T H E TORCH o r REASON, SIL V E R T O N , OREGON, T H U R SD A Y , N O V EM BER 18, 1897.
NEWS AND NOTES.
Two
new
students,
David
Morgan and Louie Steelham raer,
entered the University this week.
Elvin Ames, who has had to stay
out of school on account of sickness,
expects to be with us again next
week.
Leona Allen is sick this week and
has to stay out of school. We
hope to see her well soon and hack
at her desk.
Remember the Sunday school
entertainm ent Saturday night at
Liberal H all. All of the proceeds
go to the Sunday school.
The T orch of R eason , the Liberal
paper published at Silverton, has
entered its second year of existence.
Silverton is the home of the only
Liberal U niversity in the world.
[A shland Town Talk.
Dr. A. A. Leonard, of H unting-
ton, Oregon, will he in Silverton
next week, where he will locate
perm anently and engage in the
practice of medicine. We welcome
him here and wish him all the suc
cess possible. His son will attend
the Liberal U niversity.
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On the fifth page, of this issue of
the T orch , we print the first of the
series of tracts compiled by Eliza
Mowry Bliven. If you like them ,
send us a dollar and receive fifty
tracts each m outh for a year, to dis
tribute among your C hristian
friends. In th a t way you can un
doubtedly do a great am ount of
good for the cause of Secularism .
The tracts will be on
different
subjects each m onth.
What Next?
E ditor T orch of reason :
I have a book on religion th a t is
new to me. I t ’s title is, “ The Mvs-
tic Book of God Unsealed, or, The
Banished Angels and th eir P eniten
tiary ,” by R. V. M illard, Bishop
and F ounder of the Church of Re
deemed Israel. It is a curiosity to
me—a unique scheme, and, from a
C hristian standpoint, a real good
one. It claim s th a t “ we’u n i” here
are the “ fallen angels” who were
driven out of heaven with the d ra g
on when they had the rebellion up
there, and th a t we are “ im prisoned”
on the earth (and this whole iolar
system ) u n til we shall he “ redeem
ed” by C hrist (who is Michael, the
archangel who fought against the
dragon).
T hat God lives in the
pleiades, an J all the rest of the orbs
of the universe are peopled with
God's angels.
T hat the “ redeem
ed” of this solar system will return
to God in the seven stars when
the end comes, hut us poor unre
pen tan t fellows will be burned up
and an n ih ilated , world, devil and
all. You m ay know about it, but
to me it is new, and a curiosity in
religious literature.
I regard it as
a m odern im provem ent on C hris
LITTLE POINTS.
tian theology, and I th in k it will
have a run. “ Rev.” M illard quotes
No one should have the lib erty
the bible largely in support of hit
to do wrong.
position, and appears to know as
The bible makes credulity a vir
much about it as any of them .
tue and investigation a crime.
F. S. M atteson .
The m ajority should rule, hut on
To the P romotors of S cientific account of th eir carelessness they
are often led by an evil m inority.
W isdom :
(C ontinued from F ifth
)
Give us your coat. C hristians, or
dresses of any other U nbelievers o w n th a t some of th»j teachings of
Christ are absurd. See Luke vi.,
you know in C onnecticut.”
To carry out this, besides my 29-30.
If honest, moral people will now
subscription I buy one d o lla r’s
worth (600) of this first tract, and unite they can work a greater m ir
hope to get ten cents worth d istrib acle th an the world has ever wit
uted in each of ten towns. If you nessed.
w ant some one to do the sam e work
Some who claim th a t “ to do
in your own state, consider yourself good” is th e true religion seem to
the responsible party and do it your have very foolish ideas in regard to
self, or find some one who will. Be w’h at is good.
sure to send me your address, so I
According to Genesis I., God
shall know in which states, or parts m ade the sun and moon after he
of sta 'e s, or even in w hat little out- m ade the earth , and trees, and
of-the-way spot, a sta rt has been grass.
Oh, bible-believer, go to
made.
This will encourage me, school.
and then I may find ways to help
In C h rist’s tim e many w’ent
you. It will also show me in what
about pretending to heal the sick,
states I m ust continue to look for a
etc., as he did.
Even the circula
starter. If two or more volunteer in
tion of the blood was not then
the same state, I will let each know
known.
of the other, so they can work to
If those who have a poetical pic
gether.
When I find one child who will ture of Jesus and his disciples in
come S undays to he taught, I mean m ind could get th eir real photo
to sta rt a Scientific Sunday School, g ra p h s, they m ight he astounded.
If there is one m istake in the bi
with the “ C andle” and such other
helps a* I can secure.
As soon as ble, it cannot he of divine origin,
I have five members enrolled who and the story of the confusion of
favor scientific meetings, enough to tongues is a m islake, according to
each agree to fill one of the five the best philologists.
