2
T H E TORCH OF REASON, SIL V E R T O N , OREGON, T H U R SD A Y , D EC EM B ER 30, 1897
The Licensed P reach er.
church trem bled on its hitherto
foundation.
(om parati vely solid
At this time we have two million
Infidels, h u n d red so f em pty church-
es to he seen in a week’s travel and
thousands of sky-scrapers out of a
job. And now' good schools and
colieges are to he seen in every city,
town, village, ham let and cross
roads in this beautiful country.
these men, and if they pay no at- we to do with gods, im m ortal spir-
tention to mv message, I w ill—per- its and infinite beings? Suppose
By R«-v. Old M ortality.
haps I w ill—tu rn Infidel and write th at we could ascertain th eir exi.-t-
a book, or publish a paper, in which ence, what would it profit us? H »w
M y L ittle P ets : S anta Claus
1 will reproduce the infam ous p arts should we he the wiser or the b to r
has come and gone. The year 1898
this volume o f Jew ish ghosts, for it? Is it likely th a t we could
is upon us. W hat have you done
understand th eir wavs or protit bv
spirits and hobgoblins,
d uring the year just num bered with
Is it likely that
1° conclude:
Pets, be honest,! their example?
the past th a t you should be proud
be true, be kind, be studious, be u p - ! th eir ways are as our ways or their
of? Girls, have you kept an open
to-date investigators, and you w ill | thoughts as our thoughts? Can we
eye on your fathers?
I fave you
lectured him on the subject of in ­
If your m other has not had the be respected and honored by the rationally suppose they will trouble
tem perance when you knew he benefit of a good schooling it would j " i se and good of all lands. Amen, their heads about w hether wektmw
spent his hard-earned money for be well for you and her th a t you
them or take cognizance of their
T heology.
liquor? Is it not tru e that some of keep this bible out of her hands,for
doings or not? Should we be jealous
you have a m other who is greatly if she be ignorant it will m ake her
or angrv if the craw ling caterpillar
Not
to
know
at
large
of
th
in
g
s
rem
ote
in need of a “ decent suit of clothes” still more ignorant and supersti­ From uee,obsure and s u b tle ; but t o know did not confess our existence and
to p u t on when she goes out upon tious, and life will become a b u r­ T h at which before us lies, in daily life, render homage to our superiority ?
th e street?
Do vou not see th a t den to vou and your good father. Is th e prim e of w isd o m .—[M ilton.
W’ould it not he the extrem e of silly
your m other is dying of sham e and 'Phis hook has been the means of
The most sim ple and com m on­ pride and worse th an childish van­
m ortification because this father of enslavingw ’omen and keeping them place view of a subject is not infre­ ity if we did? if, for instance, we
yours is going to the Devil and ta k ­ in ignorance wherever it has secur­ quently the most accurate and crushed in our imbecile w rath the
ing the entire fam ily along with ed a foothold.
useful one.
Ask a child whose insect th a t spent its short life in
him for com pany? I would talk
W hen fifty years have com e and brain has never l>een perplexed basking in the sunbeam s and seek­
to y cu r father personally, but the gone you will no doubt wonder how with theological p arro t-learn in g , ing its leafy food, while we vain-
holy bible recommends its ad h er­ and why it was th at intelligent when and how this world was gloriously im agined th a t it ought
en ts to “ take a little wine for their people <>f this d ry could believe made, and who m ade it. His sim ­ to have been adm iring us and sing-
stom achs’ sake” . This same god- this vile book to have been written ple reply will he, “ I don’t know.” ¡ng praises to our glory? And shall
w ritten book also recommends by a ju s t and all-wise being. And Ask the philosopher who has spent we first picture to ourselves an all­
strong drink for its feeble follow­ you will also wonder why such men a lifetime in anxious researches — wise and all-powerful being, and
ers. Jesus C hrist, whose father w a as V oltaire, P aine and Ingersoll who has sounded the depths of po­ then suppose him to he weaker and
said to be the Sim on-pure god a l­ did not read this hook and tell the lemical subtleties, weighed the sillier than the weakest and silliest
m ighty of the Israelites, was an ad­ world about it long before tbev result of an tiq u arian labors, and am ong ourselves?
vocate of liquor-drinking; in fact, did.
toiled through folios of legendary
There used to be prosecution for
he was a m oonshiner, for according
Rut, little boys, keep your eye re v elatio n s— ask him the same blasphem y: we think th a t the most
to this holy •Z book he m a n u fa c tu re d cocked, for your m other is weak. I question, and his answer will he as rational ground (if any ground can
wine at a wedding feast, and there have discover« d bv vears of obser- short as the ch ild ’s.
