mari 0 1904
T orch
VOL. 1
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R eason .
SIL V E R T O N , OREGON, TH U R SD A Y , JU N E 10, 1807.
NO. 32.
An Ode to Science.
converted during the period of the em ancipation. They had to break
» « a ~ A
. _ _
1
•
a a a
-
Science! W e h ail th e e ! No lietter friend Refor“ »tion, and portion? o f th is off in their turn with the theocracy
has m an.
territory,
notably the French to disengage them selves from the
8,ViZ „ Of the ™Ce' " " hl'ri*l,ltd'
d istricts ceded to the P rotestants,
9UIl£f
tram m els of a dead tradition. The
Thou, th e “ rock of ages’’ wert, ere were subsequently lost, and the
nineteenth century will com plete
worlds began,
. Always rig h t," th o u g h oft cajoled by p° P u l a t i o n a d d e d to the adherents tlie work of the sixteen, and the
wrong.
of th e church of Rome. The people
nations which are fourni unable to
Science! Jew el f a i r ! T hou a rt th e king ° f L a t in E u r o p e a n d t h e L e v a n t,
were too ignorant a n d , ,0 d
1 ?Ce<’m !>»*»» <h at revolution will fall
of k in g s;
- T®!® *
P }' 1,1 ,hc reHr ° ' «ivili^'tion.
We know th o u a rt, no m —
a tte r ........
w hat
thy nam e.
im bued with superstition which
The n h a n rd i» u c t n t
The cosmos yields to thee, the scep ter had formed th eir m e n t a l h a b it« in
■
t s of I rotestantism
,
,
nacltorm ert th eir m ental habits, to as a sect o r a num ber of sects are
And plum es th ee victor in the vast be susceptible to so great and radical obvious enoindi but ibn a ho„ wi;»:
do,nain-
a c h a n g e a s th e L f o r m a t i o n i m - ^ r n ü f 7 7 . . b
. r u
i
dom ain.
Science! Thou A lpha and Omega a rt!
To thee
E ’en sky am i sea, th e vast and g rea t
unknow n,
T heir secrets yield. Thou hast th e key.
H u m an ity , p o sterity , will never thee beyond
disow n.
not an absolute self-evident fact
th a t, after we have eaten and
digested such oyster or chicken,
th at then this individual oyster or
chicken exists no m ore? So if m an
is crem ated nr in h u m ated it is
a self-evident fact th at he aa
such individual, exists no more.
Disassociated from all m ysticism
,
y s n tis m
and from the superstitions of the
dark ages, tran sm itted t o u s and
♦ » \
i ’
'
U
*
r 1“
*1
by “
ra Pacious
.....
........................... .......... ..... ‘ ' ........
oyster or chicken. We have but to
reject the vagaries of m ystery-
m ongers, open our eyes, observe for
ourselves the sim plest every-day
facts, believe our senses, and we are
in possession of all the facts in the
case and th e entire tru th .
the lim e of the Nazarene. rational while teaching absurd
I t was large y the corrupt paganism superstitions, to repudiate the in-
Science!
Thou
h
a
n
d
m
a
id
fair!
We
thee
o f v ' ieot Rome, modified and in- fallibility of Ihe pope while boldine
a —
d o re !
. 'V®1*0* 't o th e e alone, o u r only hope. ^corPorRted into the creed and to the infallibility of a book to dis”
As tim e rolls on, we love th ee m ore and ceremonial of the ecclesiastical .»n >1
.1
•
. .
’
• ‘
m ore.
e ciesiasucaj , own t|le au th o rity of the church
FrieorI t!o æ art’ m oredearthan prie8t Sy8tem w,,lch m illions were them while dem anding submission to
or pope<
and even now are stupid enough to the au th o rity of written creeds, to
The adm ission th a t life after
Science! T h o u a llin a ll! E ’en m ust it be believe was founded bv the J u d e a n
In th e great realm of fact thou s ta n d ’st
,
*
reject m iracles of the early church death cannot be proven im p lies, or
secure.
| reform er.
while insisting upon the im por­ should im ply, th e a n tith e tic a l
I hy citadel is safe, w ith o u t dogm a or
T,
decree—
reo p le who had been servile tance of believing in m iracles older
Defe"anl^ d n yreUOrtified hy H"
idoIatora for thousands of years and quite as im probable is, o proposition th a t individual life does
end at d eath J in other words proof
Science! Crucible of a l l! ’Tie true that “ T ' 1 "°1 r e s p ‘n<1 ,0 th e g re a t in- course, an inconsistency and an
th at m an does survive d eath not
th y fair nam e
tellectual and m oral movement, anachronism as little worthy o
H a 8 toee a r tb " a iIe d ’
big°t8 Cru8hed The PeoPle of N orthern and W estern support as th at crystallization of being forthcom ing the assertion, not
being sustained by evidence, falls
Thou risest up m ore v alian t, and w ith Europe, North G erm any, E ngland, dogmas and ceremonies a g a in st
to the ground. Phis affirm ation is so
It s t u i 'm l l s X t b i s “ rock- of price-
S««,la »d. X««h D e l« ..’ , which P rotestantism originally r<
bold, so visionary and so absolutely
less worth.
H olland and S candinavian c u n - volted. And all the P rotestant
c o n tra ry to all self-evident facts
— H enry B ir d .
tries and the best part of th e peo­ sects th a t teach the right of private
and our daily experience, th a t u n ­
ple of Sw itzerland and France, judgm ent and, the right o f'p ro te s t
less the hypothesis can he m ain tain ­
The Protestant Principle and
became P rotestants, or as the against religious au th o rity , and at
ed by science, logic and reason it
Spirit.
