-1
T H E TORCH OF REASON, 8 1 EVER ! ON, OREGON, T H U R SD A Y , MARCH 10, 1898.
Torch of Reason
lx* a
F r e e ! bought institution, and eroW 'l of people, whose bond of no- of paM failures, draw closer togeth-
debt m eans slavery. W e h ‘*peiliat ion is no stronger th an a bate for er, meet ami «ü-cu-s w a\s and
The O nly P aper of Its Kind.
wj,o can help even a little wilh- the orthodox church, to meet and means often« r and sucee.-s w ill f .
Published Weekly by the I.ileral Uni- nut robbing tlienieel ven " 'l l U nit have a ‘‘big tim e” is all that is nec- low every hotn-st tffort.
versity Company, in the Interest« of
N()W f<>r the go *d of our cause de- e-sarv, hut the orthodox churches
«•'•"'-'""■•io-. Mo«18... b
a
........ u
„ „ ,,B„
i,nI|<li„g have a stronger bond than this and
C o n u n d ru m s.
J. E. H o sm e r,....................... E d i t o r re a d y fo r n e x t y e a r ’s w o rk .
will laugh to scorn sut h organiza-
A rm stiong’s Autoimmisi promul
P. W . G e e r ,......................... M a n a g e r
T hose who can n o t p u t $50 on the , tions(?) as the m any conglom erate
list can club with others and put in masses of purposeless meetings gates a conundrum for the “ modern
E ntered at the postotfice at silver-ton,
j (1(jj vi,jUai names or the name
which have been held by Secular- Infidel and it may* not he am,»,
Oregon, as gccoixl-clHBS mull m atter.
of the club, < )ne of our best friends ists. Infidels, Freethinkers, Noth- to give him one or two. H esup-
SUBSCRIPTION RATES.
from C incinnati, Dr. B. L. H jerm - ingites and A nyt hinga i ians. Before p((^vs )jia t jf a man sat down a id
One year, in a d v a n c e ..................
D 9? stad, wants to club with some one our work can slop the absurd anil wro(e ,,„gp aftet. , „ , ^ 4 , . a (ler di, Vi
Ob
Six m onth«, in a d v a n c e ............
...........
....................
25
who
will I'UI in $25 with him. An
Three m onths, in advance.
dam aging doctrines of orthodoxy
n club« of five or more, one year, __ extract from his kind letter will and he a prime factor in checking to te a r th em tip w hen w ri t« n, the
in a d v an c e ..........................................
Money should Ire sent by registered explain m a tte r.,
crim e and m isery of all kinds, we “ m o d ern In fid e l” w ould consider
e tte r or m oney order.
“ Jt seems to me that the $ 5 0 s u b m ib t have active organizations him in sa n e, because “ la b o rin g with-
scription to the U niversity goes too composetl of m oral, conscientious, ou^ a sensible purpose” .
Now his
Notice!
slotv to ever get there. Now I think
sacrificing Secularists and tluse or-' eonnndrum is, “ W h y is not th**
,
.
.
there
are
m
anv
of
us
who
cannot
A pencil m ark here denotes th a t your
•
,, ,
, , .
subscription will ex p ire w ith th e next s u b s c r ib e $ o 0 w h o w« UId bt g la d to i ganizations m ust not only have a m o d ern In fid e l, who lives out ibis
num ber. You are earnestly retpiestefi g iv e $25.
N ow c a n I you s t a r t a test <>f m em ber-hip, hut must have
to renew so th a t you may receive the pa- ^ 9 5 | j s t? T h is is just a suggestion, re g u la r m eetin g s, a n d th e o ften e r life with, ui the hope of im m orlali-
per w ithout in te rru p tio n . We have de- and
,i n J ( take
a i,„ if
lm t it
is w
o r th .
it fn
for r w
what
it is
worth.
I I thev can be held the better. In ty, equally in s a n e ?
eide«i th a t it is best tor all concerned
th a t we do not send papers longer than will gladly give $25, hu1 th at is all fact, the work of saving the world
T ak in g it for grante«! that the
If you don’t think
th e tim e paid for unless so ordered. I can afford.
This will prev en t any loss ami we will the $25 list practical, and yon can from t he effects of ignorance must two cases are perfectly analagous,he
know ju st where we stan d .
he attended to like any other busi concludes: “ Sanity is, therefore, not
We request you to semi us th e nam es find a side partner for the other
half,
I
am
yours
for
$
2
5
,
to
he
paid
ness, or it will continually fail. The j
)f Secularists who m ight become sub-
possible except on the basis of im
icriliers and we will m ail sam ple copies. when called upon.”
adoption of a basis, excluding those
m ortality.
Tiie soul must survive
Now who will join with our who from a business point of view
I HURSDAY, MARCH io, E. M. 298
friend and strike another tifty-dol- are d< trim ental to these societies, the ‘wreck of m atter and ruin of
lar blow for m ental liberty, and does not necessarily mean that the worlds’, or we are the m onomaniacs
The Twelfth Psalm.
who
will get up another club mem bers are narrow -m inded nor of tim e. If life ends in d eath , and
and thus help to educate the Free- that they do not wish the excluded death is nothing, then life is a cause
T o th e F reeth in k ers called S ecularists.
thought hoys and girls, and through ones well, hut it m ust he clear to
Help, ere goodness c e a s e th ;
w ithout an effect.”
