THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1898. 4 phia, cocaine, etc., the habit of using it often becomes so -trong The Only P aper of Its Kind. that the victim will resort to it ♦ ven after he is convinced th a t it is Published W eekly by th e Lil»eral I di wrong. The world in its childhood versity C om pany, in th e In terests'o f C onstructive, Moral Secularism . cried in agony and fell down on its face, ^frightened by the naught} J. E. H o sm e r,....................... E d ito r , , P. W. Geer, M an ag er l,nestf< stories; hut now, happy Porch of Reason (Iren have learned the lesson — have and it stand« ready and willing n, learned the hiding place of their change, adopt, reject and amend in enemies and will not rest until all order to be in perfect harm ony wi’h are brought into the loving fold of tru th and right. scientific wisdom and freed from - ■ ■ fear and pain. T h e S u rv iv a , of th e A tte s t. Oh, C hristian friends, can you . . . not see th at there is not one fact t o , One, who has been convert, ,1 thought, p at last begins to stand prove the existence of a heaven or a I frnrn t , erect and shake off its fears. hell lieyond tins life? Can you not . . . heathen doctrines •' . . . ... , The world is like a m an who, see th at there is an awful hell of j * when lie wan a little bov, was fear and pain ail around us? Can > '< uiaristn, knows very a subscription r ates . . > 1 th at there a re thousa nds of people One year, in advance <1 00 frightened by some larger hoys you not see th at to unite all the. 1 P ir > who would ‘‘leave the ooor old Six m onths in a d v a n c e .................... 5C threatening to throw him into the forces of intelligent men and women T hree m onths, in a d v a n c e ................ 2o : stranded w recks” of creed ism and river through a hole in the ice. against these evils means In clubs of five or m ore, one year, 11 shore of l i - t - in a d v an c e .......................................... 76 Ever since t h a t day, and he is a speedy establishm ent of a heaven ‘ " *,n Money should be sent by registered m an grown now, he has had nerv- here? Oh, let us unite these forces! thought, il they <ould only once le tte r or m oney order. a ,,f , h i s land. ous tits, in which h e f r o th s a t the We can do it; we will do it if all ........... .......................................... .. who now u n d erstan d the tru th will " - « r e very apt to cry hypocrite m outh, , pulls his own h air and Notice! . hruicca him self on the surrounding stand firm in the fight and force | and c" ndell,n people for clinging to A pencil m ark here denotes th a t your . . , . . i th e o ld id e a s a n d f o r t r e t t h a t n-,a» .v subscription will ex p ire with the next objects. So it is with the world, the banner of constructive, m o ral, . , , g ‘ , ' of them have never seen anything num ber. 'Sou are earn estly requested w a s frjahtened bv th e p r ie s ts , Secularism to the front, to renew so th a t you m ay receive th e pa-1 • 1 else to cling to. The leaders of the per w ithout in te rru p tio n . We have de- a n d a lt h o u g h s tr o n g a n d a id e in ■■■—■ orthodox fake, those that are as cided th a t it is best h»i all concerned m a ,,y w a y s , its f e a rfu l r e lig io u s fits F r e e t h o u g h t a n d F r e e th o u g h t. th a t we do no t send p ipeis longer th a n ) “ wise as serpents” , know th at their th e tim e paid for u n 'ess so ordered. : are sad sights to witness. T h e re a r e It is a m u sin g to us to see th e cause is safe as long as they can I his will prevent any Io and we will 8Ome however, in our dav, who know ju st where we sta n d . ’ • prevent other and better ideas from We request you to send u* the nam es have outgrown the fits, if not all desperate efforts made by some working in opposition. They have - * “ "•> wt'" * h ° claim to Iw F reethlnkers.trylng the floor and intend to keep it, hut ----- — fortunate enough never to have had to keep the patronage of both the how can they do it if we Secular THURSDAY, FEB. 3, E. M. 298 them . To these we appeal for aid moral and im moral factions of what ists live up to our privileges? The in trying to fortify the m inds of has heretofore been called the Free- the youth against the wicked doc- thought cause. There are some, to I l<1?' °f the fittest T h e S e v e n th P s a lm . in this matter, trines of the naughty priest-hoys be sure, who system atize their im- * ( F alH ' To tlio Freothinker« called ScculariHl». who are everyw here telling their m orality and oiler their “ princi- and if we organize churches, Sun In “ good in m a n ” »ve p u t our tru st day schools, and Universities, and . accursed lies to frighten the chil- pies” as an excuse for it, and we I it building for th e r i g h t : place them beside those which we To it can save, if au g h t can save, dren of men. M any who have been don’t know but these deserve more From su p e rstitio n ’s b light. claim are not as fit to exist as ours, frightened can yet be saved and as- respect from decent people than O h, bro th er, sister, are you good? sist in the good work, and some those who by deception get much they will be crowded out provided Then save th e world t o d a y : we are right. The wolves and lions snarl and b ite ; tim e the world will he entirely tree patronage front those who, i’ they O h, save it w hile you m ay! Freethought organizations have from 1 hese orthodox fits of fear. were acquainted with the facts, not alw ays succeeded. Can it he Let w hat you do he for th e tru th : Much of the pain th at the infant would fight against th a t kind of I a ;1’ s work against all ev il; that they have not