Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 1898)
T H E TORCH OF REASON, SILV ER TO N , OREGON, T H U R SD A Y , F E B R U A R Y 3, 1898. believed in is vastly more irratio n o f scientific clearness I object to ]Hriguage of science, contains iii.th- saying that I have a soul, when I -ng. I ” the language of theology al!) is a n atu ral im possibility. Agnosticism is the neutral ground Science furtherm ore—even in its mean all the while th at m y organ- (*°ntains God. God must be occupied by scientists and others 5choo, (MM,|[g_ aflil.IIlg , | la, ¡„ ism haw certain m ental functions, f°r he is everywhere. That concerning Theism and M aterial- a n a n i „,a |. H e is bred and born which, like the rest, are dependent sP«‘‘e does not contain a part of ism. A la Webster: “Opposed alike an animal and where such anim al on its m olecular com position, and <,o<b for he is invisible and devoid to dogm atic skepticism and to dog- ¡p not> thpre m an ¡„ w ben come to an end when I die.” (Is Pa,’ts. God is unchangeable m atic theism . C tn such an atti- such anim al dies and is d isin teg rat this M a te ria lism or Agnosticism?) «like. Hence, God is sheer einp- e d 6 be honestly and reasonably pd, sucb individual man can exist * * ‘ It is ‘rue th at if philosopher.- « " ‘I theology is th at sci< ,,Cc m a in ta in e d / no more. As the existence of man have suffered, their cause has been ^n ich explains our relations and Theism and its associate dogmas jg not k „ own to W o re ,,|e am ply revenged. E xtinguished “ hligations to a vacuum , are either reasonable or n n re aso n a-!ej[jHtenc8 |h e al)im a, g() ¡, kn„„,8 theologians lie about the cradle of Ih P riestley . ble. I f the former, these beliefs „ othing of , he exjgtenw of lllan every science, as the st angled should be accepted by every honest when tbe an im a, exi8t„ „„ ,n„ re snakes beside th a t of H ercules.” P a s t, P re se n t, a n d F u tu re m an and woman. I f the latter, An(j , b p a „ in ia, ¡„ , he pgn_ m ind or (W ho but a radical A theist would they should be perem ptorily reject- consciousness of m an, and the ego thus speak about the only men who ed. We have no moral right to an-1 ¡8 tbis a n im al(though science may teach G od?) • • “ But ’ supposing , rh e H '« “ 1»«- of nature j, tagonize theists if the fundam ental nQt yet bp ab]e to exp)ajo ^ y , . , , ^ ; , the phenom ena o f spiritualism lo! C ,fie “ nd P " * " * 8- Nothing 1 < A genuine—they fTfl I 1 It I »A /"fc ♦ 1 » « » do X 1 Z’X not r . X a interest — X x stands still. All is onward. The tenets of th eir faith are rational. If p h en o m en a). because in the absence 1 he irra tio n al, it is our duty to re- of such anim al structure, m ind is me. If anybody would end o w me art, science, philosophy, and culture nounce them and to fearlessly pro- never m anifp8t All these are well with the faculty of listening to the of ancient Greece have given wav claim our belief in N aturalism , or know„ (actg. a |, e|sp ¡g conjtM, „ lrp> ch atter of old women and curates in to the progress of the Nineteenth Materialism, and its incidental delusion, affirmation without evi- the nearest cathedral town, I should century. We need only look- Atheism. Because rejecting theism deuce hence al, thig mng, rpject. decline the privilege, having better through the powerful lens of the settles the problem and absolutely ed. things to do, and if they talk in the telescope of history to convince us establishes the invulnerableness of To insist then th at M aterialism spirit world no more sensibly and th a t evolution rules the world in M aterialism . There is room for is as irrational as 1 heism, or more wisely than th eir friends report sp ite of the barricades placed by doubt of the agnostic attitu d e only so, as H uxley has done, is unreason them to do, I put them in the same the bloody hands of the trin ity — if the degree of reasonableness o f able or dishonest, prostituting our category. The only good that I can ignorance, superstition, and fear. the two beliefs is alike or ap p ro x i intellects. It is debasing the great see in «a dem onstration of th e tru th It is not only our privilege but our m ately so. est of all positive sciences to the of Spiritualism is to furnish an a d duty to discard all th at proves det- But w hat are the facts? M ater level of an hypothesis, and exalting ditional argum ent against suicide. rim edtal to progress, unreliable and ialism em braces am i implies all the absurd m yths of the ape-men Better live a crossing-sweeper than unw orthy of our confidence, and to facts, all existence, every science, to the dignity of reasonable proba die and be made to talk tw addle by accept in its place the true, the every object of knowledge, every bilities. It is placing on the same a ‘m edium ’ at a guinea a seance.” noble, and the just. T h at which thing terrestrial, all tru th , every plane of rationalism , absolute truth adm its of no advance, no progress, — [W’ettstein, in Free Opinion. cause, every effect, everything con and m ildest conjecture. is a parasite sucking the life blood ceivable and inferable, in short, th e of tru th . The law of evolution ap V lien T yndall said: “ The order riu cli /Ado A bout N o th in g . great aggregate of all existence. and energy of the universe I hold plies to religion as well as all else. \\ hatever is comes legitim ately u n to be in h eren t and not imposed I If a m an th in k him self som ething Evolution m akes no distinction of der the head of M aterialism , and when he is n o th in g , he deceiveth h im class nor creed. The noisy babble from without, the expression of self.