Make greed and hypocrisy q u a il;
them teach the world the great les every thin k in g person th a t in order
Help, fur th e liar im -reaseth ;
Mr. A rm strong should know
son of progress? It is evhlence <>f to succeed every society must h ive
H elp, ere the faithful fail.
some test of m em bership besides w hat insanity is before attem pting
a
philanthropic
mind
to
give
food
W ith v a n ity th e e n e m y s p e a k e th :
to discuss it. Insanity is simply
to a starving little on»*, hut think sim ply signing a blank, for if a so
They talk with flattering lip ;
Now it rem ains to
V ith d o u b le h e a r ts d e c e iv e th ,
of the thousands and m illions—the ciety prospers it will gain property, abnorm ality.
Ami m any th e ir poison sip.
decide w hether the life of the “ mod
countless generations that will feast own its own hall, etc., and w ithout
ftiese liars d estru ctio n w orketh :
on the luscious fruits of our labor a t«*st of m em bership, enemies th a t ern Infidel” is norm al or not. By
A stray th ey lea«l th e youth,
com parison we do not find any
Ami the tongue th a t vanity speaketh
if we succeed. T ruly the Secular would otherw ise he debarred will
M ust be ta u g h t to speak the tr u th .
strik in g dissim ilarities from other
ist has much to make him happy. join in order to steal the property
lives. They do not differ more from
Then help th e poor and needy;
He is a god. building a heaven for or c m v e rt the society into one of
Don’t w ait for one above.
A rise; speak words of silver
those who are to enter tin* golden their own. We find th at thousands the im m ortalists than the immor-
T h at are tried in th e furnace, love.
gates of secular life, while the of Secular in stitu tio n s have been i talists differ one from another; and
The wicked on all sides w alketh
Christian is a slave, crazed by his b ro k en up or turned from t h e i r ! ’he principal differences can be-
W hen the vilest ones have power,
purpose in ju st this way.
¡accounted for on grounds of tern-
But with you,gods of earl h,we pleadcth-- torm ents in an earthly bondage and
Now w hat kind of a test of m em -| peram ent and degree of enlighten-
O ur hojH* and sh e lte rin g tow er.
wildly gazing on a m irage of super
stitious longings.
Let us redouble bership do o u r s'ajieties need? We | m ent. lint in the ease of writing-
our energies. Let us ask each o th think th a t we should first of all de- m ania he supposes, there is a
A S u g g e s tio n .
Hence his
er to help educate these young Sec bar those who are not of good mor- decided abnorm ality.
al character, for if we do not the ! analogy does not hold good,
Our work of building the Liberal ular gods and goddesses, th a t the
moral part soon becomes disgusted,
But if the prospect of im m ortali-
Jniversity is in a very prosperous earthly paradise m ay soon swing
wide its golden gates and welcome drop out, and the F reethinkers’ ef- ty (for he adm its it is only a con
ondition.
,
torts again become a laughing jecture and im provable) gives pur-
The lumber for finishing the din- rt m.mkin«
stock. The test should also debar pose and sanity to ea rth ly life ami
ng hall is being sawed and will Vie
th at which is not purely Secular, m akes it worth living, why may m>t
m th e ground next week, the car- S o m e C a u s e s of P a s t F a ilu r e s , for one of the most prolific causes th e probability, the reasonable .t--
penter work will again commence
J h e greategt cause for the failure of our failures has been the enm ity surance, of life a year hence do as
is soon as the inside lumber si-.o- ,,f organizations am ong Freethink- and struggles between the Secular much for the present day? And
arid non-Seeular elem ents in Free- if, failing im m ortality , we are tl.«
:ms; the rest of th«“ stone for ers is the fact that m any who claim
thought institutions. “ A house di- m onom aniacs of tim e” , with im-
th«* main building will he moved to he F reethinkers are not willing
vided against itself cannot stan d .” m ortality, why would we not he the
from the quarry this week and in a that others should have the same
The work of those who do not be- m onom aniacs of eternity?
Any
«hort time occupy its p erm anent privilege th at they ask for them -,
wav, if im m ortality is unprovable,
lonie in the foundation of th«* only selves and tak«* foul m eans to break lieve in organization is the hardest
w ouldn’t we have to wait a long
purely secular educational institu- down every society which those who perhaps to com bat, for they very
time to find out w hether or not we
ion in the world of which we have believe in organization try to pr<>- often join, are elected to office and
then sit down and, like the dog in were fit subjects for a madhouse?
iiiy knowledge.
mote. Most of the critics of our
the m anger, neither do any th in g If im m ortality is unprovable, and
The five thousand dollar fund is work are those who do not believe
not growing as fast as some of our in organization, ami m any of these them selves nor let any one else if if A rm strong makes any claim to
friends would like to see it grow, are so unprincipled that they do not they can help it. Ten persons who reason, he is necessarily in doubt
I he su--
*nd the carpenter work on the main hesitate to set them selves up as can work together, firmly stand on as to his own sanity.
building may he delayed on ae- dictators of those who do, and who the great principles of Secularism pense m ust l>e terrible! Again,
count of our not wishing to order have labored hard to arouse the and yet are willing to yield their death renders life of non-eftect,
the lum ber until we are sure not to people to unite in their fight against little whims to the m ajority, are how would im m o rtality render it
get into debt. We mi st not have organized evils, with unorganized worth a society of thousands who effective, and what would he 1
cannot work together. Let all Sec- effect, since the fact is adm itted .>
debts hanging over this insti- forces.
J. H. M.
tution. It must he free in order to , Some have the idea th a t for a ularisls carefully study the causes unknow able?