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