THE TORCH < F REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1M»7. 4 Torch of Reason The Only Paper of Its Kind. P ublished W eekly by th e Lil»eral U ni versity C om pany, in the In te re sts of C o nstructive, Moral Secularism . J. E. Hosmer,...................... Editor P. W. Geer,.......................Manager E n tered a t th e postoffice a t Silverton, Oregon, as second-class m ail m atter. SUBSCRIPTION RATES. One y ear, in a d v a n c e .......................... $1 00 Six m o n th s in a d v a n c e .................... 60 T hree m o n th s, in a d v a n c e ................ 25 In clubs of five or m ore, one year, in ad v a n c e ........................................... 75 Money should l>e sent by registered le tte r or m oney order. Notice! A pencil m ark here denotes th a t your su b scrip tio n will e x p ire w ith th e next n u m b er. You are earn estly requested to renew so th a t you m ay receive th e pa per w ith o u t in te rru p tio n . We have de ckled th a t it is l>est for all concerned th a t we do not send papers longer th an th e tim e paid for unless so ordered. T his will p rev e n t any loss and we will know ju st w here we sta n d . We request you to semi us th e nam es of S ecularists who m ight become su b scribers am i we will m ail sam ple copies. THURSDAY, DEC. 23, E. M. 297 T h e F irs t P s a lm . Blessed is th e m an th a t w alketh not In R everend D avid’s godly io t. And fights w ith m ig h t t.ie pious sk in n ers W ho teach th a t honest m en are sin n ers. B ut {»leased indeed is every m an T h a t does th e very liest h e can, Ami has obeyed w b a te ’er be saw W as rig h t in line w ith n a tu re ’s law . Ami though w hat th is g o o d m an m ay do M ay n o t ju st su it th e godly crew, Y et, like a sta lw a rt tree h e ’ll sta n d , A blessing to his n ativ e land. But those who play th e h y p o crite— C are for th e ir b ro th ers, not a hit, Are like th e chaff w ith in th e w heat, Or worse ; they spoil th e grain we’d e a t. T herefore the good m u st now u n ite, T urn p riestly d ark n ess in to lig h t, T ru th and rig h t w e’ll learn to ch erish , And th en in h u m an ways will p erish. O T h in k in g P e o p le , How Long! There are m any heathen tribes who are now in about the same condition, m entally and m orally, th a t the Jews were in w hen Christ and his disciples performed their m iracles. These ignorant Jews were then in just the right condi tion to receive th e foolish ideas of casting out devils, tu rn in g water into wine, raising the dead, walk ing on the water etc. ; and now that civilized people are g rad u ally out growing these childish stories, the poor heathen is being stuffed by those from civilized countries who are slow in com prehending the real tru th . T he following little article from a C hristian paper shows how’ the th in g looks even from a C hris tian stan d p o in t: “ In the ‘G eneral M issionary De p artm en t’ of the M issionary Re view we find this significant item : •How painful alm ost to the shock ing is th e co n trast between the tidings which come from the ‘F or eign’ d ep artm en ts of our societies, and those from th e ‘H om e’ dcpart- Church and Stage. nieni! Io wel -nigh every c a s e j while ihe form er t»-lls continually E x tra c ts from a L ecture D elivered at of deep interest, growth through U nity C h u re h , Salem , O re., by Rev. W. E. C opeland. con versi* »ns and need of enlarge- m ent, in the latter the m ain m en The rem arks m ade last Sunday tion relates to lack of funds and by one of the Salem pastors on the th e like. T h a t is, tho among the atres and theatre-goers rem ind one heathen the outlook is m ost cheer of the fashion Hince the early days ing, where C hristians abound, the of C h ristian ity to condem n actors prospect is gloomy. O Lord, how as, by v irtue of th eir profession, long!’ ” doomed to hell, and theatre-goers W h at do the C hristians mean by as captured by S atan. “ How long” ? If they w ant to No wonder th a t the early church know how long before the world denounced the theatre, for it was will he converted to C hrist, we be devoted to the old gods; in it the lieve we can inform them . It C hristians were com pelled to fight never will he, for as fast as people with the lions, and the sands of the become truly civilized they will arena w’ere often sprinkled with the discard the sillv stories and beliefs blood of the m arty rs. W hen the of divine beings and th eir sons’ dissenters broke away from the old tricks. We would like to ask established churches, the th eatre th in k in g people ^not a god) how was again an ally of their persecut long before we are to he rid of these ors. W hatever the church approv old superstitions th at are still d is ed the dissenters condem ned. tracting the m inds of a vast num ber New E ngland was settled by of people in civilized countries from P u ritan s who believed th a t the Science, true m orality and real earth was a vale of tears, who ac progress, and ¡lu n g in g the poor cepted the grim m est kind of Cal heathen into deeper darkness. vinism and lived in the darkness of T hinkers, we must do som ething fear, which forbade smiles. New besides thinking. We m ust act! E ngland has had a powerful effect Give us teachers instead of preach in m olding the religious thought of ers! Give us schools of Science in the U nited States, on the whole, for stead of god-houses! Give us good; but as regards am usem ents, students instead of