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About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 1898)
T H E TORCH GF REASON, SIL V E R T O N , OREGON , TH U R SD A Y , JA N U A R Y G, 1898. Uorrespendence. ‘ i andm U B ' t a k e a " ¡m erest ¡n these things in order to accomplish any thing. There are enough Liberals f le r r y Christm as. at the present time in the United E ditor T orch oe R eason and its States to put the F reethought plan M any R eaders : on a firm basis if they would only It gives me great pleasure th at I an interest and do what they car, vvish the workers and many can. S'» m any, either through fear readers of the T orch of R eason a or indifference, stand idly hv m erry Chrh î-mas. 1 hope th at the watching the struggling few’, r»• fil T orch will illum inate more and ing to lend aid, yet in full sympa more from week to week until its thy with the m ovem ent. Some no light is seen entering into every doubt through fear of ridicule refuse home in this great land of Am eri us aid. To these I would say, bet ca, and I sincerely hope that its ter stand the ridicule and scorn of light will become so strong th at it selfish and prejudiced C hristians to will penetrate into even all the day than he subject to the tyran C hristian homes and all th e church nical laws that would he enacted in es of the land, as the most, if not the n ear future should C hristianity all of th e m , have very | o<»r “ light” . he allowed to gain absolute control I k n o w very well th at if th e T orch of our governm ent. was re',d by a ot »b<* mem bers W ashington said, “ E ternal vigi- of each C hristian church it would and . . I „ lance . is the , p rice , . of .. lib e rty ,” ai ♦ hpir follow ers we h ive o n lv to ex- i r ♦ ♦ \i a not he long u n til th»- b rig h t lig h t ° n b by e te rn a l vigilance an d un u th eir followeis, we have only to ex lessness or discontent am ong Meth- , h ceasing easing work work will win we we accompli accomplish am ine older catechism s ot the Ko- odist women, much less a boycott. 1 our grand object. W ashington m an church. If it were not for the women there in eVer«V col“ n’u n ity. 1 th -re- helped to frame a liberal form of W hen the concept o f spirit had i would he practically no support of hope foi the w< lfan of .ill hu governm ent, and it rem ains for Lib been fixed in hum an thought all!'M ethodism nor any other creed ju , irjan’tv, and e. p ic ia lh tin laity of erals to m aintain th at form of m anner of theories were invented to the U nited States, which effectually the CaU,olic eh u rch > w h».se t^ e '.e s governm ent and prevent the Chris tian s from incorporating God in the answ er the most n atu ra l of inquir- disposes of the alleged futility and a ,e hardly evel Gummed, and as a constitution. C hristians from far ■ ‘ .... £ , 4. .i . rule they must use the old tallow and near are wakening to the fact ies. The study of ancestor-w orship silliness of a boycott upon the p art 7 shows us th a t the Egyptians cher of the female m em bers of the organ- can ,,le> as th eir sp iritu al advisers th a t F reeth o u g h t is m a k in g s grand ished the belief th at spirits took up ization. In fact, if the proposed tell them the old candle is g o o d s tr o k e to fre e th e country forever .. i , , . . « . . enough; th a t too much light isd a n - tr»»m ecclesiastical control, there th eir abode in the bodies of various , bovcott should go into effect lin- ’ fore they are doubling their efforts . i „ i i k i gerous and an injury to theii anim als. These anim als became m ediately, there would be no sal- =* •’ to crush us. Shall we let them? .. , t souls. My dear Catholic friends, I sacred. The cat, m onkey, croco an es paid to the clergymen of the . Never! Liberals, arouse, uniiel J ’ , .. . ’ . . , e sincerely sym pathize with vou. one Remember th at “ eterr al vigilance dile, birds of various kinds, as well denom ination next year, which of 7 - r as num erous oth« r anim als, have course, would put a stop to all and a " ’ a " d °"'-v h,'Pe ,h a t thP is ’he price of liberty.” Yours for pi ogre-ie, M. P. G ifford . been the innocent subjects of such preaching, for it is a peculiar f a c t! illu m in atin g light of reason will one m ysterious notions. In E gypt at th a t no m inister ever vet felt called d a y- and th a t 1,1 lhc npar lu tu re- N inety-N ine Men W anted. by the Lord to preach C hrist an d , «hi'ie over you all. one time, in certain localities, it I once more, dear readers of the E ditor 'P orch <» f R eason : was a capital crim e to kill a cat. him crucified w ithout suitable Enclose»! find money order, for H istory tells us of a battle in which financial rem uneration. The claim T orch of R eason and its work- which please continue the T orch th e enemies of Egypt won a great th a t there is no restlessness or dis- ers and m a,iagCTS> wish Keep of R eason to my address. victory, because each soldi» r of the content am ong M ethodist women is a lon8 l,fe and happiness. front ranks carried a cat, and an offset hv the fact th a t for several T he ToRCH b n r" ,n K ulltil tl" ’ '¡«bt Perm it me to m ake this proposi- E gyptian would rath e r suffer defeat years past they have been con- Penetrates and clears out all the ti«»n, viz.: I will be one of one and death than injure this sacred ducting a vigorous cam paign for d ark n ess where ignorance and su- hundred who will give fifty dollars an im al— the keeper of the spirit of adm ission to the G eneral Confer- Per8tltlon exist. toward the U niversity fund. That Dr. L. 8. S toll , Ex-Catholic. some loved relative — a m other-in- ence— .1 cam paign which in the end would m ake five thousand dollars, a sufficient sum to