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T orch
VOL 2.
J
of
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R eason .
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NO. 6.
S IL V E R T O N , O REG O N . T H U R S D A Y , D EC EM B ER 9, 1897.
Do We Know Each Other Here? provinces of his em pire were colo- lions of stars, all worlds, m any of ity under our ridicule. We have
nized by refugees from the ty ra n n y far greater m agnitude th a n ours, tender reminiscences of the days
BY JOHN P. G U ILD .
of clerical autocrats. H is absolute while far beyond these and Nep- when th e world was young, of the
tolerance protected even tho Jesu- tune are other solar system s of dim and storm y flight of ages
Oft I hear th e C h ristia n s singing
Of th e “ land th a t know s no c a re ,’’
its, expelled by the C atholic rulers worlds stretch in g out through il- stretching between A braham and
••Jn those heavenly ar, tics ringing, ’
Ur of the Chaldees am i the day
of F rance and Spain. D uring th. lim itable space.
“ S mil we know each o th e r t tie re?
hall we know , shall we know ,
reign of th at crowned philosopher
Y ou “created” not these, 0 God; that Col uniha founded you a
' Shall we know each o th e r th e re ? ’
the religious and political dissent-
we crea(ed yoUt You are church or. Io n a’s lonely isle. You
T h en I h e ar th e sp irit people
ers of P russia expressed th eir views njade in the imMge of n ia n ; in the have waded with our fath ers
W ith a faith both rich and rare.
with a freedom which in semi- ¡,nage of nian are you m ade. Long through rivers of blood and lakes
Sing in tiall w ithout a steeple—
“ We shall know each o th e r th e re ;
republican E ngland would have in- ftgo
were ma(ie o,lt of the m ists of tire when, on the p illars of
We shall know , we shall know ,
volved them in a maze of endless of our ignorance; ye wore dyed in carnage, rested the thrones of the
We shall know each o th e r th e r e .”
world. You were th eir g u ard ian ,
law suits. Among th e fruits of th a t the stream s of our blood.
We
Of such m usic I am w eary;
freedom were products of science knew little of the expanse and glory God, in th e ir few day s of peace
W h at has it th is world to cheer?
I re tu rn to all th e q u e ry —
and philosophy which have m ade of the subject and objective w orld. when the sun glinted down through
•'Do vou know each o th e r h e re ? ”
th a t period the classic age of G er­ And, even in our rude savagery, the forest leaves, and when the
Do you know , do you know .
Do you know each o th e r h e re ? ”
man literatu re.
“ Before the a p ­ the stale contingencies of life were hills lay dream ing u n d er the silent
pearance of K a n t’s ‘C ritique of Pure too narrow for us; and in the in ­ stars. Y our blessings were invoked
W hen w e’ve crossed the chilly river,
Shall we m eet w ith g reetin g d e ar
Reason,’ ” says Schopenhauer, “ the cipient longings of our im m ortal over the cradles of our sires, and
From those we give a shiver,
works of duly installed governm ent energies, we invented you. We your benison over their graves.
As we never knew them here?
N ever knew , never knew .
professors of philosophy were most made you rude as the stone cairn In old churchyards, ami in c h u rch ­
Oh, we never knew them here!
ly m edleys of sophism s, p re te n d in g ’ we .je(j oyer our dead> and gory y ard s which the dead never en ter
now, hut which are streets over
__________
’
.................
Then 1 >e kind tint«» each other,
to _____
reconcile
science and dogma, as the
ax with which we did battle
Deem each one a neighbor n e a r;
Here, at with our foes. You were then the which the feet and wheels of com ­
D o n 't rejiel those who would b ro th e r— reason and despotism .
L et us know each o th e r here.
last, a state university could boast best god we w ere capable of m ak­ merce clash and w hirl, there are
L et us know , let us k low,
of a man who lived at once by and ing. And th a t we had even a god memories and relics of you. W e
Let us know each o th e r h ere.
—[Lowell, M ass., Sunday Press.
for the service of tru th — a phenom ­ like you kept alive in our hearts dig down to the broken m arbles
enon m ade possible only by the the vestal flame of aspiration and and th e ancient g.aves, and we
Freetbought.
circum stance th a t, for the first time hope, and differentiated us from find references to vour Book and
since the days of the great A urel­ th e steed th a t obeyed our bridle you m ixed up with the epitaphs of
By F. n Oswald.
ius and the greater J u lia n , a F ree­ and the boar overthrow n by our ephem eral and our im m ortal dead.
The blood th a t rui s in our veins is
Religious lih irty guarantees ev­ th in k er had m ounted the throne of spear.
draw n from those who lie under
ery other kind o f freedom, as every an independent m o n arch y .”
