« F VOL 1. A Free Thought Hymn. SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, JULY 15, ¡897 NO. 37. world give to it its m oral ideals. LITTLE TORCHES. In the wrong done them justice The W o rld is N eith er W h o lly Good Nor o h ! my bro th er, h e ar me, and right are violated, hut in their “ It is well to glory in art, re W h o lly Bad. If you would ransom ed !«• devotion to principle in the face of ligion and the m arch of C h ristia n From th e th ra ll of p riestc raft. Ami m ingle w ith the free. ity which has elevated the classes.” to rtu re and death, m ankind are George Eliot said that she was If old-tim e fears enchain thee, taught by exam ple, tin* loftiest — Bishop Ninde, in a sermon at (»h^ east them all asid e; neither an optim ist nor a pessim ist, M iddletown, Conn., Ju n e 27. Let faith in Man su stain th ee, m orality is inculcated, and the And Reason be thy guide. *'ut a tnehorist. It was she who Yes, dear Bishop, hut renaember- noblest type of ch aracter is ex c<mtribute<l the word meliorism to that the “classes” have been elevat Why, my bro th er, tell me, alted. Dost thou weep and pray ? our language to express a mean ed just in proportion as C hristian W hat is it dost ini|»ell thee I he great m ass of the m artyrs between optim ism a n d p e s s im is m . doctrines have been relegated to the To cry in wild dism ay are those uncrowned and unknow n To a m ythic Saviour 1 he world, as we k now it, is cer rear. I here has not been a single Who once, a m an like thee, to fame. All who have sacrificed ta in ly not perfect. Ihe theory change m ade in the C hristian re Ami scorning priestly favor, and suffered for the t r i l l h and for Was slain on C alvary? th a t “‘everything is for the best,” ligion for a t h o u s a n d years except the good of others, belong to this Stand up, my b ro th er, firm ly ; in the sense that all events ami to lake som ething away from it. great arm y. Says a writer: “ Cross W hat h ast thou got to fear? actions are such as adm it of no im The more you take away from it, No C hrist can bear th e burden ing the ocean in a steam ship, see the better it becomes. T hat thou hast got to bear. provem ent, destroys all distinctions ing how the ladies ami gentlem en Erect in conscious m anhood, between ju st and unjust, between B e righteous for th e rig h t— m arch up and down the s ta ’el v deck right and wrong, and renders im Disdaining every falsehood, \Ye were horn in a state of origin — the men airily pulling th eir al sin; th at is, w ithout an y th in g Rejoicing in th e light. possible any rational conception of — C h a s . J. R a e . cigars, the ladies c h a t t e r i n g ih 'e ir hut purely n atu ra l gifts and gr 'aces, morals. On t> e other hand, the idle gossip, a hundred people in a slate accursed before God be theory that the universe is essen stretched out in easy chairs, read cause we inherited a state of de We Build. tially evil, th a t m an is wholly <le ing novels, sittin g a t table eating base«! and fallen nature which ca n praved and corrupt, that life is not not he restored except by some Is it nothing to free th e mind? worth living, is contrary to general delicious food. I have thought of special a c t o f G«>d.— New York Is it nothing to civilize m an k in d ? experience, and if com m only be those men down below, a hundred Catholic News, J u n e 30. If th at he true, then God m ust Is it nothing to fill the world with lieved to he true, would be the or more, sooty, grim y, black, ig norant, feeding th e furnaces,shovel have dam ned us before he create«! light, with discovery, with science? paralysis and despair of philan ing the coal, dragging out ashes, us; the child is horn with an en d Is it noihing to dignify man and thropy. doing it night and day, day ami less sentence in the divine pene- exalt t he intellect ? Is it nothing H istory, observation, and com to grope your way into the dreary mon s>*nse unite in declaring th at night, scarce ever having a glimpse ten tiary branded upon his heart. prisons, the dam p and dropping our world is one in which t h e r e are of the sun. never seeing the glory \\ hat a devlish, nice God he must dungeons, the d ark and silen t cells both good and evil, right and of- the sea, never w atching the be! serene moon, seeing nothing but of superstition, where the souls of wrong, and in which m a n ’s volition “ W hat moral right has a C hris men are chained to floors of stone; counts as a factor in helping or these awful fires, now and then tian to put a tem ptation in the wav only pushing th eir black faces out to greet them like a ray of light, h im h rin g hum an progress. A lib of his fellow -m an? If the contents of some port-hole to get a little of the glass which I offer to mv like the song of a bird, the m u rm u r ertine m ay destroy the peace of a whiff of the air lest they die— th a t guest cause him to stum ble, he of a stream ; to see the dull eves fam ily; a p h ilan th ro p ist m ay add is the history of h u m a n ity .” stum bles over me. 1 am a p artn er open and grow slowly b rig h t; to t<> the sum total of the happiness This vivid picture, which illus in his sin .”