THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1897.
Torch of Reason
of Reason,”
D arw in’s “ Origin of
W e C om bat All Evil
but when he undertook to show how
poor, poor Jesus was, he did not
carry out the thought. If he had
he would have been obliged to say
th a t Jesus became poor in thought,
for his wealth was said to consist of
great thoughts. This would have
m ade him appear somewhat idiotic.
Then again, if Jesus owned the
whole universe, why would being
born in a m anger m ake him lose
bis possessions?
He seemed to
have power to tu rn w ater into wine,
to heal the sick, ami bring to life
the dead. Now to call him poor, if
he had all these powers and a ttr i­
butes of a god, is perfectly absurd,
and the whole story of his becoming
poor th a t we m ight become rich in
heavenly treasures is all bosh, and
«»nly w orthy the belief and support
of uncultured m inds.
Species,” or a good encyclopedia
We th in k a great deal of some
in their possession does not prove C hristians. One whose m other is a
The Only Paper of Its Kind.
their contents in error, nor does it C hristian, and one whose early
P ublished W eekly by th e L iberal U n i­
prove those books which are toe associations were in the C hristian
versity C om pany, in the In terests of
church and Sunday school, cannot
C onstructive, Moral Secularism .
most numerous to be divine, or even
help adm iring the good th a t is in
logical.
The
bible
has
been
forced
them , and respecting the noble
J. E. H osm er,....................... tu iio r
P. W. (ie e r ,..................... Manager upon the world by religious fanaiics characters of m any who have been
with the aid of the thum b-screw, taught to believe in gods and m ir­
E n tered at th e postoffice at Silverton,
the rack am i the lagot, and u.» acles. Then again, we love and
Oregon, as second-class m ail m atter.
v
evils of its superstitions will never respect the good qualities th a t we
SUBSCRIPTIO N R A T E S .
often find in those who are m aking
cease until Inhdels put som ething
One year, in a d v an c e .......................... $1
other m istakes equally as bad as
Six m onths in a d v an c e ....................
ou better in its place.
I bis som ething belief in the m iraculous. “ Men are
T hree m onths, in a d v an c e ................
m ust be the religion of this world, as they must he,’’ and it is certainly
In clubs of five or m ore, one year,
in advance................................... .
the religion of hu m an ity , founded a weakness to blame a product of
M oney should be sent by registered
nature for not being as we m ight
le tte r or m oney order.
on n atu ral m orality.
wish. If we desire a change the
After giving our lecture and m us­
Notice!
wisest th in g for us to do is to use
ical en tertain m en t, and receiving
what talents we have to impress
A pencil m ark here denotes th a t your
subscription will ex p ire w ith th e next a good collection for our university, our thoughts upon our fellow's; hut
num ber. You are earn estly requested
to renew so th a t you may receive th e pa­ we gave anyone who wished, the at the sam e tim e we should do it
Evolution.
per w ith o u t in te rru p tio n . We have de­ privilege ol asking questions. Our with the thought of helping them
cided th a t it is best for all concerned
E volution is u n ited universal energy,
th a t we do no t send papers longer th an offer was accepted, and one Durley, to better and truer ideals, instead not isolated in d iv id u al end eav o r.—J . P.G.
th e tim e paid for unless so ordered.
of vindictively punishing them for
“ The cant about evolution, now
This will p rev en t any loss and we will a religious euinusiasi, asked a lew
being as they must be. There are so common, finds its clim ax in I)r.
know ju st w here we sta n d .
We request you to send us th e nam es questions from his point of view, m any who are not only believers in E. A. A bbot’s ‘Evolution of the
of Secularists who m ight become sub- and our answ ers seemed to he very
Divine from the H u m a n .’ The
the great hum bugs of orthodoxy,
scriliers and we will m ail sam ple copies. I
picture of a m an lifting him self
much appoved by the audience, tor
but who also engage in evil prac­ from the earth by his own w aist­
THURSDAY, OCT. 7, E. M. 297 they applauded u& to the echo, but tices which rob them of reason and
band, is not more ridiculous.”—
oui religious friend took it ail in
unfit them for the society of the Prof. W. T. Davison, Zion’s H erald.
At T illam ook .
good part am i the m eeting closed highest and best types of our civili­
‘‘.Man is a co m p o u n d «>f d u s t a n d
with the best ot leelm gs ail around.
d
ie
iv ; th e «lust is forever esea j i ng,
In spite of th e fact th a t there was
zation.
