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.