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
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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.