TH E TORCH OF FEASON, S! • VERTON. OKEG< N, THURSDAY, XOYE.M! ER 3, 1898.
The Church and the S e c u la r
Vote.
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.
Z~ . , . ,
The Amencan Sent.nel ,g
most sensible rel.gn.us paper on
our exchauge list. Of course it is
not just what we would wish it to
be, for it is still foolishly trying to
train with Christians and be called
by the same name as the very ones
it condems.
On the front page of their Octo­
ber 27th number they have a fine
picture representing the Secular
and Church vote. Below the pic­
ture it says:
Can the ch u rch reform society and
elim in ate th e unrighteous features of
governm ent through politics? How can
she expect to do th is when h e r political
stren g th is less th an o n e -th ird th a t of
the u n righteous w orld?
W hy, in the
face of th is plain tr u th , does th e church
co n tin u ally seek to set up righteousness
in th e governm ent and in society by
law?
E v id en tly th e only th in g th e
ch u rch can do in th is situ atio n is to
effect a com prom ise w ith th e world, as
is alw ays done in politics by th e weaker
p arty . The world will be willing enough
to do this, and to set up an image of
righteousness by incorporating certain
religious observations into th e law ; but
like every com prom ise with th e world,
it will be a religious delusion.
The
cause of righteousness c an n o t be advanc­
ed by any com prom ise of tr u th w ith e r­
ror, or of lig h t w ith darkness.
Development.
o
due, w ithout doubt, to the so­
cial environm ent. W aiter Bagehot
points out the fact th a t in the great
m ajority o f eases our beliefs are
due, not to processes of reasoning,
but to our im itating the beliefs of
current infatuations of bis sect or
party. For a short time—say some
How potent is the social environ-
fortnight—he is resolute; he argues
me„, in „haping tbe mind, of men
and objects; but day by day the
we find ¡, difficult
rea|ia? A(
poison thrives and reason wanes.
one time and in one country in the
What he hears from his friends,
history of the world, we find one tho8p around U8 He
what he reads in the party organ,
idea prevailing, and In another, an-
<<The main 8p8t ((f ,hp imitative produces its effect. The plain, pal­
In Sparta, the brave sol- part of our nature is our beliefs,and pable conclusion which every one
around him believes, has an influ­
ence yet greater and more subtle;
T w e n ty F o re ru n n e rs .
that conclusion seems so solid and
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unmistakable; his own good argu­
ments get daily more and more like
TO B U ILD SECULAR HOM E.
a dream. Soon the gravest sage
shares the folly of the party with
......................................................... 1 8 9 ..
which he acts and the sect with
On d e m a n d , we th e u n d e r s ig n e d p ro m ise to p a y th e L ib -
which he worships.”
p a ri
e ra t U n iv e rsity C om pany F iv e H u n d r e d D o lla r s
fo r a n d in co n sid e ra tio n o f a good a n d su ffic ie n t w a rra n ­
ty d eed fo r one acre o f th e tr a c t o f la n d ly in g w est o f th e
L ib e r a l U n iv ersity a n d th e c ity of S ilv e r to n , M a r io n C o u n ­
ty , O regon, know n as S e c u la r H om e, a n d a w r itte n p ro m ­
ise fr o m s a id com party th a t w ith in n in e ty d a y s a fte r r e ­
ce ip t of s a id F iv e H u n d red ’ D o lla r s [$500] s a id co m p a n y
w ill co m m en ce th e e r ectio n o f a d w e llin g h o u se on s a id
a cre, to cost not less th a n F o u r H u n d r e d D o lla r s [$400], s a id
b u ild in g to be b u ilt on su ch p la n s as th e s a id p a r tie s m a y
agree upon a n d to be fin is h e d w ith in s i x m o n th s fr o m
d a te o f b eg in n in g : P r o v id e d th a t not less th a n n in e te e n
r e lia b le persons ha ve m a d e s im ila r p ro m ises w h en s a id
d e m a n d is m a d e.
S ig n e d ......................................................................
Every one must have noticed
how much more he is influenced by
! the opinions of an able man whom
he meets from day to day than he
is by the opinions of a man whom
he knows merely through hooks,
hut whose ability he estimates as
, much higher. The reason is that
actual contact with a person hold­
ing a belief, appeals to the imitative
part of our nature more strongly
than the simple knowledge, gained
by reading, that a certain individ­
ual holds the belief.