erect a respecta law, perhaps I will undoubtedly prove successful. Arouse, Ye Liberals. ble building and show your good _ _ _ _ _ _ _ I At the beginning of this paper - [ E x . ' works in the way of teaching and the w riter offered the opinion th a t E ditor T orch of R eason : tu rn in g out good scholars. See Divine Revelation. the influence of mysticism has been, Enclosed you will find tw enty- what influence this proposition will on the whole, detrim ental to the We have seen th a t a divine reve five cents, for which send me ten have. I will pay any time when race, but one good th a t has come lation is such only by virtue of cents worth of Tract No. 2 of Scien- the one hundred is assured. Respectfully, P. C. M osier . therefrom should not be overlooked, com m unicating to us som ething tific W isdom, and for th e rem ain- If the sun, moon ami stars were which we cannot know w ithout it, der T ract No. 3, th a t will he print- Scientific and flaterialistic. gods, it was a good thing to watch ail<j which is in fact undiscoverable ed >n J a n u a ry . I think this plan them . 1 he m o v em en ts of th e gods by hum an reason, and th a t m irac- <>f Scientific Wisdom a grand un- ’ E ditor 1 or < h of R eason : should be studied. The C haldeans „lous evidence is absolutely requi- del-taking ami with the encourage-; E ncl° 8pd please find one dollar were noted star-w atchers, probably ¿¡te to establish its reality. It is ad- m ent and support due it from Lib- <or an o th er y ea r’s subscription to because they thought the moon the m jtted (hat n<> other \ e8tlm onv erals it will be a decided success. I »he T orch . 1 am very well pleased principal deity instead of »he sun, cou|d j UHtifv o(lr t|)e intend to contribute to its support with >»• >8 both scientific and an historical fact our modern social cific revelation which we are con- as much as I possibly can and will m aterialistic in its views, and that reform ers can use to good advau- sidering, the very substance of d istrib u te all the tracts I can get I »s about the highest testim onials I tape in advocating w om an’s rights. ' » ¡ Ä f i ’,*1 earnestly hope th a ta ll Liberals will C(,uld Pa X a ".V Jo u rn al. Some I b is star-w atching led to the a , t<„ lt)di„ K a n n o u n c ,.cents, tf mit ,ake a " in ‘eref“ »" this Plan a "d t,m e 1 Pron,ised .vou 8,,n,e ui < ing ol tem ple observatories, dem onstrated to be m iraculous try and m ake it a success. Very scientific ar>d h reethought books som e of which in Babylon were said truths, m ust inevitably b«^ pro- little from each one would accom- for the U niversity Library. You to be set with great accuracy, so nounced the wildest delusions. On! plish wonders. It don’t require a certainly get them , hut as the the sun would shine to the western exam ining the supposed m iracu- big donation from all, but what, it charges are very high, alm ost one end on the day of the spring equi- ,OU® ev.i(lence, however, we find th a t does require, and what it deserves, ,ldrd wl>at the hooka c a t, I have rr , , . t . not o,,1. , v 18 R <>« general grounds . ... , .4 , c , about concluded to visit vour town nox 1 hose earlv star-w atchers l , antecedently incredible, but th a t is the united support of the Free- sometime next sum m er* in which originated the zodiac, and from th e testim ony by which its reality thought elem ent. “ U nited we case I will bring them with me. If th eir work of try in g to find out the m supported, so far from establish- atand> dividcd Me Let u9 I cannot m ake the trip I will se d w ays of the gods, which the bible ‘" 8 ‘he inferences draw n from th e llnjte and work jn , a n d them by freight. W ishing the says are past finding out, the great ^ P l " ” *'* su p ern atu ral phenom ena, . .. T orch every success, and the live science of astronomy was original- “ ¡he ’ to cent- 1 « « I d th at this planet Freethinkers of SilverUm a Ha; py .Sir, Homy wa. original fv the actua( ^ „ r r e n c e ,,f ,h e can be governed w ithout any su- Xew Y ear I remain Yours ior ed. We cannot dwell longer u p o n , events n a rra te d .— [A non. p ern atu ral agency. Liberals should M ental Liberty, J o h s M c A rdie . devils, evil spirits, enemies of m an. ih<* discussion of prim itive life with After a time there developed a ¡tH great store of facts relative to class of individuals who pretended our topic. Let u» see w hat m ysti- or really thought they had special cjsm has done for religion, both an- power and influence with the gods., (.p.n t and modern. ( continued next w eek .) Let us be charitable to believe th at enough of coincident occurred to fix N ote . — Address the “ Old Doc- an honest belief in their m inds of • t o r , ’ care of C. Elton B lanchard, some m ysterious power. Here orig editor C urrent I bought, 802 Ansel inated priestcraft, one of the great Ave., C leveland, O. est burdens the race has had to carry , and I lam ent to say it, but W oman and the M ethodist seemingly one of t h e e v ils of m ysti Church. cism which clings to the hum an race in wonderful pow er—the source Zion’s H erald says of the propos- and propagator of superstition and a j of , he women to bo y co tt the bigotry, the producer of m ental M,.,h()diat (>,.gaI,iZatin., because of slav ery and intellectual lethargy— , f i n r J . , *• , | IF refu sal of th e G en eral C o n b r- the pious priest of m odern super- n atu ralism cnee to a d m it w om en to ils member- As sn illustration of how c o m -' ship: “ There is not the slightest pletely this class of individuals has ground for the th rea t. It is as fu- u n k m erged o ra w l reason r p n s o n i in n tn tb«- t n m .in d « oi o f ' |,ile .-1 a8 -a lg • ’ll 'Pk • n<> rest- . subm inus J here is