He also will be rational in a m atter so foolish)
is no account of his paying the rev­ vation th at the best of women need give, as the onlv result of half a on which to in stitu te such prosecu­
enue on the liquor.
a watch. The m ost foolish person century spent in quest of what man tions would have been to accuse
My girls, should I talk to your I ever heard of was a woman. A cannot find, the reply, “ I don’t those theologians of blasphemy
who asserted God to be silly ami
poor, weak-m inded father he would woman who will sit on the grass know.”
vain enough to set great store bv
no doubt p o in t to this Jew-m ade and talk Hebrew to a bullsnake
W hen Socrates was accused of hum an adulations, and selfish anil
volum e ami request me to step down until th a t snake persuades her to Atheism by his fickle and bigoted barbarous enough to put those to
and out of my pulpit for being a clim b an apple tree for its sole countrym en, before the tribunal of eternal tortures who neglected or
m eddlesom e Infidel and a scoffer of am usem ent is a little too foolish for five hundred, his defense was th a t refused to appear am ong his para­
the holy book of God. Thus I am a house pet. F or further inform a­ “ while others boasted they were ac­ sites.—[ Investigator.
com pelled to see your short-sighted tion on this subject see the Garden quainted with everything, he h im ­ The S tra te g ic A d v a n ta g e
fath er play the role of fool and go of Eden story. I would not dare self knew nothing.” But it is sel­
of a F re e th o u g h t College.
down to a d ru n k a rd ’« grave, along talk so lightly to women, but Rev. dom th a t we meet a Socrates in
The C ongregationalist says:
with the 60,000 men and women Mis. Roxev Ja n e M ortality is now this world. One of the last things
“ There is a world of tru th in the
who yearly kill them selves by the out am ong the brewers, distillers a m an learns is to be conscious of
rem ark m ade a t the recent Metho­
drink h ab it, which is recommended and saloon-keepers soliciting ardent bis own ignorance.
dist congress by Professor Coe, of
by this abom inable book which is spirits, which she intends to send
O thers have taken infinite pains, N orthw estern U niversity, th at the
prized above all other books by dis­ abroad for the use an d conversion by profound m ythological and a n ti­ denom ination ‘th a t g ra n ts freedom
tillers,
brewers, saloon-keepers, of the poor, untutored heathen. She q u arian researches, by com parisons of thought and puts the stress of its
slave-owners, polygam ists, liber­ m entions th a t “ rum and the bible, instituted between the E gyptian life o i the developm ent of Christian
tines and the vile and vicious of all judiciously m anipulated, are the and the H indu superstitions and experience, will occupy a position
of immense strategic advantage. It
lands.
W herever this infam ous true weapons of the L ord.”
All our own, by collating old m an u ­ will at once satisfy the dem ands of
volum e has been introduced, w ar this she proves by the bible. Well, scripts, u n rid d lin g ancient fables the scientific spirit, and also secure
has followed and cruel m urder has as a preacher’s wife Roxey is “onto and allegories, deciphering hiero­ itself against disintegrating specu­
been ram p an t.
her job” , and no m istake. Perhaps glyphics and tearing, as it were, lation.’ He hoped th a t the Metho­
Little boys, one word to you. If you will be som ewhat surprised the veil from an tiq u ity , laboriously dist denom ination would appreci­
ate this tru th . We tru st th a t the
you wish your m other to rem ain a when I tell you th a t she m aintains to disprove the divine origin of the
C ongregationalist churches will.”
noble-hearted lady, and a shining th a t the good god of the Jews was peculiar ceremonies and doctrines
To all of which be it replied:
light to the less fo rtu n ately -situ at­ a little intoxicated when he showed which happen to be popular am ong
T he T orch of R eason is striving
ed neighbors, furnish her with all his hack p arts to Mr. Moses. For us. We think it easier, and per­
to give the world more and better
the good books, m agazines and ■ further knowledge of this delicate, haps more useful, first to ask o u r­ tru th th an this.
Not only does
newspapers th at you are able to modest and chaste procedure of the selves the question:
“ W’hat does Liberal U niversity g ran t the ut­
pay for. And if your m other is an Hebrew god, see Exodus xxxiii. all this concern u s?” W hatever most freedom of thought, but its
up-to-date, educated woman place Some of these days I intend to write p articu lar m eaning M ilton m ay whole stress is to develop human
the Jew bible in her hands also,and President M cK inley and Postm as- have attached to the words prerix- experience and m ake the most of it
by th e tim e she has read it she will ter-G eneral G ary thus: “ Gentle- ed as a m otto to this article, they
th a t is possible, and thus it has a
have become a disbeliever in its d i­ men, why the devil don’t you read convey an excellent and m uch neg-
strategic advantage far superior to
vinity. Soon after Col. R. G. I n ­ this infernal Jew book and then lected moral.
an y school which lim its itself by
gersoll had read this work of false prohibit its p assag e through the U.
If we were gods, only of a nature the C hristian or any other name
claim s he published his views upon S. m ails?
Do vou, sirs, not know som ewhat inferior to those which, and dogma, and it secures itself
it. As the work had been read but th a t it is the most hellish compil- we are told, inhabit the high lieav- against disintegration by keeping
very little up to th a t date, the peo­ ation of obscenity th at was ever ens, there m ight be some excuse for 1 up to date. We tru st th at other
ple brushed the dust off their bibles hatched from the foul brains of hell- spiritual curiosity.
But we are institutions and com m unities will,
an d read and pondered, after which deserving m onsters?”
men, m ortal men, in h a b ita n ts of in time, profit by its example.
th ey talked and wrote. And the j L ittle ones, th u s will I write to J the earth , finite beings. W hat have
J ohn P. G uild .