— Rev. Theodore L. feel yourself grasped by the and comfort of a com m unity; a Cuyler, I). D., in the Evangelist, shrunken and unused bands, and ty ra n t m ay bring war, orphanage, trates the inequalities of hum an J u ly 1. hear yourself th an k ed by a strange ind m isery upon a n atio n ; a wise condition to some extent m ay also T h a t’s exactly w hat you C hris serve to rem ind us of the folly of and hollow voice? tians do when you sit aro u n d the statesm an, a great ruler, m ay lift a m aking display or notoriety the N it nothing to conduct these people Io higher conditions by se com m union table and d rin k liquor test of the value of hum an service, souls g rad u ally into the blessed curing to .them the blessings of in mem ory of the divine wine or of ju d g in g men by conventional m aker of Cana. An appetite for light of «lay— to let them see again prosperity and peace. stan d ard s of social respectability. liquor is as certain to he formed by he happ\ fields, the sweet, green E vidently the true view of man earth, and hear the everlasting and n a tu re is th a t the world is The m an “ down below” f«*eding d rin k in g grog at the “ L ord’s Sup music of the waves? Is it nothing neither perfect nor hopeless; that the furnaces does a m ost useful per” as by d rinking th e sam e to make men wipe ihe dust from things are neither wholly good nor work, and he may he m orally, and m iserable stuff in the foulest b ro th their swollen knees, the tears from wholly had, hui th a t conditions of even intellectually, above m any of el of San Francisco. their blanched a nd furr-oved cheeks? hum an life are im perfect and can those who walk the steam er’s We m ust look forw ard, not be Is it a sm all thing to reave the be im proved; th a t hu m an ity is in stately «leek, and his service to the heavens of an in satiate m onster a process of growth which can lie world m ay he far more valuable to hind, lest we he betrayed into the folly of heathenism . Lot’s wife and write upon the eternal dome, accelerated or retarded; th a t c h a r m illions who, in however hum ble lo«»ked hack and was turned to a glittering with stars, the grand acter and conduct are not what station, have perform ed faithfully pillar of salt. Moses looked for the duties of life, have by their ward and attain ed success.”— Rev. w o rd — F reedom ? they should b»-, hut th at they can labor and sacrifice m ade th e world Jo h n H all, D. I)., in his sermon at I” it a sm all thing to quench the he elevate«!; th a t the n atu ral and tiaineg of hell with the holy tears social conditions of life are defec better, and they are entitled to our the F ifth Ave. P resbyterian church, New York City, J u n e 27. "t pi’y; to unbind the m arty r from tive, but adm it of am elioration, and gratitude none th e less, because Then why look back to collect the stake; break all the ch ain s; put th a t it is the duty of every m an to they were of th e common people. the scoundrelism , dogm as, super " ’*t the fires of civil war; stay thej m ake the world better, in some way, “ T he ran k is b u t th e g u in ea ’s stam p , stitions and obscenity of a th o u s T he m a n ’s th e gowd for a ’ t h a t . ” S"ord of the fanatic, and tear the for his having live«! in it. To this and years ago for rules of life in hloody hands of the C hurch from result everyone contributes who “ The grow ing go«wl of the w orld“,” the present. One trouble with he white throat of Science? discovers a new tru th , invents a as Dr. Liadon once said, “ is p artly C h ristian s is th a t th ey look hack L >t a sm all thing to m ake men new m achine, lightens the burdens dependent on unhistoric acts; and like L ot’s wife; th ey are tu rn ed in fUly free—to destroy th e dogmas of labor, breaks down the harriers th a t things are not so ill with you to church steeples instead of pil ignorance, prejudice and power b e tw e e n m an k in d , battles against and with me as they m ight have lars of salt. Quit searching am ong —the poisoned fables of su p ersti p o p u lar error and wrong, or teaches been, is h a lf owing to the num ber m um m ies for the spooks of p ro p h tion, and drive from the beautiful a larger view of m an, his duties and who lived faith fu lly a hidden life ets and work for the good of the face of the earth the fiend of F»*ar? his destiny. and rest in unvisited tom bs.” present. There is plenty to do, I ngersoll . The self-sacrificing heroes of the B. F. U nderwood . Dr. Jo h n .— W. E. J. HELlORISfl.