—[P a u l. whatever is known to science can of the brook, the steady How of the fixed law and not of arb itrary will be classified by this greatest and This text affirms, in the first river, the sullen roar of the ocean, exercised by w hat Carlyle would universal science of all sciences. place, th a t a man may th in k when all speak the life-giving word, on call an ‘A lm ighty C lockm aker;” ’ W hat <loes theism im ply? N oth and when H uxley, the originator of he is nothing.- W’e infer, then, th a t ward . ing! —- fa b le s, tra d itio n s , m y th s , Agnosticism, and Spencer endorsed nothing can think. N othing, also, M any years ago the crocodile was is of the m ale sex. Nothing (s very superstitions. worshipped as a god. Now, all this sentim ent, it proved beyond W hat is M aterialism ? Positiv doubt and cavil th a t all three of liable to he egotistical and conceit wonder how any in telligent being ism. naturalism , the science of the these great thinkers are dogm atic ed. Nothing may he a m an, may could be so blind. We have evolv universe and all its innum erable A theists, all they said to the con think himself som ething and get ed still further. Secularists, in fooled. W hat a physiognom ical their tu rn , look with the same phenom ena, incidentally, or rather trary notw ithstanding. study it would he to observe the am azem ent upon the C hristian, who as a m atter of course, “ dogm atical Io further prove the inconsist ly sk eptical” — concerning what? ency of Huxley and the fact th at features of that m an, who is n o th kneels to bis im aginary god. But A solitary fact? A single truth? he posit vely was a M aterial ing, perplexed over the m istake lie in our pride we m ust not forget No! Sim ply skeptical concerning ist am i, incidentally, an Atheist, in had made in th in k in g himself th a t Secularism , too, is evolving and has evolved. W e can look absurd trad itions of the dark ages spite of bis cow ardly attem pt to som ething. N othing may he a m arried m an, hack to the tim e wheu Liber.ilism and the unverified asseverations of shield bimseK from the.-tigm a still and his wife ;s com m anded by the meant sim ply to doubt the creeds theists of all ages ami countries. associat'd with this God-denying M aterialism dogm atically affirms nai. e, and so unpopular am ong bi- inspired apostle, “ If sh e will know and dogmas of the C hristian and th a t when it knows th a t twice two friends and associates, I will sub anything, let her ask her husband to cry out for liberty. All this is ! past. The true S ecularists realizes is four, th a t twice two cannot possi mit the following from bis own al home. Nothing has a never-dying soul th a t som ething m ust be done; that bly equal five or any other num ber writings. to save, and is liable to he roasted the world is well fitted for a para but four. 1 be one established “ We are not here to e n q u ire w h at forever it. hell. Nothing, when he dise and now is the time. He fact makes the other impossible. we w ould prefer but w hat is tr u e .” is a man, is m ade in the im age of So it likewise affirms that abstract looks with pity upon the crim e and * * “Science is teaching the world God, and woman is m ade in the existence today being a self-evident misery which exist today, and re th a t the ultim ate court of appeal image of nothing. fact, such <*x is, cnee (in its elem ent alizes th a t conditions m ust be is observation and »xperim ent, and God is everywhere. Let us make changed. H e realizes th a t nioral- ary form) m ust be e te rn a l—hence not au thority.” (W hat has he “ ob an experim ent and see if we can ity is the most pressing dem and of never was c re a t'd and, hence the served” —nature or a God?)— “ Does find him. the age—an absolute necessity, and fallacies of I heism. And nature, man originate in a different way The weight of the atm osphere should be the basis, the foundation pre-occupying infinite expanse, nec from a dog, bird, frog or fish? The will sustain a colum n of m ercury of life. M orality is not a creed, it essarily excludes a G od—in what- t i , reply is not d o u b tfu l for a m om ent- about tw enty-nine inches high. Let is science. The old tim e liberal de- ever form conceived—from occupy- . ¡ a ' ♦ • , ’ . ,1 , w ithout question, the mode of or- us take a tube forty inches long stroyed; the S ecularist builds. His mg the same space also. . . . .’ . v ° or a . . , ’8ln 111 the early stages of the de- and fill it with m ercury. We will foundation com pleted, he steadily Sctence proclamm that whatever vein,-went of „.an are identical ,» peraoaal cannot he infinite and with those of the anim al immedi- insert the open end into a vessel of advances, brick by brick, stone by w hatever ,a .„fan,te cannot be per- ately below him in the scale; with- mercury. The m ercury will settle stone, until the stru ctu re is corn- sou« , hence a personal G o d - “ a out a doubt in these respecU he is down to tw enty-nine inches, leav- pleted — a lighthouse sending its then cal cram p,” Em erson calls far nearer to apes th an the apes are ing an em pty space, or vacuum in rays to safely guide the wander-r it (1 hough I he im personal God he | to the dog.” * * “ In the interest the u p p er end of the tube, eleven over tbe shoals of life, at last lead- inch, s long. T h at space, in the ing the way to a couch cushioned /A gnosticism Not T enable.