T H E TORCH OF REASON, SIL V E R T O N , OREGON, TH U R SD A Y , FE B R U A R Y 10, 1698.
4
sonal devil then?
C hris.— No, I don’t th in k the
scriptures teach th a t there is any
The O n ly Paper of Its K in d .
—
— * personal devil.
P u b lish ed W eekly by th e L ite ra l U n i
Sec.— Do you believe in a person
versity C om pany, in the In te re sts of
al god?
C onstructive, Moral Secularism .
Chris.—O yes, the hihle says that
J. E. H o s m e r,.......................E d ito r m an was created in God’s image
P. W . G e e r,.......................M anager
and therefore God must be in the
Torch of Reason
E n tered at the poetoftice at Silverton, im a g e ot m a il.
Oregon, as second-class m ail m atter.
Sec.—_j)0 yOU
___
_______ _
*
think th at God
wear." clothes?
SUBSCRIPTION RATES.
.
a, ftfti
C h r i s — I - I - d o n I t h i n k W( have
One year, in a d v an c e .......................... d on
such
Six m onths in a d v a n c e ....................
60 a n y r i g h t to e n q u i r e in to
T hree m onths, in a d v a n c e .. . .
things.
In d u b s of five or m ore, one year,
76 Sec.—-Why not? Ought we n o t
in a d v an c e ..........................................
Money should be sent by registered to u s e our reason ? Now ju st think.
le tte r or m oney order.
| T,
. . ...
,
If God 18 lik e a m a o , o n ly m u c h
more intelligent, and he came down
from the sky and made man in his
A pencil m ark here denotes th a t your
subscription will ex p ire w ith the next own image, how can he he a spirit?
num ber. You are earnestly requested
C hris.— I believe man is a spirit
to renew so th a t you m ay receive the pa- >
.
.
per w ithout in te rru p tio n . We have de-1 a n d in th e sa m e w ay G od is a
cided
all 1 .....
concerned
' ’ 1 - th a “ t it is best
1 ‘ for
*'......1
'......1 spirit.
th a t we do not semi pap eis longer th an
Sec. — But just look at your
th e tim e paid for unless so ordered.
T his will p revent any loss ami we will own body ami the rudim entary
know ju st w here we stan d .
We request you to send us the nam es organs, and ask yourself honestly,
of Secularists who m ight become su b can you think th at a being like you
scribers and we will mail sam ple copies.
are, only all-w ise, made you thus,
THURSDAY, FEB. io, E. M. 298 »r are we pioducbt of (lev.-lopmeiil?
good, intelligent men and women
unite to save tin* world from tin*
slavery o f corruption and fear?
C hris.—There is mi other nam e
given under heaven whereby men
can he saved.
Jesus is the w’ay,
tin* tru th and the life.
1 te ll you,
my friend, the religion o f my mo
ther is good enough for me, and I
ln»pe you w ill see the error of your
way before it is everlastingly too
late. Good night, I m ust go to
p ray er m e e tin g .
Sec.—Good night.
C hris.— I ’ll pray for you.
|
Sec. (to h im self)—Poor fellow, I
don’t suppose he can help it.
M ove
I\otice!
C h r is .— T h en * is n o book lik e th e
T h e E ig h th P s a lm .
I hihle. It m ust he divine because,
look at the prophesies which come
Mail’s goodness is shown by his v o rk s ic <1 by his
love to his fellow m en.
I o th e F reeth in k ers called S ecularists.
1. O m an civilized m an, how excel
len t ia thy nam e in all th e e a rth ! who
h ast w ith th y science explored th e heav
ens.
tru e .
Sec.— You wander from the sub
ject, hut, if you wish, we will ta lk
a b o u t the prophesies. In my es
tim ation a prophesy never came
tru e unless by accident, or by or
dinary foresight, the prophet made
» g o o d g u e ss. S o m e tim e ? the fol-
2. At last th e m ouths of babes and
sucklings are being closed and th e wise
and good are allowed to ordain stren g th
because of the enem ies, and they will lo w e rs s f p r o p h e ts h a v e d o n e th in g s
soon still th e liars and the th o u g h tless, ‘’t h a t th e p r o p h e s y m ight be fill-
3. When we consider Ihe great works I
an(J R( nd ,,t I|)fide)8
U p.
The Liberal U niversity, in its
game of “ move up” , has scored sev
eral points this week.
The mock trial held by the Y.
P. S. S. C. was a great success, and
every one present learned some
very valuable lessons; the fine elec
tric bell th at our talented and good
natured student, Mr. Lym an Leon
ard, kindly put in our school build
ing is a great success and saves much
time and labor; in the final exam
ination given to a fine class in
physiology the m ajority stood way
up in the 90’s, and we have had a
goodly num ber of letters from our
friends
containing
encouraging
words and financial aid.
It m atters not what the pious,
the an y th in g arian s and the noth-
ingites say of our school, if we can
keep moving up, as we have this
week, w’e will soon have the finest
school in the world. We hope th at
every friend of education, every
friend of progress, every friend of
liberty, science and hum anity, will
join ns in this happy gam e of
“ move u p ” and help m ake the Lib
eral U niversity a great factor in
the product of hum an develop
ment.
of n a tu re , th e sun and m oon, w hich in
,
„
„ i lights
; .H a i a n y J one else. Can t vou see th at
D avid a tim e were th o u g h l ,*
t to „ i be
set in th e sky by a god, but w hich have you are the victim of a great mis-
heen revealed to us by science;
| take?
