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About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 1898)
LI '’lllilìl OF F EASON . NO. 32. 8 IL V E B T 0 N , OREGON , TH U R SD A Y , AVGUST 18, I 898- VOL. 2. nr IF. Revised for th e T orch of R eason.] H -a n would but his h^er naUreknow ’ We <* and M„c h * o b te r Still m ight be his fellow • - -v-s m in d un.-hack led fro m tk<—o t a r l\ a n ti-n a tu ra l, tendency <u of the C hris-, ut Send. XJ,or* r e l ° i g i o Lims-1 tian religion. According to the of our C hristian ancestor,- . gospel of the G alilean B uddhists, taught to neglect the health la» s earth , with all its joys and desires, nature as unw orthy the a with all its visible and invisible a candidate for the higher blesstnge h a b ita n ts, is wholly evil; the re-1 of th e world to come Every’ op- nunciation of tem poral blessings is postton p„9iton to the tyranny v r a n n y of om m ■ = _ • . •• 1 the first condition of eternal welfare, or sp iritu al a n th o n ti , m en' ( 1 J w biB better nature learn . Of passion, much of sins th a t and death the only gate of true life. The C hristians did not deny the existence of the pagan deities: they m erely changed them into devils. T he pagan Pantheon became a pan dem onium . Rivers, woods, and m ountains swarm ed, not with hai m- less nym phs and d ry ad s, b u t with enipting of the tem pting demons, (lemons, emissaries em issario u« Z, u s restrain ts, ts, begin? begins to »0 ex ex- religious restrain am ine for itself, th ere are ten th o u sand obstacles in the path of tru th ; there is still this long-cherished fear of offending those whom they have been taugh to reverence and love; , ‘ tl,i s .,t r h a p ., deep sense of sham e, because they ......... » .......... they ought to have been fam iliar; The life-blood from bis heart so fall 1,1 of subm ission to injustice. T he holy there is a feeling of discourage alliance of church and state disdain M igbt^bv this learning, all be then m ent at the contem plation of those ed to recognize the n a tu ra l rights • 11 : — made clear. e„ f ‘ n t e n ^ h o s e n a tu ra l in stin cts who are a p p a re n tly firm in th eir i i lint his finer nature f e e l . n ’ (1 t o he wholly evil. In conviction, and enjoying the p ta s IS oT V an ? painful wounds his hands were supposed to he w holly ev u re so f unw avering faith; then there That n o j? n k u 'm is e ra b le bis brothers, every progrese of n a tu ra l scien’ce, is the cu ttin g , w ithering convic the guardians of an anti n a tu ra l t- tion th at they are unsettled in th eir They should be helpful, earnest, toiling m en! ........ .. ..................... opinions, and yet cannot express a H man would grandly feel and learn and superhum an powers to the seduction doubt,w ithout sacrificing character. Every philosopher, every m ath s S s e s « ” » “ and affliction of A dam 's progeny. em atician, every n atu ra list, had to It takes a firm and decided m ind, T he gods and saints of G recce,Rome, keep the secret of his discoveries, if particularly if one possesses warm and Palestine,descended from heav Until hem'nde of this a fair, a perfect he wished to keep his head. 1 he and ard en t affections, to hear up en to share the earthly joys of m or land. night of the m iddle ages was not the with perseverance, under the pres tals, to bless and hallow the scenes n a tu ra l blindness of unenlightened sure of circum stances like these. of th eir earth ly struggles and tn - And we have often th o u g h t th a t barbarians, but an u n n atu ra l d a rk The N ig h t of th e H iddle Ages. um phs.The eaints’of Buddhism and m any an individual th u s ed u cated , ness, m aintained by an elaborate C h ristia n ity visited ea»th to m ar its BY FE LIX OSWALD, M. D. system of sp iritual despotism , and or rath e r th u s perm itted to grow joys, to depreciate its blessings, to up in ignorance, has, in the m ad in spite of the fierce struggles of ness of disappointed enthusiasm , “ Your prayers for light &JJr wean its children from their n atu ra l m any light-loving nations.— f 1 he pwered, if vou consent to open . instincts and sym pathies. H as th e rejected the tr u th , through fear of eyes.” —[G. E. Lessing. S»cret of the East. worship of sorrow ever failed to subjection to the bigotry of e rro i. Since the dawn of modern ration- darken the light of nature? Has i t 1 E ducation prevents such c a ta s alism , the path of social reform h as E d u catio n a C ure for B ig o try . added one m illet-seed to the sum of trophes. It scatters light upon what been been obstructed obstructed by oy a a S phinx th a t ’ earth iy ,,appineHS? Did the Apostle is-dark, instead of enveloping it in Ignorance is not only the m other still propounds h er rid He to • ; f G a]i,ee ever speak one word in tenfold darkness. It encourages in philosopher, to every moral..