Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (June 2, 1898)
TORCH VOL. 2. 1 O\J 6 H T & ,lu S IL V E R T O N , O R E G O N , T H U R S D A Y , J U N E 2, 189S. W hat M atters It? Hires, though he avoided the logic- al conclusions to which it led in BY J. A. EDGERTOX. disputably. Of course, if the bible What m atters it if joy or grief is to he tested after the scientific should fall u n to o u r portio n ? method to determ ine its title to If happiness is only brief, V fleeting is m isfortune. credibility, its whole su p ern atu ral \ t any rate, th e self-sam e fate character goes by the board. If it H ands at th e verge before us. ’Ti- hut a little w hile to w ait, presents only the im aginings of His shadow settles o ’e r us. men as to the m ysteries of a world ’Tis just a* well to w ear a sm ile And all life's tem pests w eather j outside the reach of sense, and not U ntroubled. In a little w hile the positive and absolute tru th re We’ll all lie dead together. vealed by an om niscient god to its \\ hat m a tte rs it? A few days m ore inspired w riters, it is not the word The c h a p te r m ay he ended. V ross oblivion’s tioundless shore of God, hut merely a record of the i )ur dream s will all he blended. groping of hum an intelligence after Howe’er we seek to m end our lot, In spite of o u r e n d e a v o r, nndiscoverahle tru th . None of the We age, we die, and are forgot occurrences described as supernal* F<»rever a nd fore v er. ’Tis just as well to he co n ten t, ural in the scriptures conies within Nor seek to break th e te th e r * That hinds us. W hen th e years are spent, the requirem ents of scientific de We’ll all be dead to g eth er. m onstration. Dr. McGifier t’s reduc- tion of the last supper to a m atter- What m atters it? For when we go New men will take our places; of-fact meal purely is only a single And. in a m illion years or so, Will come new lands and races; instance of the wholesale destruc- And when, w ithin som e la te r tim e, tion of the supernaturalism on The earth dies, d ropping sun-w ard, From out th e wom b of th e sublim e which C h ristian ity rests. H is New worlds will h asten onw ard. m ethod of approach would destroy A moment in e te rn ity , Our life is but a feath er every m iracle; the virgin birth, tlie Blown from us. T hrough th e long to-be, crucifixion, the resurrection, and We’ll ail lie dead together. the whole scheme of salvation as What m atters it? For, a t th e best, propounded in the scriptures and Soon ceases joy and sorrow . We {»ass to e v e r la s tin g re s t, developed by theology. Or to a b rig h te r m orrow . I bis leaven of unbelief has enter- 1 is hut th e sto p p in g of th e b rea th , And ended is the s to r y ; ed into the Presbyterian church, We journey through th e gates of d eath hut it has not yet been attacked To dream less sleep or glory. So w hat's the use of sighs and tears? squarely, much less expelled. It is The fates aw ait us, w h eth er working more and more powerfully. We smile or weep. A h u ndred years, We’ll all he d ta d together. It m ay not have affected th e great — [In v estig a to r. body of the P resbyterian laity, more especially th a t part of it at a Changing of th e Chameleon. distance from the great urban cen tres, and probably the older school BY B. F. UNDERWOOD. of m inisters are generally free from jt; b u t it is discoverable am ong the A writer on anim als and their most scholarly and influential of habits, C. F. Holden, contributes a paper to the Scientific American, Presbyterian theologians, ami ap- explaitiing how cham eleons change i Qa n k e r a t p re s b y te ria n V ita ls. Pears unm istakably in the more their color. ( __ im p o rtan t Presbyterian theological The American cham eleon, well It is obvious, as the Rev. Dr.Cox sem inaries, either in frank confes- <~1----------------------------------- known in Florida and o ther south of * T P '~ re o *’ k ly n 1 h ------ as re -------— m a rk e d '** , th a t the sion or in tolerance —v:~t. which indicates I i U i ' I i i \ » kJ v* • » » a • A a ■ V a • y V/ *» ■ When the little creature was blindfolded it assumed the same tint as at night and did not change when placed upon the most strik- ing colors, showing th at the eye was the medium through which the tin ts were obtained. 1 he first thought of one who has not m ade the cham eleon an object of special attention is th a t there must be an intelligent act associat- ed with the change, th at the crea- ture glances around and seeing th at it presents a contrast unfavorable to its safety, assumes a color for protection. Rut the fact is, the change is involuntary, and the adaptations are the effects which , . . certain colors have upon the pig- m ent cells of the anim al. These pigm ent cells vary in color in dif- ferent anim als, and may he red, brown, green, yellow, black, or va rious shades of these colors. These pigment cells are distributed all over the body, and «as they expand or contract, the color of the anim al changes. Ju st how these changes in ani- mals that adapt them selves to the color of their surroundings is pro- duced is unknow n, but Mr. H old e n ’s observations confirm the con clusion th at certain colors through the medium of the optic nerve pro duce contraction or expansion, and cause the protective tin t which re semhles that upon which the ani- mal is resting. 