4. W h at are gods th a t m an should be
Chris.— Ah, my friend, it is bet-
m indful of th em an,I th e sons ol gods
b<. (||1 |))e p afe s id p
Jf you
th a t th ey should w orship them ?
5. For thou hast in the past created ate t ight I w ill stand the same show'
these im aginary beings and h ast crow n th a t you do, hut if I am right,
ed then» with glory and honor, to th e th in k , oh, think w hat aw aits your
neglect of th y fellow m en.
a waken it g.
6. Thou h a st m ade th ese spooks and
Sec.—I think you are m aking a n
T h e L a s t o f a G r e a t T r ib e .
th e ir priests to have dom inion over th e
other
great
m
istake.
If
there
is
a
works of th y h a n d s; thou h a st p u t all
god (I cannot see one hit of proof
Among the great tribes of super
th in g s at th e ir feet.
7. B ut thou a rt aw akening from th y th at there is), hut if there is and he j n atu ra l beings, the last to survive
childish sleep, and thou w ilt no m ore j s g o o d , I d o n o t fear, for lie would will probably be the great spirit-
.«crift,-e th y sheep and oxen to th« god». I r „
m v ,1()lle9lv an(1 k i n d ) v
chief known throughout chriten-
8. T hou now know est th a t th e fowl .
,
,
.
...
,
..
,
1
show
me
the
tru
th
.
I
am
on
the
dom as God. The old personal
ot th e a ir, th e tish ot the sea, and
w hatsoever passeth through th e paths 8a fe side, while you are keeping
devil has given up the ghost am ong
of th e seas, are products of evolution.
y o u r reason asleep and losing what nearly all denom inations, and is
9 . 0 m a n c iv iliz 'd m a n , how excel- „ l i g h t he a g lo r io u s lif e ’s work for I
only used now as a convenient wav
len t thou art becom ing in all th e earth ! hum anity.
V
A T y p ic a l C o n v e rs a tio n ,
The Secularist, if he is in earnest
and trying to bring his principéis
into actual practice, will be as en-
ergetic as the C hristians have been
in the past. In trying to convert
the C hristians from their intem per-
ate an d bloody doctrines we often
meet with the sam e “ old stories”
and so of course the same, or
sim ilar conversations take place,
One of these “ round*” is about as
follows;
Sec.— You diin’t believe in a per-
Chris.— I believe in working for
h um anity also, and just see what
C hrist and C h ristian ity have «lone
f°r the world, while you and your
Infidelity are try in g to tear down
w hat the church of Christ is doing
Sec.—C hrist and his father can’t
be very powerful if they can ’t keep
weak hum an beings from tearing
down their c h u rc h ; but, my friend,
we are not try in g to tear down any-
thing good th a t you are doing, hut
only the great evil superstition.
You wish to do good; so do we.
W hy can ’t we drop the old dogmas
and work together? W hy not a ll,
•>
of speaking of the evil in the world.
W itches have gone to the land
from which no traveler ever re
turns. Great hands of angels are
winging their flight to the more
congenial clime of heathen Africa,
and G od’s son is becoming, even
am ong his own tribe, more hum an
everv •> day and will sometime “ lie
born again,” and die like other
men. The old, revengeful, jealous,
sw ord-spitting, personal god is
very old and grey, and is also
silently leaving the land of the liv
ing; hut the spirit-god, the god that
no one can see nor hear nor think
about, will be the last to go. A god
of stone gives way to one of human
form ; the m an like god gives way
to a spirit god which in turn will
give way to hum anity. O ye god-,
how much hum anity has suft’-red
for your sakes! Awake, yt* men and
women of thought and gird on your
arm or. The gods ami “ all the hosts
o f them ,” Hy before your civilization
and if you arc true.they will soon he
num bered am ong those who have
dared to stand on the iron track of
developm ent and oppose the mov
ing car of progress.
T rim m in g and T em p orizin g .
The most vulnerable point of av
e r a g e hum an nature is not its intel
lectual, b u t its m oral im becility, or
impotence to resist prostitution
w hen a price is offered for the sac
rifice of virtue.
For money, so
m any are ready to speak and act
contrary to their higl est concep
tions of duty. For money they will
side with error and wrong against
their best feelings; m any who will
not do Ibis will y e t keep silent in
the presence of injustice which
should excite indignant denuncia
tion.
It is not necessary th a t the un
scrupulous man of wealth should,
to accom plish his purpose, directly
prom ise favors. The knowledge
th a t he will bestow them upon
those who assist him in carrying
out his design*, either by active
efforts or by their silence when he
deserves censure, is often sufficient
to decide the struggle in his favor
when it is between principle and
pecuniary gain.
The frequent sacrifising of p rin
ciple a t the shrine of a selfish ex
pediency, makes easy the business
of trim m ing and tem porizing, sup
pressing or willingly closing the
eyes and ears to facts, and careful
ly avoiding any expression of opin
ion when justice dem ands it. Dis
interested devotion to duty gives
way to love of gain in deciding how
to act when issues, personal or
public, are presented.
B. F. U nderwood .
The possibility of the form
ation of a new and higher race
in some particularly favored local
ity and from a stock characterized
by rem arkable ad ap tab ility is by
no means excluded, but considering
the equalizing tendencies of the
present day and especially the
rapidity of com m unication and the
consequent diffusion of every ad
vance in civilization, such a pos
sibility does not seem probable. In
the present aspect of the struggle
for existence bodily influences or
external influences in general eome
but little into the account,—the
battle is now fought, as has pre
viously been stated, chiefly upon
intellectual and m oral fields, and
these now-a-days are readily and
quickly equalized over the whole
civilized surface of the earth.
[B uchner.