torch of
a
VOL
1.
SILXERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, SEPTEM BER IB. »S97.
NO. 46.
The T hree P reachers.
view; from the fact th a t every form R eligion Opposed to M orality. crim es you would have com m itted
[ of argum ent i ndiea' i ng th e n ect-s-i tv
C harles Mackay.
if you had had the o p p o rtu n ity ;
It
need
not
he
disputed
th
a
t
re­
T h e re a re th re e preachers ever ¡»reaching, of an antecedent <>r creative cause
think of all the tem ptations fo
F il’d w ith eloquence and power,
of nature, would also im ply the l i g i o u s in stitu tio n s have been a which you would have yielded had
lin e is old, w ith locks of w hite,
necessity of an antecedent cause of necessary accom panim ent—often a I no|M)dy b
|ooking; a*Ild , ben put
Skinny as an a n ch o rite ;
And he preaches every hour
th a t creator.
We are, therefore, useful o n e - o f h u m a n progress. I yul|r band o„ yoUr h ea,>t >nd say
W ith a sh rill fanatic voice,
log’ca'ly driven to the conclusion i K«it the question for us is, not what w bH her you can ju stly look with
ASnl a bigot’s fiery scorn :—
“ B ackw ard ! ye p resum ptions n atio n s; th a ' m atter contains within i s* Iff wa- the value of religion when man contem pt eveifupon a convict.
Man
isery is born
a
; h ii to m iserv
Dorn i !
,i „ „ ,
.
,
...
L „.
, ,
i •
i
*
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Born to drudge, and sw eat, and s u ffe r- tb e i)O,encv to p ro d u ce all th e cf- ««* a sa v ag e, who th o u g h t one lug I None but th e nob,es(. ph()uld jn
Born to labor and to p ra y ;
fects which we behold.
•‘godM hurled thunderbolts from his • Hict punishm ent, even upon the
B ackward ! ve presum ptions nations,
It is idle for C h ris tia n s t<» corn- residence in the cloud-, and th a t basest,
Back ! l»e hum ble and obey !”
plain th at M a t‘rialisni degrades another dwelt in an ocean eave to
Society has no right to pm ish
The second is a m ilder p reach er;
Soft he talks as if he su n g ;
niao to the level of bricks and semi the devastating hurricane and any man in revenge— no rig h t to
Sleek and slothful is his look,
m ortar.
Properly defined, our earthquake, but what is its value punish any man except for two ob­
And his wools as from a book
Issue glibly from his tongue.
principles not only d etract nothing to-day, when men have learned, at jects—one, th e prevention of crim e;
W ith an a ir of self-content,
from m an, b u t, on the co n trary , all events p artially , to control the the other, the reform ation of the
High he lifts his fair w hite h a n d s;
“ S tand ye . s till ! ye restless nations ;
give him a greater dignity th an he powers they one«* thought were sup­ crim inal.
How can you reform
And l»e h ap p y , all ye lands!
’ has ever enjoyed hitherio. O n this e rn a tu ra l, and have replaced their him ? K indness is the sunshine in
F ate is law and law is perfect;
If ye m eddle ye will m a r;
former ignorant reliance up'-n “su­ which virtue grows. Let it be u n ­
point, Mr. Underwood well says:
C hange is rash, and ever was so;
“ No wonder theologians ¡»eslow perior powers” by self-dependence derstood by these men th a t there is
We are h appy as we a re .”
upon matter so m any bad nam es ami an intelligent belief in the nni- no revenge; let it he understood.
M ightier is th e younger p reach er;
G enius Hashes from his eyes;
\ when they have divested it of its versa! reign of law?
We v en tu re too, that they can reform. Only a
And, tbe-ersw ds who hear his voice,
noblest powers and capacities in the firm opinion th a t not only has little while ago I read of a ease of a
(jive him , while th eir souls rejoice,
T hrobbing bosoms for replies.
order to enhance the greatness of a religion ceased to have any useful young m an who had been in a peni­
And th ey listen, vet elated,
being who is supposed toact through m o ral effect, b u t th at all dogm atic tentiary ami came out. He kept it
W hile his stirrin g accents f a ll;
‘‘F o rw a rd ! ye deluded nations,
are radically i a secret and went to work for
it. In their estim ation, it is inert, religious beliefs
Progress is the rule of a l l ;
powerless, contem ptible,
unlessI o p p o s e d to true m orality, and stand a farm er. He got in love with
Man was m ade for health fu l effort,
T yranny has crushed him long;
' stirred like the pool of Bethesda by j t h e way of all progress, J. the daughter, and wanted to m arry
He shall m arch from g(x»d to better,
the potent touch of Jehovah. Let J S pencer E llis .
her. He had nobility enough to
And do b attle with the wrong.
them restore to it the powers of
t»*ll the tru th — be told the father
‘‘S tan d in g still is childish folly,
No R evenge.
Going backw ard is a crim e;
which it has been robbed in order
th a t he had been in the p en iten ­
None should p atien tly endure
By K. O . In g er-o ll.
to enrich a being whose glory has
tiary. The father siTid, “ You ca n ­
Any ill th a t he can cu re ;
Every man is as lie m ust he. not have my daughter, because it
O nw ard ! keep the m arch of tim e.
< vcr been at the cost of the world
O nw ard while a w rong rem ains
and hum anity, and possibly they Every crim e is a necessary pro­ would stain her life.” The young
To be conquered by th e r i g h t ;
W hile oppression lifts a finger,
will see less reason for m aligning duct. The sn«ds were all gown, m an said, “ Yes, it would stain her
To affront us by his m ig h t;
i». They m ay then he able to see the land thoroughly plowed, the life, therefore I will not m arry her.”