The people of C h rist’s tim e be
parts, i.e., music, singing, reading a
hygienic lesson, a m orality lesson, lieved th a t the earth was th e cen
and a lecture, or som ething in stru c ter of the universe, and he d id n ’t
tive enough to answer, I will sta rt tell them any different. Science is
scientific Sundav m eetings here, for the savior of the world.
I th in k w’hat the five can do,
In stea d of try in g to m ake people
though having only fair abilities, believe in Jesus, it would do more
will soon draw enough of an a u d i good, Mr. Preacher, to teach them
ence to m ake a success o f it.
tem perance, honesty, love for their
W ho will try this plan elsewhere? homes, how to study, etc. W hy
W hen quite
a num ber of such meet- d o n ’t you do it?
A
ings have been started th e dem and
The M ethodist laity o f W iscon
for suitable lessons and lectures
sin have organized and passed res
will bring about a supply. W ho
olutions dem anding equal represen
will m ake th eir own the b anner
tation with their “ sp iritu al d irect
state by enrolling the most mem
o rs” in the conferences. W hat m ust
bers, or d istrib u tin g the m ost
the “ shepherds” think of th eir u n
tracts, or s ta rtin g the most m eet
ruly Hocks?
ings?
Only two have sent me any helps
A Splendid Lecture.
tow ard the second tract, which I
m ust soon undertake. W ho will
Miss K ate De P eatt, secretary of
send me anything for the third tract th e O. S. S. U., and a professor in
during November? For it I think the Liberal U niversity, addressed a
we should choose the most glaring splendid audience a t Liberal H all
bible contradictions and show by last Sunday evening.
H er subject
science which side is false, or both, was “ Common Sense” , and she
and w h at is true. The object of handled it in a common sense m a n
this tra c t is to break down faith in ner. H er argum ents were so fair
the bible and build up belief in sci th a t even the C hristians who were
ence. Introduce also contradictions present could not reasonably take
between the bible and science.
offense at w hat was said.
E liza M owry B liven , Sec.
Iu answer to the often-asked
Brooklyn, Conn.
question, “ How could such a collos-
lowers.
She declared th a t the
C h ristia n ity of today is vastly dif
ferent from the old, and asked what
caused this change if it was found
ed on the tru th . “ T ru th can never
change.”
The subject of caste in
reference t o the clergy was discuss-
fed, and she rem arked th a t one of
th e great evils which beset us today
is representation w ithout tax atio n ,
m eaning the exem ption of church
property.
.James A. G arfield’s
views were given and the audience
appealed to, in th e nam e of ju stice
and right, to rectify this great
wrong. The position of woman as
held by church authorities and the
bible was given and she appealed
to them to th in k for them selves
instead of clinging to the bible and
asking th eir husbands a t home.
She said th a t a tru e life would be
all the consolation one would need
in the hour of d eath and th a t this
life is worth living in spite of the
absence of the C hristian faith, for,
in t h e language of the Secular poet,
“ The w orld is m illion-gloried,
B en eath , aro u n d , ab o v e.”
She concluded by co n trastin g tin 1
two religions, C h ristian ity and
Secularism , and pleaded with the
audience for a practical religion,
and begged them to hasten the
tim e when every hum an being
could say “ The world is m y coun
try ; to do good is my religion.”
A Word in Behalf of the Liberal
University.
I cam e from Vale, Oregon,
several hundred m iles from here, to
atten d th e Liberal U niversity, and
I do not regret the step, for, after
having attended the U niversity for
two weeks, I have m ade up my
m ind to stay with it until I com
plete my education. I have never
learned as m uch in two week*'’ tim e
a t any school before in my life. I
th in k the plans and m ethods of
teaching are far superior to th at of
any school I have ever seen. I
talked w ith several different parties,
before I left home, about my a t
tending th e U niversity, and they
said, “ W hy d o n ’t you go to some
school you know som ething about
or wait and see if the U niversity
am ounts
to
a n y th in g ? ”
My
answ er is this: If everyone says
the sam e thing about th e school
how will it ever grow and succeed?
The best way to help it is to attend
the U niversity yourself and to en
courage others to do the same.
One cannot im agine the work th a t
has been and is being done here,
unless he sees it for himself. I
was greatly surprised hut happy to
see the num ber of interesting and
useful books th ey have in the
library. I recom m end the Liberal
U niversity to all, and advise all
sal stru ctu re as C h ristian ity be who wish to obtain a good educa
I f all C hristians would read all reared upon a fra u d ?” she referred tion to atten d it.
Yours for tru th and justice,
bibles, th ere would be fewer C hris to the religion of th e M oham m ed
L ilian M. J ohnson .
ans, and said it had as m an y fol
tian s and more Secularists.
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