th f
TO R I H O F R E A S O N . SILVERTON. OREGON, THURSDAY,
f I V W * >
¥ ZA
the inevitable conclusion th at when
L ittle P o in ts.
ular platform . How any one with
a man dies he is dead and rem ains
thegood of F reethought at heart can
dead.
The article in last week’s issue think otherwise is more than I can
If God is everywhere, where is
Here the preacher generally e n ­
headed, “ The Methodists Save a understand. I do not believe in the Devil?
quires: “ But do you believe you
Saloon Keeper is said by the pastor Phariseeism , gossiping, or in m ed­
How can a person who has read will die like a b ru te?” 1 answer;
to be somewhat erroneous and it is dling with other people’s business, the history of the w orld’s sixteen are we not horn like a brute?
There should be no poetry or sen­
no more than fair to give him a hear­ but character and principle in Sec­ crucified saviors select one th at just
tim
ent in the agencies or motives
ing.
ular leaders is entirlej different fr )m fills the hill, when they are all so
th a t decide our belief, but our sole
H e claim s th at our inform ant has these.
near alike?
aim should be to discover the tru th
m isrepresented things, and out of
We have assailed the churches
A good mess of greens once in a in all things, and the above facts
a m em bership of BMJ of his for their low estim ate of m orality while i- belter for a dyspeptic than are final ami absolute.
H ere our
church only six signed the peti­ com pared with faith. \\ e have prayer or the laying on of hands.
knowledge emls. W hen m an dies
nothing is left to re-constitute his
tion; th at four of these had their boasted that the Secular philosophy
Some people are so sm all th a t personality. And it is not true
nam es erased before it was presented is superior to ihe C hristian religion.
they are willing to sacrifice the that som ething “emerges” from the
to the judge and th a t the two re- Then it is not offensive self-right­
opportunity of building up a great orifices of m an’s body when he
m aing petitioners were relatives of eousness to dem and th a t those who
cause in order to gratify some little dies. Absolutely nothing “escapes”
the saloon keeper. H e also claimed advocate it shall he a credit to its
to constitute a duplicate m an— not
personal spile or satisfy a whim.
even “ his breath leaves him ,” which
the m ethodist leaders had nothing principles. W hile I have never
All
should
eat
the
fruit
of
the
is sim ply air draw n into the lungs
to do in getting up the petition, and made m yself a censor of any of my
th a t th eir church does not sanction co-workers, I have alw ays m ain­ tree of knowledge even if the priests and forced out again, hut with the
last elfoits rem ains in the body. A
do dam n us for it
the selling of liquor anyw here.
tained this doctrine.
«lying man placed upon a delicate­
ly adjusted pair of scales weighs
F ranklin Steiner.
Board M eetin g .
A R efu ta tio n .
not a grain less after death th an
Des Moines, Iowa.
before. W hat folly, then, to invest
An advocate of freelove, writing
There will he a special m eeting of an airy nothing with the form and
SECULAR NEW S.
for a freelove paper, states th a t the
the Exe< u iv e Boaid "f the O. S. S. functions and characteristics of the
most complex and highest product
president of the Oregon State Secu­
f het tregonStateSeeularU nion will U. at Ldii ral H all Siiverton, Ore., of n a tu re ’s laboratory. W hat a
lar Union “ has either changed his
have three lecturers in the field in Tuesday evening Ju n e 15.
w-aste of m aterial, w hat a waste of
personal habits since last November
P
ea
i.
W.
G
eer
,
energy, what a waste of cogencies,
a very short tim e. Miss Kate De
or is a hypocr i t e ,’’ and the person
President
O.S.S.U.
if complete met« and women can
Peat and Mrs. M. P. Hosm er will
seems to insinuate th a t while in
exist «luring all eternity without
travel through Eastern Oregon and
Chicago last November, I used to­
The In c o n siste n c y of A g n o stic ism . physical organism as well as with
Idaho and Pearl W. Geer will goto
it!
bacco or liquor or both. This is an
Southern Oregon and California.
( continued from first page .)
W here there is no stom ach there
injustice for I never took a drink
B. F. Underwood and Franklin
is no anim al life. W here there
of liquor in my life and have never
the
origin
of
man
is
not
known,
is
no anim al life there is no hum an
used tobacco in any form , nor do I Steiner will he in Oregon and W ash­ nor thinkable, separate from the life. The crudest m onad, sac or
ington this Sum m er and C. Elton
ever intend to
origin of this anim al, it is self- cell, as well as the higher forms of
B
lanchard
will
m
ake
us
a
visit
in
a
evident th at w ithout this anim al life, all have stom achs as the basis
I cannot imagine what the lady
Every
Secularist structure m an cannot exist. W hat of th eir existence; in fact this is the
m eans and why she should write few m onths.
O rganic nucleus from which th<‘ organism
against me in this way. She is mis­ should do som ething to m ake their const ¡tutes this an im al?
s tru c tu n — an aggregation of organs, evolves. The digestive process is a
taken, for I believe her tobe honest visit a success and help to forward nerves, arteries, in úseles, brains, necessity to all forms of anim al
and surely she would not in ten tio n ­ the grand work.
skeleton, etc.— which in combined life and w ithout it life is not possi­
The
Silverton
Marine
Band
gave
a lly tell a falsehood. I was one of
activity, conditions favorable and ble. S piritists m ust therefore prove
the adv<a‘ates of the ethical basis a splendid free concert at Liberal the autom atum in perfect order, ¡ the existence of spiritual digestive
for our organization a long time be­ Hall last F riday evening and were produce life, sensation, conscious­ organs, spiritual gastric juice, sp irit­
ness and mind. Such an organism ual food ami digestive processes, or
fore it was adopted and now I real­ greeted by a large, appreciative au­
can live, see, hear, feel, remember, w ithdraw thei«- belief from the
ize th a t the adoption of it was a dience. After the concert, C aptain reason and propagate the race. In arena of science and debate.
