can to build and furnish th e Liberal U niversity. The men whose nam es appear on the blanks as finance com m ittee are staunch Liberals and were a p pointed on account of their well- known business qualifications. They are men who have no “ ax to g rin d ” unless we choose to call building up the cause of Secularism an ax, and we know th a t all Free thinkers who know these men will help all in th eir power. N o w we need money. If you are in favor of the principles of Secu larism do not hesitate if • you » c a n ’t give a thousand dollars, hut cut good perhaps th an he thought. We have been singing his song in the U niversity and in the S unday school and all are inspired by it to greater endeavors to help bring tru th and reason to the m inds of a sin and superstition cursed people. The organized host of reason - wreckers are against us but if we stand firm now, we will not only have the satisfaction of seeing our bénéficient work grow, hut we will gain the gratitude and respect o f generations yet unborn. S tand firm and work today; rest to morrow! Heaven. People have been taught th a t it is all right to suffer here and receive a greater rew ard in heaven. This is one of those hum bugs th a t has raised hell here. Away with such fool ideas! Let every one cry out against it and work to m ake our heaven on earth.