THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 1898.
2
on« these m oral cowards live live-
of self-condem nation, a life that is
Our readers have some id e a o f a greater hell th an anv filled with
The O nly P ap er of Its K in d ._
our ideal by this lime, we are sure, devUg ahd brimHt()1)e ' j f bere an(|
P ublished W eekly by th e L iberal U ni- being?
Look at th a t young m an i hut perhaps we hav en ’t im pressed , h(.re a njan doeg regoke ((>
VeCOTBtrX^?\tOTaVseiQl»r79n".''f | with youth’s bright hope». T hink all with all. One thought we wish longer act lhe p a rt of a liar and "a
Torch of Reason
J. E. H o sm e r,....................... E ditor
P. W . G eer......................... M anager
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Oregon, as second-class mail m atter.
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THURSDAY, MARCH 3, E. M. 298
The
E le v e n th P s a lm .
To th e Erect bin kern called Secularist«.
liooki"« *° J " 7 ' , ' 7 “ "* Uia‘
little child.
Should he not call
fo rtfi all the better em otions of our
of hi» tem ptation», his victories and to *iave our friends carefully think pOli„y.mnnger, he buys his freedom
his defeats.
book at th a t father a ," " 't is our ,<,‘-a 1,1 rega r d to at the cost of business boycott and
am usem ents in our school. W hen social ostracism , and from men ju-t
and mother. W atch their struggle!)
,
,
our main building is up a good as hypocritical as he was before he
to bring up their little ones in the gvrnna8jlun w;n be in order. This
gained courage to be free. It mat-
way they should go. T alk about
a v m n - w in m m u s t f i n a l lv c o n ta in n il ~
v
.<
,
,
, , ,,
g y m n a siu m m u st n n a iiy c o n ta in a il ters not w hat the cost m a y be now.
the satri fir e of a g o d th e hlo< >d < >t ♦ pg
mes and ha no v hea lth fu le x -
•. •
•
e •
r
, T,
c .. 11 , j
1 1
g « m e! a u u n a p p y , n e a i m i u i x position, income, friends or p ro p er-
Jesus!
Think of the blood and ercises th a t we can find.
A fine ‘
’ p r
A
ty,
tm
s
brave
m
an,
who
acts
the
bone and muscle and m ental force 8kating rjnk and danpjng h a ,| w i|]
p art of honesty, and openly gays
that, is being sacrificed e v e ry d a y
one ()f , be altractivB features
w hat he thinks, and denounces
all around you, and then ask your­ w hich, of c u r s e , will only be open J what
h„ collsiders e u |,er»titiou»
self if the sufferings and sacrifices certain hour» when theexercise will frau d , wil, te„ y()u , h a , he wou|(,
of Jesus am ount to much. W ho is be an actual help to the students. ,,ot exchange w hat |,e ha8 gained
and who by right ought to he the
All these things properly m anag- for
hc hag )ogt
He ,)a8 gainpJ
C hrists, the anointed kings? The
. . . . . .
v „ .... Ie<1 W' U ** a gre,‘t Plea8,,re an,i a pea-e of mind, such as a faith in
people all around us.
Yes, y >1 help, instead of a nuisance as they
Jesus, B uddha, or any other pseu­
and I and all ought to he loved. of(eI1 are when conducted for gain.
do-savior can never bring. If he
We should all feel sorrw for the Of course fine bathing rooms will
can do no better, he accepts the
sufferings and sorrows and weak­ be another feature, and in tim e we hardest to i| for d a i| v breadj and
nesses of all. We should work to will have a finely equipped «anita- bear8 bjs burden of | ife-8 8Irugg|e a s
establish this love in all.
We rium. This is not a dream , Secular best be can _ a b„lc>.
should be real Secularists, working friends, but will all he accom plish- | H(1W
are lb(.re
|hjg (.|a6s
•for the good of this world.
ed, and th a t very sunn, if all lovers ‘ ,)f heI.„es? j dl> not know> bu( you
A n o th e r P la n .
As tim e rolls along we Secular-
ists, now th a t we have som ething
to work for, will find m anv plans
If in a god we’d put o u r tru st,
The friends
To build for tr u th , w e’d surely “ b u st” ; to prom ote the work.
For David, drinking of th a t fo u n tain ,
a t W agner, Oregon, have in au g u r­
Felt like fleeing to th e m ountain.
And though the wicked bend th e ir bow
To bpoil our work, w e’ll beat th e foe;
For Freedom ’s sons,from science schools,
Begin to see th a t gods are tools
W ith which the priests have held us Jong,
To fool th e weak, to force the strong.
T h e y ’ve tried th e righteous long en o u g h ;
T h eir brim stone stories m ake m en tough.
And now’, d e ar people, tu rn your face:
L e t’s build for t r u th ; go<l lies deb ase,
W hen they have tied to land of souls,
W e’li m ake all (d)evils h u n t th e ir holes.
The
C h ris t.
H e lp us R e a c h o u r Id e a l.
ated a good plan for helping in the
great work of building the U niver­
sity.
Perhaps their plan can no
better be explained than by q u o t­
ing from a letter w ritten by Mr.