W hile an e rro r clouds th e reason
in it those elem ents which in their crop well attended to, and carefully He went out.
In a few m om ents
Of th e universal h eart.
Or a slave aw aits his freedom ,
ever-varying forms become not only harvested. E very crim e is born of afterw ard they heard th e report of
Action is th e wise m a n ’s p a rt.
the air they breathe,the w ater they necessity. If you w ant less crime, a pistol, and he was dead. He left
“ Lo! th e world is rich in blessings—
d rin k , and the food which hunger. y ° u m ust change the conditions, j u s t a little note saying: “ I am
E a rth and Ocean, Flam e and W ind,
Have u n n u m b ered secrets still,
craves; m»t only the am eth y st and Poverty makes crime. W ant, rags, through. There is no need of my
To be ransacked when von will,
diam ond, the violet, lily and rose- crusts, failure, m isfortune—all these living longer, when I stain with my
For th e service of m an k in d ;
Science is a child as yet,
hud, bul the ruby lip, the love-lit aw ake the wild beast in m an, and life the one I love.” And yet we
And h er power and seoj»e shall grow,
eye, the wonderful brain, and, in finally he take-, and takes contrary call our society civilized. There is
And h e r triu m p h in th e future,
Shall dim inish toil and woe,
brief, the bodies and souls of the i to *aw » «'»<1 b •'•ornes a crim inal, a m istake.
Shall ex ten d th e bounds of pleasure
noblest beings th at the earth has And w hat do you do with him?
1 w ant th a t question thought of.
W ith an ev er-w id tn in g ken,
And of woods and w ildernesses,
yet produced.”
You punish him. W hy not punish; I w ant all my fellow-citizens to
Make th e hom es of happy m en.
Our doctrine is sim ply this; « uian for having the consum ption? think of it. I w ant you to do what
“ O nward —th e r e a r e ills to conquer,
Every force is a quality, condition. The tim e will come when you will you can to do away with all cruelty,
Daily w ickedness is w rought,
T y ranny is sw oll'n with pride.
or activity of m atter, hence neither see th at it is ju st as logical. W hat I here are, of course, some cases
Bigotry is deified,
is conceivable ap art from some form
you
with the crim inal? You th a t have to be treated with what
E rror in te rtw in e d w ith T hought,
Vice and m isery ram p am i craw l,
of the other. AU who adm it this
to the p enitentiary.
Is m ight be called alm ost cruelty; but
Root them out. th e ir day has passed,
to be true are M aterialists in every he m ade better? Worse. The first ii there is the sm allest seed of good
(joodness is alone im m o rtal;
Evil was not m ade to last.
proper sense of th e term . Theology, th in g you do is to Dy to tram ple in any hum an heart, let kindness
O nw ard ! and all e a rth shall aid us
on the other band, teaches the ex- out bis m anhood, by puttin g an fall upon it until it grows, and in
Ere our peaceful Hag l»e fu rl’d .”
And th e preaching of th is p reach er
istence of forces as entities wholly indignity upon him .
You m ark th a t way I know, and so do you,
S tirs th e pulses of th e world.
independent of m atter, and tl»e him . You put him in etripes. At ¡ th a t the world will get better day
O ur S u b s titu te for a C reato r original creation of m atter from r,*ght you put
him m darkness, hy day. “ A Lay Serm on.”
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»»thing; ¡dea» which ar» not o n ly , Hi" ieeliog for revenge grow». You
The Chriatian religion, without
As a substitute for the hypothesis incomprehensible, hut directly op- m ake a wild beast of him, ar.d he music, would he wholly indifferent
of a personal creator, we subm it the posed to every principle of reason, comes out of th at place branded in to hum an sym pathy, as savage in
proposition th at the universe in its I bus, we recognize no such thing body and soul, and then vou won’t policy as in the days of Calvin or
fosiLad Of *!^ n ™ ’¡ í Wl,' <'XÍr ' ? t¡ a; al’ty’lu!e.l-v ' ' 7 ; 1
Instead of ascribing the w n d e r f i i j
phenom ena of n ature to a cause
even more inexplicable th an the
phenom ena them selves, we regard
the universe as the se.(-contained
cause of its activities, in the same
general sense th a t theologians
im agine God as the self-contained
cause of bis operations.
We hold
that this is the only reasonable
. E'-'.rV let him reform if he want» to. You Torquen.ada
atom is endowed from etern ity with
.
some force, some phase or degree of Pu t
«irH »'»ove him , because lie
intelligence, and the more refined, has been in the penitentiary. The
complex and subtile the combina- next tim e you look with scorn upon
tion of m atter, the higher will be a convict, let ine l»eg of vou to do
the m anifestation of life and men- one lhin
Maybe vou are not as
tality. If an y th in g w hatever could ,
-
"
be eternally self-existent, surely i bad as 1 a m > but do o,,e f,l,ng:
living m atter could be.
We have th in k of all the crim es you have
thus no need of a creator.— B eall , w anted to com m it; think of all the
Through it» rhythm,
m eaningless stanzas are turned in ­
to ;»owe r ful appeals. By its touch
stale and repulsive doctrines are’
m ade to appear refreshing and ai-
tractive.
Music tam es the wild
beaRB subdues the savage, and
soothes the aching breast to hop»-
and Hweet contentm ent.
It is a
“ balm of G ilead” to all who come
beneath its charm s.—Selected.