One of Mr. D u rfe j’s questions, the
Here, then, let us stand on the h u t th e d iv in e e te rn a lly a b id e s.’’—
a new m inister at the M. E. church,
Quoted in Church Union for August.
answer to w h ic h pleased the au d i­
solid
ro<*k
of
n
atu
ral,
scientific
m
or-j
we met a good audience in the new ence very much, was: “ W hat g«»od
One thing much more ridiculous
ality, and com bat with the energy
th an the w aistband feat is Prof.
opera house in Tillamook City last will Liberalism do one who, like
of those who fought at Thermopylae
Sunday evening. We had attended myself, has one loot in the grave? the evil doctrines of the old m y th i­ D avison’s further effort to demean
a doctrine whereof his a rtic le ’
the M ethodist church in the fore­ We told him th a t in cases like his cal religion, anti the evil habits and
proves him profoundly ignorant,
noon, and as a prelude to our lec­ own, where one was th o r o u g h ly licentious practices of those who, as
as we will show by two points in
tilled with the idea of gods ami
the C hristians say, are dead in
ture we repeated some of th e in ­
these quotations alone:
devils and angels, etc., etc., th at
spired (?) Words of the preacher, there was but little hope. L iberal­ their sins; and if our brave little
F irst: “ The only divinity is
band of Secularists fall, fighting for
which he had taken from th e word ism cannot save those who are lost
h u m an ity ,” according to W. P itt,
what seems to them the highest
Earl of C hatham , in concluding a
of his god. T he preacher said th a t to reason and are clinging to the
good of their country, (th e world is
the inspired writer found a good slippery rocks of old creeds and th eir country) as did the brave letter on superstition, to bis son;
name for the atheist when lie said, dogmas. From the great arm y of Greeks, they will die happy in the and also according to an article
“ the fool hath said in his heart, y oung, progressive people we must thought th a t they were true to their m any years ago in Benson J. Los-
there is no god.” We believe th at «haw our recruits. They m ust be convictions; ami far from blam ing sing’s F am ily Magazine, by, I think,
the preacher is far from being a euucated, free from the old errors, those who oppose w hat to them either Jare d S parks or H enry W are,
fool, hut it puzzles us to know jusi and then their m inds will be broad seems the only remedy for the ills on “ A m erican U n itarian ism ,” in
how he can consistently call us and capable of grasping the new of the world, they will only th in k ' vvnicb it was said th a t Jesus was a
fools, when his god-book says that tru th s that science is ever bringing of it as «>ne of the battles in the divine man because he was a per­
fect m an. W hat then* is of evil in
“ he th a t calleth his brother a fool to t lie light.
hum an fam ily’s grand m arch io a
m an is what there is in him inferior
We succeeded in getting quite a
is in danger of hell fire.” We In fi­
higher plane of existence.
to the true man. If divinity he a
dels received our usual portion of large num ber of suoscriptions to
term for an y th in g else than h u ­
abuse, and our dead au th o r hero, the T orch , and best of all wu se­
A F o o lis h T h o u g h t.
m anity unadulterated bv deviltry,
“Tom” Paine, received a few more cured the services of two more
it is an o th er w«»r«l for the incon­
In a serm on delivered a short ceivable, wherewith we are not con­
inspired kicks. The fact th at the teachers and all around workers for
bible is found in more homes in our our cause, who h a re “ come over time ago in our hearing, the man cerned, or else a synonym for de­
country th an copies 01 P aine’s “ Age into Macedonia (S ilverton) to help of God was not inspired enough to structive and irresponsible power.
“ If man knew what else he were but
One of the
of Reason,” was m entioned as proof us.” Mr. and Mrs. A lbert Mason, use common sense.
sin n e r,
H e m ig h t in v ite th e universe to din­
th a t the bible ideas are right, while whom we have in d u c e d t«> take up most absurd illu stratio n s was used
n e r.”
the “ Ago of Reason only shone for the work of trying to establish the to show how Jesus loves us, and
Second: In the evolution of the
a short tim e by its friction with true religion of doing good in th e the poor, open-m outhed mem bers “divine,” that is, the best, in a h u ­
tru th .” To a th in k er this kind of world, are both successful teachers -a t and amened atevers thing. Jesus, m an, m an no more lift* him self
argum ent is very poor, indeed, and and people of most excellent habits. accenting to th is illogical theolo­ than d es the flower and fruit of a
only the simple are deceived by it. A true education does n o t in c a p a ­ g ian ’s holy book, became poor that plant. “ N" man liveth by himself
Our reverend friend would not ad ­ citate people for any hones! work, we might become rich, and he went and no m an dieth by him self.” is a
law of nature as much recognized
m it th at because there are more and Mr. and Mrs. Mason show th a t on to show how Jesus was rich, and
by th<* most n atu ralistic Atheist as
Roman C atholic catechism s in use they have the true idea by helping how poor he was aft«-r he was so it was by the m y-tical St. Paul.
in this country th an M ethodist in the m anual work until school kind as to be horn in a manger. Evolution is sim ply the outcome ot
catechism s, th a t the Catholics are begins. A num ber of young people He claim ed that Jesus was rich in th»* ingo, or the action of the united
right and th e M ethodists are wrong. express«*d a desire to atten d our thought, and called our attention forces of all the u n iv er-eas meeting
In the pr«*cess of evolution tow ards university th is w inter, and after to the wonderful mind of one who in a p articu lar place, and no thing
evolves itself any more than a hall
the tru th the highest types are arriv in g home and limling th at the could create such a wonderful world revolves itself down hill, or a car
alw ays in the m inority, and because work was moving on so nicely here, as ours, and then he told us to goes by its own motive when driven
only a few of the most intelligent we concluded th a t our trip to the th in k of the wonderful wealth of by the electric current.
one who owns the w’h«»le universe;
J ohn P. G uild .
people have such works as the “ Age coast was a decided success.
*