Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 1897)
VOL. 2. F or the T o rc h o f Reason. SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, Í897 NO. 4. life is good for, from t h e stan d p o in t struggle to keep away the influence er, now ami then an honest inquirer I Be Contented. of a n atu ralist, aLib» raI, yes Infidel of the evil one. This D**vil asks: ‘ W hat value is life if we are if you w ish, though the ...... u n w hispers in his ear, h au n ts his not spirits im m ortal?” BY MRS, K. A B E L L . faithful people in the world can be dream s and crazes his mind. M ar Man as a specie of anim al runs found among C hristians, th a t is, Every h e a rt has its shadow s of care— Let in tHe b rig h t su n sh in e each day ; unfaithful to science, and in m any tin L u th er had m any encounters his course and dies. He is an in It will ch eer your sw eet m om ents of rest with the very Old Nick him self. dividual, and yet his little en tity is Ami chase th o se d ark shadow s aw ay. respects to the teachings of Jesus. On one occasion he broke an ink but an atom of the whole. His \V hy not b rig h ten y o u r pathw ay w ith But I caution you, let us not di- tace sweeps on and he is a m em ber sm iles? verge. Life, w hat is it good for? ju g over the old chap's h»*ad. Fling w orry and sadness a sid e ; The C hristian recognizes the of it; is valuable according to w h at P erhaps we can best illu stra te the Lite is a t best filled w ith tria ls — L et p a tie n c e a n d love be y o u r g u id e . value of life to the n a tu ra list by power of the good and kind F ath er ever p art he plays in the life of Let your h e arts overflow with tru e com parison. There is no stronger in Heaven, even when the evil one th a t race. We can n o t live for our k in d n e s s ; element in hum an nature, or in fact, has been given power to create all own lives alone. J u s t as a m other Let your songs be quick, light and g ay, So w ith h o p e ’s gilded b a n n er before you in the nature of all organic life, the suh-agencie3 for hum an ill. cell divides and divides again in It will shed a sw eet, halcyon ray. than selfishness. Even the grass Cold, hnnger, need of clothing and an endless process of creating new Your lives will be well w orth th e living is selfish. It crowds and chokes shelter, sickness, death and sorrow cells, so m an is but a cell whose If y o u ’ll try to be cheerful alw av ; chief duty lies in prom oting the Y ou’ll be fit for th e d u ties assigned you ; out the tender flower. The strong are but par, of th a t plan of test. O h, try to be h ap p y today ! preys upon the weak. The weak Bacteria, p arasites for p lan t and good of his specie. Personally there comes another Then w hy should you mope and repine, upon the weaker. It is the old and anim al, poisons and the whole list And worry o ’e r th in g s of th e past, well known “struggle for existence” of ills, w hich reason and experience view. We have only begun to W hen proudly th e v icto r will come in which the law of n a tu ra l select have tau g h t us to shun, belong to learn th a t while outside our specie And settle these w orries a t last? ion prevails; “ the survival of the the Devil’s outfit. Then the battle we m ust be selfish, we cannot be fittest” so much talked about by wages. Several tim es, from the selfish within it, and be tru ly good. Boheminian Evening No 4. Darwin, H uxlev and others. This G arden of Eden to the Cross on We m ust destroy the wheat for WHAT IS LIFE GOOD FOR? THE LIB selfishness is even a factor in form C alvary where the meek and lowly bread, and no doubt some an im al ERAL STANDPOINT. ulating the theories of eternal life. J- sus suffered death, did this das life for flesh, though I th in k the It is the same sp irit th at grasps tardly Devil get the m astery over less the better. We can n o t be true By C E lto n B lanchard. alw ays the greater share of fru it m an, obliging the good and loving men u n til we learn th a t selfishness 1 can is not excusable between m an and Again the d ining room of the am ong the lower species, as th a t Lord to readjust his plans. Brown home was filled by tw enty- which constructs a theory of im imagine how the crafty old fellow. man. This thought for others, five or th irty young men, all in m ortality, based upon the fu n d a S atan, twisted his tail in glee and makes this life beautiful. Jesus telligent and more or less educated m ental principle th a t “ m any are nut a finger upon his peak-like had the lesson learned, if he said, Bohemians. It h a l been agreed called but few are chosen”. Selfish n se and leared up at the portals of „Love thy neighbor as th y self.” th at the Doctor should talk upon ness prom pts the hope of bliss and Heaven, when he saw these confes Burns caught the beautiful sight, and gave it to us in the lin e s : the value o f life as suggested by peace in “ worlds to com e”. To me sions of his victory. “ For a ’ th a t, fur a ’ th a t, My dear friends, is it any wonder Mr. V o tip k a’s question of the pre it is a base m otive for right living, I t ’s com ing yet fur a ’ th a t, vious evening. T h e old m an stood if one is good because the good go that insane asylum s are full of T h at nian to m an th e world o ’er Shall b ro th ers be, for a ’ t h a t .” before the little audience holding to heaven and the bad to hell. poor dem ented beings, who have in his hand a copy of the T orch of My children would not be consider worried them selves crazy, trying to Viewed in this way, life mean* R eason , and several letters. Let us ed good, from a uory com m endable m ake out w hat this life was good everything. If because others do ,0 C hristians? Is it any wrong we suffer— let it be poverty, hear w hat he has to sav. motive, if they were good because for Dr.Brown: i have here,m y young promised sweet-m eats, a pony, a wonder th a t s l o t 11, -tossed souls w ant or w hat not— we strive to re friends, a copy of a paper called I 103, or some reward appreciated by piiitig e into the black uncertainty move the wrong, and ad ju st, by the T orch of R eason , published a» a c h i l d . Suppose a m other says, of d ta th by suicide? I cannot n atu ral m eans, the resources we Silverton, Oregon. 1 see th a t some ••Now, Johni»* dear, he a good boy blam e them when I thim k of the need to keep from w ant an d pain. reporter has taken down the talk s for ten m inutes, and I will give you dreadful task they have to perform If sick, science helps us to know the we have h ith erto had together, and a stick of candy!” T hus the Lord in trying to m ake any good of this cause and remove it. I f we have they are published here in full. of Hosts, says to m an, “ You life from t h e true C hristian stan d sorrows and tem ptations, we hear We m ust be careful hereafter w hat troublesom e rascals, if you will be point. A galiey slave hears his th em as brave men, self relian t and we say, as no doubt relentless good now’ and kill my mjh Jesus, be chains hoping for a day when free in a full knowledge th a t law is im critics will be w atching us. I am lieving th a t his deam saves you, I dom comes. A C hristian bears his m utable. If we m ake m istakes not certain we are not even now in will reserve a seat for every one of tria ls in faithful subm ission. A and fall, we get up an d see to it moth« r k n eels a, her so n ’s d eath th a t the same m istake is not m ade trouble for I have already received you in the ransom ed th ro n g !” this bunch of letters plying us with We council Experience. Thus we have a fair exposition bed. He is not a C h ristian . The again. questions. Law is our alm ighty; 1 of the initives, if th e bible I told m other is. She secs no fate but We learn. hell for her loved son, a good son, This m an w ants to know if I you about is strictly followed, that we fear n aught hut wrong, and think the M arriage In stitu tio n ne prom pt C hristian belief. Let us see , too, but not a believer. She w rithes wrong is but broken law. cessary. (H o ld in g a letter in view w hat life m eans to a tru ly bigoted in agony, praying unceasingly, and We look about us. The world is a of tiie audience.) A nother w ants C hristian. It m eans one constant in tier frenzied m ind th e yaw ning vast storehouse of w hat Science has to know, if God did not make the rem inder, daily and hourly, of the • darkness of hell swallows up her to offer us. We see nothing but world, who did? There are at least worthlessness of life. The C hristian , dearest treasure. W hat is this life good outside. I f evil comes it has a dozen different inquiries in the if a true one, very few true ones good for to a true C hristian? a n atu ra l cause. The world to us I n ju s tic e to modern C h ristian is the most beautiful and d elig h t lot, and we will try and answ er are to be found, sees the world them all, if the T orch of R eason is only as a had place. He recognizes ity, we m ust adm it th a t there are ful thing possible to im agine. Our Good men hearts swell w ithin our breasts and reasonable or unreasonable enough the wisdom of an alm ighty God, few tru e C hristians. to continue reporting these little the creator of all things, in creat and women are increasing in num we feel as did Tennyson when he “evenings” we are enjoying ing this world and the Devil into ber, but true C hristians are liani to wrote: T hanks to the great search together. So we will let the letters whose hands it has been placed. find. “ And all, for a m an to rise in m e, T h a t th e m an I am m ay cease to be.” pour in; the old Doctor will do his This C hristian sees the world as a light, Reason, aided by Science, the best. We become dissatisfied w ith our testing place, a life of tem ptation world is fast being cleansed of su Tonight I am to tell you w hat and tria l; one endless, ceaseless perstition and ignorance. Howev» present state of things. We invent