Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 1897)
THE TOUCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1897. L IT T L E P O IN T S. no wore work with S p iritu alists th a n they can with Catholics. If decency is a creed we want it. M aster Henry Fisher is am ong Neither should be blam ed for not the new students this week. working with the o ilier — th e y T ru th se e k e rs sh o u ld p u t in p ra c Our office has turned out a large ' should he blam ed for try in g it tice th e tr u th s th a t th e y discover. am ount of job work this week. Our philosophy class was pre- Some people fear being laughed N E W S AND N O TES. Notice the new ad. on seventh rented with a large, clear, gla-s m a rb le by Mr. L. A m es th is week, page. Buy your reserved seat ticket of I t w a . a t o n ce used in e x p la in in g G u iss <& Son for th e co n cert F rid a y th e p h e n o m -n n n of th e ra in b o w , and we are quite sure the claws now evening. C aptain Lora Ames’ side scored understands this subject much het-. 198 points at the Y. P. S. S. C. ter th an the m an who th o u g h t it was a sign from a god. meeting last F rid ay evening. al rnore w rong I( ma[) * th an they fear doing n,)t bepn h u m l.u g - , i[ )g „ „ „ SMviorj he * c<(ndjtioh lo need one. not 'ie so should liberal (? ) as to allow their fellow A report from K ansas states th a t Under the m anagem ent of Prof. men to suffer w ithout trying to Mason, our w riting class is doing the Rev. G ilham , of the C hristian help them . church, preached a sermon there in some splendid work. The facts of e v o lu tio n are knock which he affirmed there is no devil. The Clow Fam ily Concert Co., ing the theories of theology into a The congregation took offense and who will be here F riday night, are | cocked hat. Let us help the good the next tim e the reverend gentle all Secularists. m an undertook to speak he was work along. The Sunday school e n te rta in ejected from the house and about Every individual has e v »luted m ent last Sunday evening was twenty pistol shots were fired at from a “ sim ple form ” ; why should the “ lords of creation” feel shocked thought by some to be the best our him. at the race having done the sam e? school ever gave. We will send th e T orch of R eas The m eeting of the Y. P. S. S. C. on one vear to five new subscribers If C hrist was “ God m an ifest in has been postponed till Sunday ev for $3.75. and the party getting up the flesh,” when he cried. “ My god! ening, on account of the Clow Fam the club will receive fifty visiting my god! why hast thou forsaken ily concert on F riday evening. cards for his trouble. These cards m e?” he only m eant, “ Myself! ray- The first final exam ination for are w hat all S -cularists should self! why have I forsaken m yself?” the completion of the Preparatory use, as they have an engraving of This is a question th at it would be Course will be given in geography. the famous W ettstein badge b eau ti well for m any to ask themselves. About twelve students will take the fully lithographed at the left of “To thine own self be tru e .” your name Thia offer holds good exam ination soon. If God would let us have the gold th a t the streets, harps, and We now have buckw heat cakes until Jan . 1st. for breakfast. How can we afford The Clow Fam ily Concert Co. crowns in heaven are made of, and such luxuries? W hy, Mr. Julius will be in Silverton F riday and make the streets of asp h alt, the F isher belongs to “ the gang of In perhaps S aturday of this «.«,.1!. i crowns of gilt pa,.er, and the harps fidels th a t wants to see the con Their en tertain m en ts are well spo of alum inum and catgut, we be structive work go o n ”. See? ken of everywhere, and we earn est lieve it would he a better plan of salvation th a n the shedding of in W hen a ray of light passes from ly request our readers to hear them nocent blood. one medium to another the index w h ile here if possible. The prices of refraction is the ratio between are exceedingly low’ for so good an Pride of the West. the sines of the incident and refract entertainm ent. General adm ission ed angles. If you wish this ex 20 cents; children 10 cents; reserv E ditor T orch of R eason : plained call on one of the members ed seats 25 cents. , Y our paper is the pride of the of the philosophy class. W hile we are hard at work teach- West, and we m ust keep the T orch This is the day th a t those who ing, w riting, editing, etc., we have 0F r eason burning un til it has 20,- are rich thank God th a t they are not tim e to follow up unprincipled 000 subscribers. You have accom- not poor, and those who are poor people who are try in g to “grind pHghed good work, and the West is retu rn th an k s because they are n<> their axes” as we tu rn , so we will ahead of the E ast in F reethought poorer; those in good health th a n k be obliged to let them grind until a nd reason. It is surprising w hat G od for it, and those who suffer they get too bold and then we will Rig salaries preachers get for telling •thank hitn because