Trench P rotestants called theni- the same tim e m ake salvation
m ust be perem ptorily rejected.
n x .
,
i selves, H uguenots. In to th e m a jo r- depend upon acceptance of w hat
U ntil evidence is
forthcom ing,
1 rotestantism as a revolt against
if
i of
tx
®
'ty v of the people
these countries they offer, and dam nation the
which after thousands of years of
priestcraft, as a protest against
the old corrupt pagan civilization inevitable consequence of disbelief asservaiions, has as yet not. been
authority, as an asseriion of the
„
(
. ,
. ,
Rome had not entered, and i heir or doubt, contain within them selves produced, there is no logical or
n g h t ..f private judgm ent. ... short [ m inds were le89
d ,,nd , h„ir
the elem ents of decay, and are but ratio n al excuse for an agnostic a t­
as a ra t.o n a l m ovem ent, m ust he disposition less servile th an those
so many tranisitional forms in the titude upon th is subject, because all
regarded as the m ost im p o rtan t of tl.o
r
i t
•
.
.
.
1
r
e
01
the
L
atin
and
L
evantine
continuous
developm
lactor in m odern progress. Its ef-
..1 .•
1 ent from Rome our knowledge p lain ly d em o n strates
r
,
-
populations. I hey were more in- to reason.
the fact that when m an dies he is
fects have been wide-spread and far-
te llig e n ta n d self-reliant, mor«* ac-
W hat liberal m inds of every class «lead,
reaching, and these m ust extend
custom ed to th in k , to use their have to do is to stand hy the P ro -; T he problem —if so it m ust be
and m ultiply th ro u g h th e co m in g ! reasoning U culties ¿ „ d tl,e h ,
a testa.it principle, th e right of ' c a lle d -re s o lv e s itself in the sim ple
ag es.
I
,
J
„
,
,
more sturdy m orality,
private judgm ent in regard to relig­ school-hoy question; W hat is m an?
rre e thought and dem ocratic
rr ,
.
,
coven.nw nt <ir,. ti
i • i
Ih e countries th a t rem ained ious belief with all th a t is thereby If m an is an anim al a living
governm ent arc the logical con- p
1 * 1 r ■ 1 1 «
* • > < i < i j| » III
implied.
I
be
assertion
of
this
rigid
p
b
y
sic
a
lo
rg
a
.d
e
stru
ctu re an d not
e lu s io n a n d »Ito u
(
atholic
were
in
com
parison
m
ental-
fu s io n and the legitim ate outcome ,
,
r r.
.
_
lv and m orally
dwarfed, a iid !« 'i'l, sooner or later, destroy the ¡sim ply a bag of wind, a breath of
of Protestantism . In so far as they „ . .
.
•
..
. ,, , .
existed before tlie Reform ation and " ,latever P ^ i- e s s they have made a u th o r,ty of all hierarchies, and air or less th an a soap-bubble, then
in pre-C hristian periods they were <
h as been 1,1 P '«P "rli»n to the dif- m ake men as fearless Io question it is enlf-evident and an absolute
the result of the s a m e ' great f“ “1' ” '
l,beral id e a s a m o n g them | doctrine and speculations of a then- fact th a t when Bu(;„
„ „ „ „ a al , o or r liv-
nv-
such anim
principles which were announced and tbe d ™ay » ' »“ '«h, as in Italy . h'lPeal character, as they are to ¡„g organism dies and is again
and em phasized by L uther and his
° f ,h e (-‘“ h'dic countries are qin-stm., those m any other province ! decomposed into its segregate cl.e-
co-workers. Such p riv ate jud
®uch a K tate'>f m ental and moral
thought.
B. F. U nderwood .
mical c o n s.it,tents, th a t then thi.
th is
m e .,. and .;„
k . of
... self-governm
.......debasem
ment
right
ent ent,
- and everything,
- - e x e r in
y u the
n n g , ,n
anim al or m an, as such being and
as has had been exercised in Pagan
I?
7
7
T
“
“.
a
c
,‘v
,ty
’
h
’agan
,n ie ,ie c iu a * activity, has
For the Torch of Re«.,on. form
form, , ha-
haw vanished or ceased to
dden
,n,e
Bo
"
xed>
hordeued
and
un-
The
In
co
n
sisten
cy
of
A
gnosticism
,
f
exist.
If such an anim al m ust first
Greece and Rome, were forbidden
modifiable th at nothing hut revolu-1
----- _
be created, evolved, produced or
!,y the Roman Catholic hierarchy,
“ if they (th e Oregon Secular b o r n b e f o r e a m a n l .a s b e i n g o r e x -
and they could never have been re­ tion perhaps can break u p th eeh tab -
lished order and make advancem ent churches) declare that this life ends istence, then, of course, without
gained w ithout a powerful and suc­
possible. A few years ago a w riter all, they will be a failure. I a m such anim al stru ctu re th ere can be
cessful protest against this establish­
in the C ontem porary Review said:
agnostic in this regard, he- no m an. If man is an a n im a l__as
ed au th o rity .
‘‘ Ih e weight of an unsolved question Rev^nf? th a t it can be neither proved science plainly classifies h im — then
I he conquests of Protestantism
lies «m these European S tate, i d '8pr° Ved th a t tbi9 Iifeend8 w,1?’ lhe anim al '»
«nd man is
in Europe, as M acaulay states, did
not exteud ........... . th e territo ry which three centuries ago shut Jam e’ R-A " e n ... T ori - h of R eason , th e .n im a l, W ithout the form er
- ^ i n g t h e . , .......... w h i c h were ...........
up a g a i u , - ........ . l Ch ^
li
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