«h to of superstition, she is also the p ar favor of in d u stry ,ratio n al education, quiry because it loves the tru th . every speculative h isto rian. ih a ent of fear. He who has no definite the love and study of n atu re, The parent who is instructed wishes Sphinx is the C h ristian religion, physical and intellectual culture? knowledge of w hat he professes to the child to ask, th a t it m ay receive and the riddle,w hich has to he so v- Not one. H as his mission prom oted believe, is not only afraid openly to its in stru ctio n . R easonable doudts ed before we can clear the roat o our progress in the paths of science avow his sentim ents, and firmly to are heard w ith atten tio n , and progress, is the enigm a of the Mid- and freedom? N ot one step. H is m aintain them , but he is also afraid answ ered with candor, and the v il to have them very closely exam ined. doctrine in a ll its tendencies is lage where such a state of society ex W hence th a t dreadful night th a wholly u n e a rth ly , and therefore T he consequence is, th a t if he pos ists, is a village from which bigotry followed suddenly an d u n n a tu ra lly sesses any power over those th a t are wholly unavailable for secular p u r flies, and in which tru th m akes her ab o u t him , he finds it far easier to upon the b rig h t sunrise of pagan dw elling.—[H orace Seaver, poses. propagate and defend his opinions civilization? th a t long ec tp se The pagan gods were the deified reason, science, freedom, and h a p powers of N ature, the patrons of by the awe of his au th o rity , than Religion and m orality have never piness, th a t trance-like lethargy o. m ariners, shepherds, and husband by the clearness of his explanations Ihe very n atio n s w hich before and men. The C hristian gods, were the and the force of his argum ents. kept abreast. The most strik in g ly after gave the most decided proofs deified enem ies of N ature. , Even Hence, an ignorant people are afraid religious epochs have been those most d ark ly stained with b ru ta lity of th eir capacity for m ental pro the C hristian Deus M axim us frown of frank inquiry and close investi and fraud. Evolution and dissolu gress? W hat tu rn ed th eir health in ed on ea rth ly pleasures, and could gation, not so m uch, perhaps, be tion of peoples, as of all things, is to a thousand y ears’ disease? cause they fear the skepticism of ceaseless; b u t th e evolving peoples be propitiated only by the m or Was it the influence of a supernat- tification of almost every natural others, as because they dread the are the least religious and the dis solving peoples the most religious. _ „? Then, how did the u - exposure of their own ignorance. u ra l religion? It is here, then, th a t bigotry be C ivilzation and m orals, in evolving follow er, of other su p ern a tu ral become an A n .to r m entor, a together; and our >e p peoples, e o p le s , run ru n iv p -u . d s , happen happen to to escape th at doom. cele6tial grand-inquisitor, „ d .i nquieltor, who who de- de- gins to fetter the powers of the m o d ern a n d m o ral c iv iliz a tio n is creed an m and to chain it in H niainlv due to Pagan letters an •or we should not forget th a t the , ,i an im plicit submission kuoim i »» iuu of “ * hum nuujuu w ind, .....>--------- For far more oisirrPMHg distressing th an A rab science. The forces of religion m in g -h o u r of o ur - prosperous eaTO„ t0 inhum an dogmas; thraldom tar m oilin'^ ••— u . u _________ ^ . o — i a “ . - - ««at v nlurality Of the the e im in.prisonm of th the body. not i.ln ra litv of th p prisonm ris o n m errt e ent m of oi «>|c e bo w u y. j . are a are re n u i those nnm v of t progress, » an d pro- * Age of Reason is b u t a m om ent n and doomed the vast lhe ‘ ...... , , child ure-sive forces are not religious. Bi th ’a i com pared w ith the long centuries ())e torture6 of an ever Among an ignorant people, the child is not perm itted, with freedom, to ,n(,r a ijt y a necessity of sentient of h ealth an d prosperity which t >e a u t o d a-fe. jH a pr jm ary an d in h eren t Greeks, th e S panish Moors, and ¡„stin ct of freedom, in the .express its sentim ents. To dare to E astern ^ r a c e n s contrived to com- know)edge ahd the sense of doubt w hat has beeq said to be tru e prOperty of nerve-m atter. M orality bv its friends and its relations, is to j8 an endow m ent of all anim als, bine w ith a firm belief in t beauty, the C hristian m oralists,like subject. itself, if not to th eir censure w H .e rd tg io n ^ s a n a ^ m ty of su p ern atu ral agencies. • philosophers, recognized U "“ X " H S ‘r ‘t he f J v e r of a m ysterious insptra- at least to their gloomy frowns and . ^ . t ¡n thp jpS8 cult ured and pal- j:« ,,rence, th a t th eir d ark suspicions. I ho result is, ¡n th e more cultured civiliza natio n s ui of u Europe, nations u i 'T » n v . i , . tion, hut w t inspiration not the inculcation of correct senti- t ;„„s. M orality is p rim ary and fun- h ad contented them w ith - the T selves i X e ; the h e p pagans a g a .,s ascribed a s c r i,d t that h a , i in n . In I.... ratn m , u; X of a[) ; . . . .......................... inculcation of such belie s. m isery of the Middie A ge. was due , hv wi,e8 of a tem pting ra n t bigotry; and then, when the and t , . n » t o , y . - [ J o r . not to the su p ern atu ral, but to m e