An
grand stride in the direction of right. A llen’s side oj the Y. P.S. S. C., the absence of one or more, or all intelligent idea of what constitutes
W hen I returned from Chicago ami the ban J hoys were treated to of these organs or parts, man is spirit enlity, spirit form and .spirit
last fall I was more than evei sat­ a straw berry supper. An hour or imperfect, unsound or does not ex­ mode of existence not being forth­
isfied th a t the doctrines of freelove so was passed in dancing and every ist a t all. This complete organic coming, it places their faith on a
stru ctu re causes the various ac­ par with Rom anism and fetichism.
were wrong. 1 associated with the one had a general good time.
tivities, functions and processes,! Those affirm ing must prove.
people of that belief ju s t enough to
Remember the dram a at Liberal both physical ami m ental. This is W hen we see a man die and cre­
satisfy m yself they are m istaken. H all, Silverton, Oregon, S aturday the cause and basis of personal life m ated, we know- th a t this is the end
and m ind—remove this, nothing of this man because we know- abso­
I am confident that m any of them evening Ju n e 12.
rem ains, and the effects, of course, lutely not hi ng to the contrary. We
are honest in their ideas and Mr.
Send us a subscriber for the Torch must cease also.
affirm and prove it. So those af­
H arm an and I have always been on of Reason.
W hen, then, the en tire body after firm ing spiritism m ust prove.
If
good term s but in all o f our conver­
death is again disintegrated, and an entity, “spirit substance” must
sations the subject of freelove was J'lie Executive Board of the O. S. S. this complex structure, once consti­ he subject to an analysis.
This
never m entioned.
He need not U. held a regular m eeting last Sun­ tu tin g man has vanished from ex ­ “ «Inal m an” m ust have parts and
th in k th a t 1 agree with him or th at day evening in the Liberal Hall. istence, is it not the wildest dream organs or he is not a m an hut a
and delusion to insist th a t the
I ever had any ideas favoring free­ The members present were Pearl W. identical individual, in the form of m vth.
N either will it do to plead th at
love. 1 am perfectly satisfied to Geer, Pres., E. L. Sm ith, Secy-Treas. a ‘‘dual m an ” or “ sp irit” still lives;
certain
phenom ena have been w it­
let him believe a» he pleases and J. E. Hostner Supt. S. S. S., Nettie that man can exist and live during
nessed which can be explained on
w ant him to allow me the same Olds-Haight and M innie P. Hostner all eternity w ithout this physical n o o t h e r hypothesis.
This is the
Vice Presidents.
stru ctu re as well as with it; that
privilege.
(heist’s plea fo ra God whose being
som ething, nobody knows w hat —
I
he
S
ultan
ol
I'urkey
refuses
to
and
existence is involved in infinte-
I w ant all people to know just
the
equivalent
of
n
o
th
in
g
—which
where I stand. I was an advocate receive Jam es B. Angell as U. S. cannot l>e seen, felt, weighed, nor ly greater m ystery than nature its-
M inister because of his known con­
of the ethical basis before it was a d ­ nection with the C hristian religion analyzed into tangihleoonstituents, self. If the existence of a disem bod­
ied hum an being is a n atu ral im pos­
opted and now th a t it is adopted I and with the Board of Missions th a t can he a living, breathing man or sibility then it is self-evident th a t
propose to Htay with it and I can do m ain tain s and directs num erous woman and all it im plies; and to “sp irit” explains no phenom ena,
American m issionaries in Turkey. insist th a t a living “ dual m an ,” hut greatly mystifies it.
so w ithout being a hypocrite.
“ soul” or “ sp irit” em erges from the
The agnostic a ttitu d e , then, in
P earl W. G eer . Probably the next thing on the pro­ body when life ceases; can a n y th in g
gram will be for our C hristian (?)
relation to im m ortality, is not con­
nation to gc over and, with our big be more unreasonable and vision­ sistent because if the doctrine th at
guns, kill off a few of the heathen ary ?
T he E th ica l B a sis.
Discarding all inherited and ac­ man lives after death is irratio n al,
and teach them the right road to
quired superstition and faith; es­ as they concede it to he, they
heaven.
W hile I differ from you on some
pecially disregardingour individual should reject it. Ten million af­
Prof. O. C. Lee of T exarkana, hopes ami desires, which cannot firm ing is of no more im portance
details of the m atter I entirely sanc­
th a n one. If rational they have
tion your m ain contention, viz., th at Ark. is m uch interested in the Lib­ possibly be a factor in the inexor­
no m oral right to pose as agnostics.
eral U niversity. He sent this week
a m oral test should be required of some fine specimens of centipedes, able economy of n atu ra l events,
O tto W ettstein .
and confining our beliefs strictly to
all persons seeking to goon the See- scorpions, ta ra n tu la s, etc.
what we know, we m ust come to
Rochelle. Ills.
The M eth od ist’s Claim .