been as fit to L et’s save the world from every w rong— suffers could be prevented if the in- Freethought. live as the orthodox churches? We From every god and devil. fant could tell the cause ol its troll- There never was a fact more pat- are of the opinion th a t many tiims Uphold th e rig h t, the ju st, th e tru e ; hle or the organ affected. So it has e nt to us than th at im m oral Free- Arise in love, not auger, this lias been the case. Free- been with hum anity. During th e thought, like C hristianity, is a And for th e sake of all m ankind thought is certainly right. Other To wrong no longer pander. dark ages ol the past, man knew great evil. Ollering a remedy for , . not the cause of disease nor the na- C hristian creeds and dogmas, the J H,,g8 1 ‘al are a ‘ wrong— worse, or at O h, help th e wicket! see th e ir w rong; The tim e for work is Hying, repulsive to lovers of ture of his body and its functions, im m oral F reeth in k ers(?) have giv- H’0™ F < Ami all should tu rn from fear and sin : He could only cry, infant -hat fie en th eir patients a th.se th a t some ," " g''' th " " ‘ he e ' r,’r? “ ** ° 'd A blessing comes in trying. was. and only 1« free when, ttnaid- ,,f them will never get over and " a , " ' all8m - sw m Lh,,und The god of David w hets his «word ed, M other N at.,re healed the lhev have made others, who were Í C' ,n« h " g“ 1™ « "* . b" ‘ JU!“ 119 ( hi every provocation, Entered at the postotfice at Silverton, Oregon, a« second-class m ail m a tte r. , .MSi.UIPTMI. L,ATi s B ut gods of reason conquer foes By wars of education. wound or rocked h i............... .. long slcen e r oosoin. b o so m s o t p o on u h ofi n n # ; t ,,, • . , Belief in Jesus, the Christian’s . 4 panacea, has not onlv proven a fail- ' .. , ute, but a direc„ caust* of a large f . tl ,/ portion of the pain the race has suffered. Instead of advancing the . , ” sciences of anatom v, physiology a nd hygiene, it has taught such dam ag- ing ideas as m iraculous healing by the laying on of hands, the casting out of devils, washing in the • uu.i ,,r y;i „ * 1 • .1 pool or Siloam, the touching the garm ents of those having “ v irtu e” iti them, etc., etc. For years and „nt'nrallv to., good anti pure « t all n medicines r • . , help . , take prescribed, .1 < . r , , in m ixing the “ stuff” for the less i , fortunate. It is certainly time th a t . 4 , honest, moral men and women ,......., ........ u .. . L _ r» .. ... found out that there is Freethought and Freethought; and thev should . . not only find it out,hut they should stop supporting that which their best judgm ent teaches them is evil. It is not necessary, nor is it to he expected, th a t F reethinkers 1 u * i- 1 ,• should agree on everything, hut this question of what m orality is is a vital one and those having radical- | organ.zat.ona child suffers from fear cannot he understood excepting by those who have the power of going hack to their childhood days and living over again the awful exper- iences th at are still allowed to come to the young of what are called civ- ilized people. C h ristian ity , the C h ristia n ’s pan- acea, is like much of the medicine more , . fit to , exist th an the , Christian , ¡’ hutches they will supplant them. «» « • , . , 1 I o this end let us hasten to make , , , , , them tin* very best, L e tu s ta k e a ll .. , , , , Hie good parts of orthodoxy, and it certainly has some good moral tcachings even if it is taught from a wrong standpoint, and placing these and other principles of right living on the grand foundation of science and liberty of thought, we " ill cause the less fit organizations . , , , . • ,* \ aWaJ as * 8 8 .°P‘ / PPL1.. a<e a t t e urt 1 o a »rig it. sunny m orning in our beautiful 4 • . . . . - . ., years ( hi lstianity prevented phvsi- 1\ opposite ideas on this question .. cia„8 (r„n, „slug the hut.iaii skele- .¡ever cat, affiliate, and failure will r"g""' ton. It was an enemy * to the idea overtake us every time we trv. * If a man is on the road to “ see of the circulation of the blood, to The Oregon S tate Secular Union the use ot anesthetics in surgery, stands for the only kind of Free- ing snakes” can he be said to be a and today it is the greatest obstacle thought th at can win and the only F reethinker? to the general dissem ination of sci- kind th a t can do the world any ___ entific knowledge. If Jesus Christ good when it does win. In fact, it The C hristians th in k they are had known as much as our modern stands for the only real Free- like the wise m an who built his physicians, how much fear and thougiit that there is, for it is nei- pain or the past nineteen centuries ther bound to an orthodox creed house 0,1 rt rock. b’R we th in k such given for bodily diseases; it is h ard er to get rid of th an the dis- ease, and, as is the case with mor- wouid have been turned into love nor to the creeds of the other ex- et(>rie8 as o,‘e m ust believe in order and happiness! But at last Mo- trerne, hut its guide is the highest t° be a C hristian, is verv soft rock, tie r N ature’s most intelligent chil- scientific au th o rity of the world Science is the solid rock. Ami those who sail the “ gospel s h ip ,” W ith false and bloody rigging, Are ju st th e ones w ho’ve run aground In ditches th e y ’ve been digging. T h eir m ischief tu rn s upon th e ir heads; T h ey ’ve tried to scare “ th e h e a th e n ” , And now they re scared almost to death ror tear the.v’h m iss th e ir heaven. W e’ll “ prize th e good evolved in tim e ” W e’ll sing its praises long; The world is saved at last tor tru th ! Come join the victo rs’ song. E n e m ie s . Two of the worst enemies th a t m ankind has are fear and pain. H,.W much