W arren Carsner:
of progress will put th eir shoulders know 8ome of them> a ||d 8O do , ,
to the Freethought wheel and lift. want to say to these half-hearted
US reRch ° Ur
before 11 1S policy-m ongering F reethinkers,you
blte-
* u <o som ething wj]j RorT)H day aw ake to the fact
worthy of our great cause, while we tllat tb eir blood is on your hands.
have life and strength. Let us sac- Jf you were brave men, if you were
ri fine. It will m ake us happy.
even men, if you were an y th in g hut
i h e time to he happy is now’, nioral cowards you would take such
an«! the place to be happy 1» here.” | aeti(„ k lend such »uppnrt and m a k e
----------------------
A M essage for M oral C ow ards,
such dem ands th a t our present
priest-ridden, superstitior-blinded
state of soul life would be turned in­
Of course the reader of this sketch to a speedy and far-reaching era of
“ We gave a basket ball last week knows th at it is not intended for true reform ation. This reformation
for the benefit of the Liberal Uni- him, hut he should read it to see would secure full and free religious
versity, which netted nearly $35, w’hat the message is th a t I have thought. Our churches would be
Which I suppose y „ u have received
bo,d
to send with such completely fum igated, and all the
b y t h is tim e , as I understand Carl
a.al
dogm atic superstition would he
sent you a check for the am ount, a title.
Some one has recently said, a driven out. Then, when the smell
which you may place to the c r e d it
of the W agner Liberals.
It is not prom inent F reethinker too, I b e -i° f this wicked superstition had
much, but it is p retty good for these lieve th a t there are not five bun- fully ch ared aw ay, we would gath-
haid lim es and the time of year, j rP(j F reethinkers in the U nited
the children there, as so manv
and
Liberals
would adopt
this ! L,,
al
I PCho'
, ,,S , . f° r F m<>ral , eu ltu re- U ‘‘
plan if all the over
the country
we could
State8’ t Tt maV be tru e ’ b , u t there
Who is, and who by right ought
to be, ihe Christ, the anointed king,
if not the people?
The old-tim e
religion of the Jew s required the soon build the U niversity
I t is are sorne th irty or forty m illion peo-
sacrifice of sheep and oxen, and it the old orthodox plan, hut good pie in these United States who can
is claim ed by the later C hristians enough it it works.
Some of the not subscribe to anv of the various
lis
was
only
typical
of
the
!
girl«’
baskets
brought
as
high as $5, CO1,fissions of faith, C atholic and
th a t this
Jj“ ™ bX t ^ T h a i' P rotesta,,..
great s »crlfice of Jest,», who was to-
would ring all the hells then to call
the people to hear fine music, use-
ful discourses upon practical and
scientific them es. The young folks,
and th eo h l folks, too, would gather
save the world. Ami now we who , Wl,re (injy abouj h alf enough to go
Sunday after S unday the preach- fur social gayety in the house so
have been redeemed from th e se old around. We hope the Liberals all era all over the land shout thisgos- long wasted in a cons« e ra'io n to an
religions, and have grasped the oyer the country will try som ething pel of superstition into the faces of unknown god.
There the enter-
great Secular thought, can see th at "I 1 Id:' kind .tml see it we can t nianv a good
“ b ro th er’’ who is tainm ent would he given, and the
nil flip storips <> . f 111p
i t C t hristian«
i c
sch(K)I
tills ¿hurches 1 lie
. k . in
. g all ,« the
, tim
, e, //n»«
i i the
»* social
• >
1 e 8ac f te9’
build costly
in th . in
a fool . concert, and > no doubt
eac nng-, eruci 1x1011 and ascen- this way and the Infidels have done tb a t ,nrtn
m aking of him self.”
sion of th e m \> ii(.i] C hrist are
j , e most of it. So why not tu rn H u ndreds of these preachers are
most useful when UM’d a s tj pes of th e ta b le s on them and let them the unhappiest creatures in the
the sa( rifites, sufferings, teachings,
ie P u s -
world, because they are living lives
crucifixions and ascensionb of m an-
It is certain th a t
if there are of duplicity, try in g to keep up the
kind in our progress toward higher enough true Secularists in the “spiritual form ality” , while their
modes of thought and action
to- United States, and if we have as outraged reason and common sense
ward happier conditions here.
much business tack and loyalty as constantly revolt. They are living
I lie obi religion, with its idea of the ( h ristians haveshow n in build- liars, and they know’ it. These poor
v in d ic ti\e punishm ent in hell and ing their institutions, we will soon “ doubting Thom ases” stand up and
its gaudy prize of heaven to those have one of the finest schools in pray their hypocritical prayers,
who could believe, has taken from America. Let each Secularist, no m entally kicking them selves be-
hum anity, man > love and adoration m atter if he finds him self alone, cause they have not the courage to
w hich it deserves and which would look around him and grasp every openly denounce a creed they no
have elevated our race long before °PPo ,tu n ity to promote our cause longer consider fully tenable.
this to a civilization that cannot he with the sam e energy as the Chris-
In the pew, their “ brothers in
known or a p p n e ia te d by those of tian does, and the result will stir- m isery” are hut little better off.
this g u ie ia tio n . \ \ » <io n o t believ e^ pri.-e tht* world. Onward!
. For business, social nr family reas-
dance. No more again would we
hear within those walls the doleful
phrase of pious hypocrisy, “ The
Lord loveth a cheerful giver.”
But, alas! it is not so. And it is
you, you m oral cowards, who allow
this, the one great in san ity of lh e
race, to still linger in the hum an
mind. It is you who allow the or-
ganizations under its nam e to mon-
opolize all the positions of worth,
or nearly all.
It is you who
perm it this influence to continue its
evil work in our otherw ise progress-
ive era. By vour indifference only
a few half-fed F reethought journal’s
are able to keep alive, when all
publications should be free from