1 he stim ulus or impression which is received by the eye passes from the optic nerve to the sym pathetic nerve and so reaches the various series of pig- nient cells. ern sta hich is ........................... ab o u t fiv e in .. c h - P re sh v te ria n ch u rch is face to face th a t it is not unw elcom e. T he Rev. ... tes, , w ........... es long and of a dark green hue with a revolutionary movement sliading to gray, have the p e c u lia r-! within the ranks of its clergy and ity of assim ilating slowly the color divinity teachers, directed against of the objects upon which they rest, the very foundations of its religious At night th eir color m ay he sup- belief. This ra tio n a lis tic ‘‘leaven”, p o s td to b e th eir norm al one, and as another Presbyterian m inister that is a beautiful green. describes it, m ust he expelled by Says Mr. H olden: ‘‘There is heroic m easures or it will surely something n n st» rious and even un- leaven the whole lump. «anny in watching the change of' I)’. McGiffert’s treatm ent of the color. When placed on a green last supper as a simple six’ial ineal, twig, the little creature would irn- without any m ysterious significance mediately draw itself out,extend its or symbolism, m arks sim ply the ad- h'ont and hind legs at full length, vanced position of the revolution- and become t«> all in ten ts a part of ists as it now is; hut they must go ’he twig or branch, so th a t it was much further. If the same method difficult to distinguish it. Mean- of analysis is applied to all the while the m ysterious blush of green gospel narratives of su pernatural Was deepening ami stealing over its occurrences, what is left of them ? hack and sides, m aking the resem Dr. Priggs prepared the w ay in hi* ration; listic criticism of the scrip- blance more strik in g .” NO. 25. Hereafter. If our existence is to be co n tin ued after d eath w ithout these sens es, what will our existence am ount to? Let any m an ask him self w hat life would be w orth if he could nei ther see, hear, taste, smell nor feel anything. There w’ould be neither pleasant nor u n p leasan t sounds or sights; nothing agreeabler nor d is agreeable to taste or smell. We could not suffer, for we could not feel. In short, it would be im possi ble for a m an to tell w hether he ex isted or not; neither could he know an y th in g . Could there be an y heaven or hell u n d er such condi tions? How could a m an wear a crow n? H e could not tell a crown froni a h o rn e t’s nest, and would not know w hether it was on or off’ any more th an a post. How could he tw ang a harp? H e could not tell the sound of a harp from the cro ak ing of a frog. If there is a hereafter, we m ay be sure th a t there will not be a heav en for the few and hell for the m ul titude. If there is hell for one, it will he hell for all. N ature never does a n y th in g by halves. She is often cruel, but never p artial. She has no favorites. The rain de scends upon the ju st and the unjust. T he sun shines for all — the birds sing for all. I be ffood sweeps ev ery th in g before it and shows nei th er mercy nor favor. The drought does not favor one and then parch another. More churches are struck by lightning than theatres. Build both alike and the chances will be equal. All things fare alike un d er th e same conditions when the same causes are a t work. All the C hris tian schemes ever devised cannot th w art the p lan s of nature. She is ‘‘whole hog” in her operations, and never splits differences to favor men, gods or devils. Gods and ghosts, angels and devils, are a p h an tasm . Life beyond the grave is an illusion; heaven is nowhere, and bell is played out. The bible is as m uch the word of the devil as the word of God. C h ristia n ity is a fraud, m inisters are m ountebanks, and churches are organizations to tra p the unw ary. He th a t h ath eyes to see, let him see.— [J o h n Peek, in F reethinker. D r.W a rfie ld ,th e p ro fe sso ro fd id a c - tic and polem ical theology in Princeton Theological S em inary, is quoted as saying th a t nothing shows better “ how deeply the cank- er has eaten into our c h u rch ” ¿han the circum stance th a t “ now-a-days some P resbyterians write of Jesus in a m anner indistinguishable from U n itarian ism ” ; and the rem ark is sustained by the declaration of a U n itarian m inister, preaching in ^ ‘*w York last Sunday, th a t Dr. McGiffert “ has turned on the sun- light, has dispelled the fog”.— [New’ Logical consequences are the York W orld. scarecrow of fools and the beacons of wise men. T he only question which If the church had never gone in- any wise m an can ask him self is, to politics, religious persecution w hether a doctrine is true or false. would never hav$ been a political Consqeuences will take careof them proceeding.—[Ex. selves.— [H uxley.