5
THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, NOVEMBER, 17, 1898.
An A gnostic’s View.
K eep Y o u r
..The...
E ditor T orch of R eason :
In the Torch of October 27 is an
interesting discussion, by Charles
K. Tenney, of your editorial on the
“supreme being”. Mr. Tenney is
always interesting, but I do not re­
gard him to be infallible, any more
than Moses. He graphically proves
that all phenomena of nature is
caused by the “action of matter on
matter”. On this theory he ac­
counts for the growing grass, the
blowing storms, the falling rain,the
birth and death of man, and the
movements of the planets. So far,
so good. I travel the same road
with him up to this point. But he
goes on to argue, as I understand
his conclusions, that for the reasons
above mentioned, he knows that
“matter acting upon matter is the
supreme power” Now if Mr. Ien-
ney will explain what causes “mat­
ter to act on matter”, I will be
more willing to accept his gospel.
Surely matter cannot “act” unless
some power causes it to act. If
matter is a dead weight, how can it Coolidge’s Brick, Opposite Bank,
“ act”? To say that “everything is
SILVERTON, OREGON.
god” is another way of saying
that you do not know what God is,
or whether there is any God at all. ,
To say that “natural law” makes T T U p
us grow and die is but using the
phrase “natural law” as a synonym
for the word “god”. Mangasarian,
MBS. D. L. FIE S TE R , PROP.
the Chicago ethical teacher, says
that God consists in “what is not
known”. The less we know, the
bigger God is, and the more we ...FASHIONABLE M ILLIN E R Y ...
know, the smaller God becomes.
The trouble with our Atheistic
friends is that they put themselves
LA TEST STYLES
in exactly the same position as the
theologian—both claim to know all
L A R G E S T STO C K
about it. What is the use of trying
P R I C E S R IG H T
to disprove things that are not
proven? If a man tells me that
“ the moon is made of green cheese”, SEE THE LOVELY PRODUCTIONS
it is not necessary for me to get
....BY OUR.....
excited and rush around for proof
that it is not true. Ratner demand
that the man who make the asser­ Chicago T rim m e r!
tion prove his statement. It is
wasting time for us to be worrying
291 Commercial Street,
ourselves about the claims of the SALEM
ORE(
existence of a god when no one has
yet proved that one exists. Fifty
years ago, if some dreamer had said
Six Tracis te Promote
that it was possible to send a mes­
sage to London in a fraction of a
second, that it was possible to talk
from New York to Kansas City,
that it was possible to ride across
In Place of Christianity:
the continent in four days, or that
Promote
it was possible to see through a «
block of wood, Mr. Tenney would
i^tion?
have jumped up and down and 3 ¡s Religion or Science More Reliable?
proved that it was “not so”. Just 4 Evolution and Comparison of Religions,
so with the existence of a god. Let 5 Does Belief in Miracles Benefit?
those who claim that there is a god 6 Immortality or Annihilation?
trot him out where we can get a
j u s t TH t t h i n g
,
i m a n t i t h e n to hand to vour Christian friends. Send
good,
square look a at t h him
and then „
f)> o r
( o r tr a c lf ,
to E liza M owry B liven , Brook­
we will talk seriously about his ex-
lyn, Conn., or send 10 cents
istence. In the meantime, let us
for 60, either kind or as­
abstain from the theological prac­
sorted kinds, to
tice of niakiug assertions that we
THE LIBERAL UNIVERSITY CO.,
know nothing about.
o n t h i s s p o t.
W
The
New
Store
Scientific
W isdom
W . E .
J ohnson .
$liv«rton
•
.
♦
Oregno
Liberal
U niversity
T H E O N LY S C H O O L
OF T H E K IN D .
F ree from S uperstition
S trictly N on-Sectarian
Sc)
P u p ils a re G iv e n E v e ry O p p o r t u n i t y to
L e a rn
W ith o u t B e in g H a m p e r e d b y S u p e r s t i ­
tio n s a n d D o g m a s.
L o c a tio n H e a lth fu l,
S o c ie tv G o o d .
E x p e n s e s M o d e ra te
A S p le n d id C o r p s o f T e a c h e r s a n d G o o d F a c i -
itie s fo r T e a c h in g .
F o r in f o r m a tio n ,
ad d re ss
«
J. E. H O S M E R , Ph. D., B. S. D.,
P R E S ID E N T ,
SILVERTON.
OREGON.