Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1898)
1H E TORCH O F REASON, SILV ER ION , O R EG O N , T H U R SD A Y , JA N U A R Y 13, 1>98. An Agnostic T alk. anybod” for not believing it. Men will not, as a rule, buy •z land unless they are sure the title is good, Imt they will invest in a chance of obtaining a foothold in the sweet fields of Eden on the | other side of Jo rd an , although the title to this "h ap p y happy lan d ” is as cloudy as a London fog. W ESTERN o * * * * An Agnostic is one who does not <b il in remote futures. H e does • ,t lielieve in C h ristianity or Spir- itn tlism, and so does not pay its reachers or the m edium . He does ii >t believe in M aterialism or Pan- ism. and keeps out of them also. I; he believes a n y th in g it is that Agnosticism is purely scientific. ih-- origin and destiny of m an are unknown, perhaps unknow able,and It is founded on the fact th a t the that all the time a man em ploys hum an m ind, like the telescope, / a there a u y th m o yon u'ant? H ave yon p ro p erty to sell? has its lim its. \\ e can see a great l)o yoa Irish to baa a hom e? ' Do you w ish trying to solve these m ysteries to go i a to bast Hess? Da you w ish might he used to some better pur- way, l»ut not as far as we try to see. The m an who believes in God to e xch a n g e real estate o r p.se! Like a horse th at has tried personal property? several times to pull a heavy load and im m ortality is like an astro n and failed, he becomes balky and om er who would look through his telescope and tell not what he sees, dghs whenever he contem plates the H hends :— We have recently established a general Ex- difficulties behind and before him. hut what he would like to see in The Agnostic is on the fence be th e distance. It is im m oral from change and Inform ation business in the th riv in g city of tween Spiritism and M aterialism . t h e Agnostic standpoint to m ake a ‘"h 1 v e rto n , and have for sale a n u m b er of town lots, vacant He would get down on one side or life study of theology when all and im proved, some well established business enterprises the other if he could only feel cer one’s time is needed to learn science. some splendid farm s near Silverton, and last b u t not least An acquaintance with N ature is all the lots in tain that he was getting on the side more pleasant aad profitable in of fact. He is too conscientious to every way than an idle endeavor pretend to believe th at which his to know God and prove im m ortal- judgm ent says is not proven. He . ... . . a tra c t of land ad jo in in g the Liberal U n iv ersity trrounds would be as glad as any one to " ' i know that there is a better tim e be g H itisn, ,S neither o p ttm is-, aild beautifully situated for homes. Below is a partial list tic nor pessm usne. Some Agnus-; of the property we have for sale. 1 yond the grave, but he is not the kind of a man to be led into a be tics are more inclined to optim ism and others to peftsjmism. Some lief because such a belief m ight © C ITY P R O P E R Y. bring happiness. As a m an can would re-live their lives had they FARM P R O P E R T Y , H a l f - A c r e L o t in West S ilverton ; not feel that he has money unless the power and others would prefer 2 3 acres, well im proved, tine house, l>eautiiul location for residence. $200. z- , . i i - i i . t . barn anti o u tb u ild in g s, one m ile from he has the cash on hand, so an Ag som ething better or nothing. The v e i f i r n e 'r itMOt " ‘ ai 'e Ll H ra / ilv erto ,‘> O °00. W ill tra d e for larger nostic cannot feel th at he has a aggregate of hum an misery may • ' 'T ' farm of equal value not over tw e n ty L o ts in S e c u l a r H o m e , location m iles tiom S ilv erto n . loving father in heaven, and an im outw’eigh the aggregate of hum an mortal soul to be lost or saved, u n joy, or vice versa, or they may ju st , o s l l it, at -'25, $50 a n d $75. balance. Agnosticism gives no twm a o ^ rh o u s e s 1 f n i it ’ tn7.«,r,’. f? n ‘vv’ n 3 1 8 acreH ° h 8l’lendid f ru it and farm - less he could interview this im ag in hope i or produces any despair. I t , trad e for farm land > mg land well im proved, good ru n n in g ary person and thing. d i / n r O; ai V \ \ <le,,eIlVe’tl r H o u s e a n d L o t n e ar th e d e P °t * Per a,’n ‘- Can divide if n^-essa'ry to It is wonderful how little evi do not tell their little children |7o0. unit p u rch aser. 7 dence it takes to convin e some ghost stories to m ake them better. H o u se and lot in c e n te r of tow n. 1 6 0 " a c re s of fine tim b e r, n e a r a large people th at a god analagous to o u r They tell their children th a t a little child knows no less or no more H o u se ami barn wth 1^, acres of saw m ill, $1000. Logs can lie floated