believers in for ill. m yths and the world will soon he Times have changed. People will converted into such a happy place, th a t our lives will he like real h ap no longer be dictated to by the py dream s instead of bloody, preacher. He m ust have mason on ghostly nightm ares of religious his side or he will be worsted, and in the ease of the th eatre he is u n hate. reasonable. You m ust either ad m it th a t am usem ent is legitim ate, T h e W o rld M o v e s . for which God has provided a place, or else ban all m usem ents. Two or three hundred years is a But he replaces popular am use very short time when we are speak m ents with others less dignified. ing of the history of the world, hut Some of the Sunday schools are see what a m ighty advance civilized about to give a fairy ex trav ag an za, m an has m ade in th a t time! It is which is a p la y .a n d those who take alm ost beyond our com prehension, p a rt are actors. P arents who would and yet we are more astonished not allow their children to dance, when we see the possibilities th at look on with approval at calisth en lie in the near future. We see by ics perform ed to da nee music and a reading ancient and m ediaeval his dance step. tory t h a t form erly our advance was The question then is, S hall we very slow and that at tim es it was chicked and even entirely stopped. ban the th eater as a harm ful We have at times retrograded, and am usem ent? We m ust remember the m ain factor in holding us hack th a t the word th eater covers per has been divine w orship — crafty formances from a m instrel show to priestcraft—sacrifice of m eat, time, a choice opera; from a broad farce money and m ental energy to the to an exalted tragedy. To say th at the th eater is an invention of S atan gods and their “ an o in ted ”. We soon g« t used to seeing new' has no more sense th a n to say the and wonderful inventions. The sam e of the p rin tin g press. And great changes in the thoughts of us for th a t m atter the church is not common people, in regard to relig clean, for Rome calls all dissenters ion, rights of rulers and sources of agents of S atan, and the dissenters poverty and crime, are overlooked re ta lia te on Rome and on each o th oftentim es, but w hat a m ighty er. Say the worst you can of the change is going on! We are taking theater, you can find in churches, part in this change, and what pos as th eir history is recorded, more sibilities there are for those who of devilishness than ever found its have had th eir eyes opened by sci way onto the stage. W hen one re ence! ‘‘The harvest is ripe and the members the rivers of blood which laborers are few,’’ bu they are in- the priests have caused to flow, creasing and what a glorious h a r when you recall the auto-de-fe, the vest m ay we reap for h u m an ity , l»e- dragonnade and the tortures of the fore we g*> to rest, if we can only appreciate and take advantage of inquisition, actors appear white be side the priests. How dare these our opportunities. cruel mei>, wiih Idood-dripi ing bands, denounce a c o r-? I he im m oral actor is.* thousandfold lietter th an the pious hypocrite, who a t tends church regularly, prays loudly, but robs the widow and or phan and with biting slander blasts the fair fame of some brother or sis ter who differs on a point of th e ology. We are told th a t the stage is de graded. W hy? Because it has been called bad nam es by C hristian zeal ots, who have made no effort to ele vate the dram a. The church can m ake the theater an ally of m oral ity and th a t tru e religion which Jesus declares consists in loving one’s neighbor. On the stage today are men and women who lead hon est, earn est m oral am i even devo tional lives. But you cannot pray in a th ea ter? No more can you in a hank, a butcher shop, or a drug store. Indeed tne atm osphere and su r roundings of the theater are more conducive to p ray er th an those of t h e business house, where men and women are cheated. 1 could more consistently offer prayer before one of Sol Sm ith R ussell’s comedies than before an Oregon legislature begins such sessions as we witness ed last year. Nobler thoughts are am used hv m any comedies on the stage th an by the farces played in state legislatures and the national congress, where w inning wealth and power outbid honesty and devotion to the ¡xipular good. How God “ Does It”. Last week, the leading editorial of tiie New York C hristian Advo cate was a curiosity. It gravely re cited how a young girl came from th e west to G otham , got a job as typew riter, worked a m onth, be came sick and was taken to a hospital. She was a devout Chris- tain , as most sickly girls are. The learned doctors of the hospital found it necessary to perform a very delicate operation in order to save her life. She got well and the Advocate urges th a t therefore the “ good Lord saved her life”. T his is tough. The girl had doubtless bom barded the throne of grace for m onths w ithout any relief, praying till she was seasick to get well. Instead of getting better she got worse and worse till she went to the hospital where the men of science performed the operation th a t rescued her from death. Now the bald headed rabbi of the Chris tian Advocate jum ps up and down shouting th a t ‘‘god did it”. We notice th a t when the sensible Chris tian gets real sick, he sends for the doctor instead of the priest. If dies the doctor did it, but if he gptfl well, up bobs the clergy shouting th a t “ God did it” . VV. E. J.