3
T H E TORCH OF REASON, S IL V E R T O N , O REG O N , T H U R SD A Y , S E P T E M B E R 22, 1898.
joy, and d rink thy wine with a
m erry heart, for God (Deity?) now
[Continued from last week.]
accepted) thy work. Let thy gar-
to
Ho you say th a t I write severely? ,nent he alw ays white and th y head
t o
I appeal to every person of thought jack no ointm ent.
Live joyfully
nid experience who has read even wi(h (he wife whom thou lovest all
, little history to say candidly it 1 (he days of thy life which he
. not justified by the facts. And [Deity?] hath given thee under the
whether I ahi the fool of philoso- SUn,
(h a t is thy portion in this
j)hy ° r ^ e philosopher of fools, 1 jjfe> an<] jn th y labor which thou
prefer to he honest to myself and to takest under the sun. W hatsoever
mV fellow' men and m ain tain niv (j)V hand findeth to do, do it with
,wn self-respect, ra th e r than gain a t |,y m ight, for there is no work,nor
little worldly p o p u larity by m aking device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom,
niv life a personification of hypo­ in the grave w hither thou goest. n
And if Solomon was so wise th at
crisy and lying.
C hristians claim th at they have “ none were like unto him before
two chances to my one: th a t if I him , neither should any be after
am tig h t, they are all safe with the him ,” and knew what he wa> talk-
re<tof us; th a t if I am wrong, they ; ng about, 1 am all right. If Chris-
are safe while I am left. I don’t (jang gay th a t I have garbled or
see it th at way.
If they are right perverted Solomon, I reply, let him
and I should profess to believe with am ong you th a t is w ithout this sin,
them, I would go to hell for lying, cast the first stone at me.
sure. A large m ajority of them
The devil may quote scripture on
would he there, or come there, also, occasion, C hristians tell us, and if,
hut th at would not help me any, so I have deemed it better to “ bear
I prefer to be honest and take my the rebuke of the wise than heark-
chances. If deity don’t know its
to (jlt} song of fool!-,” and have
own business and atten d to it, ‘‘suffered not my mouth lo calise
wherefore should sin he laid to my my flesh to sin ,” wherefore should
barge? But all this is too foolish I he adjudged a “ sin n er” ?
to write about, and I only do it for
‘-Judge not th at }e be not judged,
the benefit of those who are sim ple fpr with what judgm ent \c judge
enough to believe in C h ristian ity , ye sh all he judged, amt with w hat
As I have said above, and here m easure ye mete it sin he meas-
repeat, religion (th a t io any good) ured to you again."'
consists in living a right(eous) life i p u t a n y system of su p ern atu ral
here. The future will take care of religion is unnecessary. It is not
itself. We have no p a rt or knowl- even a useful convenience. It is a
edge in coming here; we will have nuisance. The moral m axim s of
no part or knowledge in going. The t jlv ancient philosophers from time
wisest man the C hristians tell us of im m ém orial leave nothing more to
is represented to have said:
he said. A nd their ad ap tatio n , re-
“ There is no rem em brance of for- ¡hashing and reiteration by religion-
mer tilings, neither shall there he ists, and th eir claim s to have orig-
any rem em brance of things to come, inated them , is the veriest of rot.
with those th a t shall come after. .
The doctrine of a “ fall” of man-
A nd, moreover, I saw under kind is only a pernicious fraud,
the sun the place of ju dgm ent, th at leach a child that he is natu rally
*
wickedness was there; and the place depraved, it is the s u r e s t wav to de-
of righteousness, th a t iniquity was prave him . To teach th a t people
there. A nd I said in mv h eart, God are hv n atu re good and true, and V r
[d eh y j shall judge the righteous th a t every bad action ’8 a d ep art-j
and the wicked, for there is a time tire from their norm al condition, is
for every purpose and for every the true way to elevate the moral
work. I said in my heart concern- character of young or old.
I have
ing the estate of the sons of men, ' a better opinion of “ God” and my
th at God [deity] m ight m anifest fellow beings th an to believe that
them and th a t they m ight see that they are horn n a tu ra lly vile,
tle y
them selves were beasts.
C hristians have a r ig h t to think
Eor th at which befalleth the sons ju st as little of them selves as they
of men befalleth beasts; even one choose; hut they have no right to
thing befalleth them .
As one claim the same degree of dégrada
dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they tion for others. The doctrine th at
have all one breath, so th a t a m an ! “ th e greater the sinner the greater
M y H o n e s t O p in io n s .
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hath no preem inence over a b e a s t,, the saint is the patent of untold
for all is vanity.
All go to one crimes.
“ Total d ep rav ity ” is a beastly
place; all are of the dust and all
turn to dust again. W ho knoweth hum bug. People are not n atu ra lly
the sp irit of a m an that goeth up- depraved. I have had sixtv-nine
war«!, and the sp irit of a beast that vears’ experience, and I have found
goeth dow nw ard to the ea rth ? them by nature disposed to do right,
There are
W herefore I perceive th a t there is to he honest and m oral
nothing better th an th at a man exceptions, hut the exceptions only
D eparture from
should rejoice in his ow n works,for prove the rub*.
th a t is his portion, for who shall rectitude is m a rly alw ays caused
ami
bring him to see th a t which by heredity, environm ent
Mostly the
shall be after him ? Go thv way, C hristian teaching.
Concluded on 6th page.
therefore, and eat thy bread w ith |
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