Even you, 0 God, rude aR we had the ancient and broken gravestones
form of slavery walks in the train
The protection of F reetbought is m ade you, were yet the highest line
th a t call you God. And the wed­
of priestly despotism . In America likewise the best safeguard against
on th e shore to which the tide- ded love of the m o 'h e rso f our race
rel gious em ancipation led the way th a t virus of hypocrisy th a t has
m ark of our thought had risen— for more th an a thousand years
to rho D claration of Independece, underm ined the moral health of so
the loftiest cloud whose fringe had has been, in your nam e, consecrat­
and still continues to m ake this m any m odern nations.
ever been touched by the white ed at, the a lte r, and the fruits of
continent t he chosen home of thous­
“ W hat an incalculable a d v a n - wings of our hope. You gave a their love in baptism offered to
ands of L iberals whom the m aterial tage to a nation as well as to its d ep ,h and m eaning to the busy
you. And y et we m ust desert you,
prosperity of the New world would ruler,” says a m odern philisopher, day alld t j,e m elancholy night
0 God, even as we deserted other
have failed to a ttra c t. It is possi­ “ to know th a t the pillars of state
while we were yet strangers to the deities to w orship you.—[G<d and
ble th a t a policy of intolerance are founded on the eternal verities,
m arch of th o u g h t and the discipline His Book.
would have averted or postponed on n a tu ra l science, logic, and
of schools. The lightning was the
the fate of the Moorish em pire, arithm etic, instead of casuistry and
gleam of your sword, the th u n d er
G ive Us One Fact.
which was u ltim ate ly overthrow n im m aculate conceptions!”
was the battle-cry of god. You
by the fanatics of a creed which the
We have heard talk enough. W’e
The consciousness of th a t advan­ are not fram ed, 0 Jehovah, for the
followers of a more ratio n al faith tage has more th an once upheld
age when the steam -engine rushes have listened to all the drow sy,
had perm itted to survive in th eir
the b irth lan d of P rotestanism in th ro u g h the glens an d crashes idealess, vapid serm ons th a t we
m idst; yet it is not less certain th a t
its struggles ag ain st the allied throegh the bowels of the everlast­ wish to hear. W’e have read your
for nearly five hun dred years relig­ powers of despotism , and should
ing hills; when, on the wings of bible, and tin* works of your best
ious tolerance m ade the realm of
W e have heard your
uphold
in th e inevit- th^
w-- ----- - our
-- republic
*
* lightning, we speed our mes- m inds.
the S panish caliphs the one b rig h t able struggle against the allied 8age8 over the nations of the con- prayers, your solemn groans, and
Goshen in a world o f intellectual
reverential aniens. All these
despots of the tw entieth century.— tin e n ts and under the billows of • vour
»
darkness. In northern Europe the
th e oceans; and when the press am ount to less th an nothing. W’e
[Bible of Nat ure.
history of civilization begins only
lays at the feet of th e hum blest w ant one fact. W’e beg at the
with the trium ph of R ationalism .
Jehovah B ecom ing Obsolete.
the m ind w ealth of th e world. doors of your churches for ju st one
P rotestantism , in th a t wider sense
Such an era needs not, and never little fact. W’e pass our hats along
which m ade the revolt of the G er­
BY SALA DIN.
would have fram ed, a god like you. your pews and un d er your p u lp its
m anic nations an
insurrection
T he appearance of more th a n
W e are parting company with and im plore you for just one fact.
against the power of superstition,
seven h u ndred com ets belonging you, Jehovah, impelled to do so by We know all about yo u r m ouldy
has laid the foundation of n ational
to our system has been recorded, th e civilization of m ankind rising wonders and your stale m iracles.
prosperity in G reat B ritain, in the
These are new worlds thrown off to loftier levels. You have played W’e w ant a th is-v ear’s-fact. W’e
N etherlands and in the rising em ­
from the sun, in gaseous form, your p art, and now w e-m ust play ask only one. Give us one fact for
pire of N orthern G erm any. The
Y«>ur m iracles are too
traveling through space for mil- ours; and, in the interest of our ch arity .
real founder of th a t em pire was at
lions of ages before assuming a race, argue you and jeer you out of ancient.— [R. G. Ingersoll.
once the greatest statesm an and the
solid form or producing vegetation; the world. But we are students of
boldest F reethinker of the last four­
“ Come let us reason together,
and this is the process our sarth history and anthropology, and we
teen centuries. His capital became
had to pass thro u g h . In gating are not ungrateful. There lies an saith the L o rd .” I accept the in­
a citv of refuge for the philosophers
beyond the planets we behold mil-1 awe un d er our levity and a solemn- v ita tio n .— [Ingersoll.
of C hristian E urope. The eastern
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