selves, only more perfect, exists, about god and im m ortality than a lan< ln S,Iverton’ G50. nearly all the way to mill. and that there will be a day of grown person. A child tun year- judgment on which the sheep will old can see as m any stars as a . o ilv e r to n is th e hom e of Secularism , and fam ilies mov- he separated from the goats, and grown person, and it knows j u s t as the sheep will be sent to heaven to mucb about God and hereafter as big here will have the splendid ad v antage of schooling sing and the goats to hell to singe. a grown person. A person cannot th eir children in the only Liberal U niversity in th e world In religion it takes credulity to otvonce io knowledge Of a subject Silverton is beautiful IV situ ated in th e g re a t W illam ette v a l l e y in the foothills of the ( ascade m ountains. A hue ‘‘gel there for there is no evidence to WHlk. All hunters have seen dogs bark sp ark lin g stream affords splendid water pow er and great worthy of the name to support this up the wrong tree; these dogs w ere; ad vantages for drainage. W rite to us for f u r h e r inform a- religion. there were squirrels or ’opoft- tion. Yours for business, in the courts it takes real evi sure sums among the branches or in the dence to convince, but in churches trunk, hut when the tree was c u t 'ham evidence is used en tirely, and ilowo and e x p lo n d the dogs would INFORMATION BUREAU AND EXCHANGE, outside of church and religion have to adm it that they were m is W atek stki rr. Christians are as skeptical as other ta k e n . Now th ese people who pray Silverton, Oregon. to G<»d m ay some day h a v e io HJ . j L ib e ra l H a il people. In obtaining a jury a man mil they were m istaken about G o d ----------------------- - is not chosen because he is or is not being somewhere in th e s k y . a believer in the su p ern atu ral. In Agnostics do not deny th a t there is a power in the world th at has fidel- are no more ap t to clear a 'oat than C hristians. N either will created and does sustain plant and anim al life. Rut they do not know ( Hristians convict a m an on such the nature of this force. W e see; evidence as they use in proof of its work, much of it very beautiful, INCORPORATED UNDER THE LAWS OF ILLINOIS • heit religion. All the evidence we and all of it very wonderful, hut have of the d iv in ity of Jesus would cannot g e t even a glimpse of the To teach, ed u cate and confer degrees of sc h o larsh ip iqsm th o se who by stu d io u s- out convict a wolf o f killing sheep worker. So little is known about ness arc e n title d to th em in A rt, Science, L ite ra tu re , Law, P hilosophy an d Theol- our creator th a t if some one were "VV know n th a t h u n d re d s of jieople are h ig h ly qualified in various i" lexas. The C h tistian s would to say, “ H e is w ater,” no one could lines of scientific research, and have become p ractical as well as theoretical schol 1’ke to have more evidence and say knowingly “ He is not water,” ars sm ee leaving th e school room and are deserving of a degree su itab le to th e ir i'tte i proof of their creeds, hut they or if some one were to say, “ He is callh n g . M any are w orthy and fitted, and W estern U niversity is fully a u th o riz ed to honor such w ith a su ita b le degree. O th ers, not u n ite read v , to aid them o u r eannot obtain a n y th in g hut fancies. the sun,” who could prove he is plan is to d irec t courses of reading and stu d y , followed bv p erio d ical e x a m in a tio n s, not the sun? and w hen th e c an d id ate . ’ qualified, to g ra n t a diploma tor a su itab le degree, ac io law the prisoner is given the N either is an y th in g known about cording to th e sta n d ard of sch o larsh ip a tta in e d . T he degrees th a t m ay be co n fer i " mefit of a doubt and set at liberty hum an 7 consciousness after the red are B. P., B. 8 ., L. 8 ., Ph. I)., A. M., M. 8., LL. I)., D. I). Am ong th e patro n s as stu d e n ts, and g rad u ates holding th e fine L atin diplom as death. In a later u o le s s proven guilty beyond a reas- change called o e stern I D iversity, are teach ers, doctors, p asto rs, law yers, m erc h an ts, me " tia b le doubt. Now unless Chris- Iexistence we may know more, we ch an ics, a u th o rs and in v en to rs. For full p a rtic n la rs, ad d ress, Hans can prove clearly to all th at may know less or we m ay be the same old fools th at we have always »eir religion is more than fancy been.—-[E . L. M errill in Independ ’t,< y ought not to think any less of ent Pulpit. P E O P L E 'S I N S T IT U T E - - C H IC A G O , IL L IN O IS PÍFORMA' B u re a u nnd xchange S E C U LA R H O M E W E ST E R N U N IV E R S IT Y < ^ L ‘A bsent TctiGhiny In stitute J. H. R A N D A L L , Ph. D., M. D.