he don’t m ake do som ething radical. We wish to pPOple lies. th em suffer more. th an k our friends who so kindly j enclose five dollars for new su b As this is Thanksgiving, we wish sent us “ letters of recom m endation’. scriptions and the U niversity fund. Yours for progress, to give th an k s to whom th an k s are We will keep them for future refer E. O. D ec k er . due. We th an k all our friends for ence. Alaska. th eir m any kindnesses and take Last S aturday, the teachers of this way of assuring them th a t we this vicinity, met in the public Buddhism. appreciate th eir every effort to school house at Silverton, and or m ake our work count on the side ganized the Silverton E ducational The B uddhists num ber 400,000, of progress. Association. C ounty S uperintend- 000, or one-third of the h um an It seems th a t the M aterialists and S p iritualists have been having trou- ble in Melbourne, A ustralia. It is the same old story. The editor of the “ L iberator” states th a t the hall built bv the F reethinkers in gener- al is now controlled by “ the worst of Melbourne S piritualist«.” The v,..x Secularists .•«•vu.m.c.«. there have ___~ _____ true lately organized a new society and no doubt th eir experience with the S p iritu alists has tau g h t them to he careful how they build up th eir or- Z— B V • ganization. T rue Secularises can » 1 * ent Jones conducted the meet- ing, and very interesting papers were read by Profs. Copeland, Buff, and Anderson. There were seven- teen teachers present, who are en- gaged in teaching, and a num ber of others who are interested in the work. After the discussion, ar- rangcm ents for future work, and the election of Prof. Moores, prin- cipal of the public school, as Presi- dent and Prof. Beaver as Secretary, the association adjourned to meet A -A — . T A e. at 10 a. m. Dec. 11. Liberals a nation of A theists never existed, it is no longer to be disputed th a t the num erous B uddhist nations are essentially A theist; for they know no l>eings with greater su p ern atu ral power than any m an is capable of a ttain in g to by virtue, by au sterity , and by science; and a rem arkable indication of this startlin g fact is to be seen in the circum stances th at some at least of the B uddhist nations— the Chinese, the Mongols, and the T h ib etan s— have no word in th eir language to express the notion of God.— [C ham ber’- Ency- clopoed ia. Esoteric Origin. E ditor T orch of R eason : I was much interested in the a r ticle about “ sp irits” and the origin of the word, which was published in last week’s paper. H aving studied on th a t subject a great deal while going to school and since, I found from its derivation and other closely related words r like soul, ghost, etc., th a t it can he traced back to where it m eans the u lti m ate atom s or molecules of m atter, th a t are, as we know, indestruct- able and therefore im m ortal. In studying different language-, I find this holds good in all of the branches of the A ryian language. Now, my theory of the origin of the idea of im m ortality was in the esoteric or hidden teachings of th e priests or learned men in the tim es when it was not safe to know too m uch. Those ancients knew much more than some people give them credit for, and instead of saying and w riting th a t m atter is in- destructable, as we do now, they hid th eir m eaning from the ig n o r an t m u ltitu d e and revealed it to th e in itiated in the m anner sug gested. The study of languages and their origin is very interesting, and I would recom m end all the stu d en ts of the Liberal U niversity to take up a few of them as a help tow ard u n d erstan d in g our own, if for no other. The com parison of languages and stud y of th eir origin will show’ any reasonable or unprejudiced student, where all our m odern religions arose, in the ancient rites and ceremonies of the sun worshipers. T heir m ethod of teaching the tru th s of science in d i cate the origin of th e idea of im m o rtality .’ T heir god was one th a t could be seen, and the fables and stories collected in the book race. B uddha lived about 500 or we call the bible, nearly all show- 600 years before our era. Budd- more or less plainly th eir close re i bists do not believe in any god or lation to the teachings of the sun g<»ds as being pleased or displeased worshipers. The stories of Samson by th eir actions, and as assigning and C hrist show th is system of to the actors their future condition teaching better, probably, than any by way of punishm ent or of reward, other p arts of the bible. I rem ain, The very idea of a God as creating Yours tru ly . F. J . Beatv. or in any way ruling, the world is u tterly absurd in th e B uddhist We will send th e T orch of R eas system . God is not so much as on from now un til J a n u a ry 1st, denied; he is sim ply not known, 1899, for one dollar. Tell your C ontrary to the opinion once con- friends about it and have them I • .3 Z, B * I . • B < A B B BB ^B 1 1 1 held, ' e ". 3 e ■ X fulently and ■ ^ generally th 1 ' a ^B t X subscribe.