If you wish to become one of the T wenty F orerunners , cut out
But not merelv •/ are beliefs imhih-
or copy the above, sign it. and forward with answers to the following:
F o u r N a m e — ’....................................................................................................... ed in this way due to the social en-
1 vironment, but also those which
•Age..................................................
F a m i ly ....................................................
are reached by processes of reason­
R e lig io u s B e l i e f ...................................................................................................... ing, provided some other mind
thought out the reasons for us.
dier; in Athens, the symmetrically the causes predisposing us to be- And when we remember how little
developed man; among the monks 1 lieve this, or disinclining us to be- originality there is in the world, we
of the Middle Ages, the man who lieve that, are among the obscurest shall begin to see to what an ex­
had completely renounced the parts of our nature. In ‘Eothen’ tent our beliefs are made for us; to
world; among the Jesuits, the man there is a capital description of how what an extent they are due to our
who not only does what his supe- every sort of European resident in social environment. But what we
rior directs, hut who thinks and the East, even the shrewd merchant feel and what we will, depend
feels as his superior does, is the and the post captain, with his largely on what we believe. When
ideal man. \\ hat is the explana- bright, wakeful eyes of commerce, one realizes all this he begins to feel
tion of this? Are these ideals the comes soon to believe in witchcraft, that he himself, like the food he
------------------------------ — ;---- —--------------------------------— - .......................................................................... e a t s and the coat he
wears, is the product
of all the world.—
[Sel.
There is more truth than poetry
in the above, and coupled with the
fine picture of Liberty weighing in
her ballances the Secular and
Church vote while the old priests
and preachers anxiously watch the
result, is very significant.
We wish we were able to give the
readers of the Torch such pictures
as these, and we live in hopes that
some time we can do so. And
while we wait, we hail with delight
the paper which, though still some­
what touched with the giant evil of
superstition,has found -------------
one of the main causes
of the evil in the
world.
Let the Sentinel
O f f ic e o f '
people once find out
M y M o tto is to A ll
Eternity.
that the church with
Be Good.
its hosts of priests
and hypocrites is the
By Being Good,
Here is a school-
real unrighteous fea­
DR. L. S. STOLL, Proprietor.
Bad w ill E v e n tu a lly <
bo v’s definition of
ture of social and po­
M ANUFACTURER
D ie.
eternity:
litical life, and they
“ When ourships all
S t o ll’s F a m ily M e d ic in e s ....
will then be side by
come in; when the sea
R e g is t e r e d P h a r m a c is t N o . 2142.
side with the Torch of
gives up her dead;
*0*
Reason people, who
when Father Time
are not as unrighteous
hangs up his scythe;
Sioux Center, Iowa,
189
as some might sup­
when the heavens are
pose. The church is
rolled up like a scroll;
responsible for nearly
when Gabriel blows
The above is a sample of the johwork we do. We would like to dl> your printing too. It
all the willful un­
the ram’s horn; when
doesn’t mastter where you live. We print anything.
righteousness that re­
the solar system col­
mains in the w’orld to­
lapses; when we find
day, both Secular and saintly, and conclusions of different chains of and to assure you in confidence Charlie Ross and the man who
we hope our friends of church-and- reasoning? Not at all. Question that ‘there really is something in struck Billy Patterson;when Johnny
state fame will soon learn the full an'’ those holding them, and the it’. He has never seen anything gets his gun; when society becomes
meaning of their own words, The best answer J you will * get, the an- convincing himself, but he has seen pure, and ‘after the ball is over’
- . .
, ' swer that goes to the root of the those who have seen those who then will he eternitv ’’-New Orleans
cause of righteousness
cannot
he matter, is
• that
,1, , they
..
,<
,, to
. be
, have
.
t . he
. has
v » lived
• j in
• Times Democrat,
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“seem
seen. T
In fact,
advanced by any compromise of (rue. And what is the explanation i an atmosphere of infectious belief,
______ ______
truth with error, or of light with of this seeming?
. 1 with the
, and he has inhaled it. Scarcely
j
Are jou aocquainted
darkness.”
Here we may rote that it is a any one can help yielding to the merits of the Forstner auger bit?
W ho Does Your P rin tin g ?
(WrvJjRUG
TORE