THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, DECEMBER, 1, 1898.
5
now we want Five Hundred Dol both our dwellings and our tem the silent sort at the altar of the I have placed a copy of the Sunday
lars. Get together, or write to ples on ice which the first dread Unknown and Unknowable”. I laws where he could not fail to see
each other, and see if we can raise rays of sunlight we know must melt cannot imagine any book which has i,; bnt thp Sabbath following the
,i- » j the i human race so . tar I store was opened
as before. I have
that amount by January first. It away. \\ e cannot always keep diverted
L
'
no i l l feeling against the man. He
is due then, aud we want it. We clouds and darkness round about rom the true path of education as , ¡8
my neighbor, I would not injure
will do all in our power to further us, and it is a miserable condition, Professor Huxley traces it out in him.’ But I do not think it is right
the greatest cause on earth — the alike for men and nations, to feel his “Lay Sermons”, as the Bible; °r consistent for me as a Christian
cause of Freethought. We are in a dependent upon being permanently n o r any life traced in the Bible I to allow him to injure the minds of
position where we can do more per able to enforce blindness and main- which has had a tenth part the! his ow’n children and mine.”
manent good than all the Free- tain silence; to live, as it W
’ere, on same effect in causing that wide
The last sentence contains the
thought lecturers and papers com- intellectual sufferance — shivering departure from the study of what kernel of the argument. The writ
hined. This may seem like a big under the uneasy semi-conscious Professor Huxley calls “natural er, being a Christian, feels that it
statement to some, but think of the ness that all our delicate fabric of knowledge” as that of Jesus Christ. would be wrong for him to allow
hundreds and thousands of young, thought and hopes lie at the mercy There never was a more dazzling, the minds of the children and the
energetic, educated workers who of the first pertinacious questioner misleading, will-o’-the-wisp than morals of the community to be in
will be sent out from this institu or rude logician.—[W. R. Greg.
the attitude of Jesus Christ toward jured by non Christian practices.
tion in the coming years. One lec
God if the teaching of Professor Whether keeping open store on
turer or one paper can reach many,
Huxley’s “ Lay Sermons” is to be Sunday is an injury to any person
What
I
never
fully
understood
is
but the many Freethinking lectur
regarded as verifiable.—[Richard or not, is purely a religious ques
the
reverence
which
Professor
Hux
ers, editors and teachers, who go
tion; and he views it in the affirm
IL Hutton.
ley
expressed,
and
certainly
deeply
out fiom the Liberal University,
ative not because he is a man as
felt,
for
Jesus
of
Nazareth
—
whom
will increase all this work in a geo
serting the rights of created beings
he
called
“the
greatest
moral
gen
Religion vs. Rights.
metrical ratio and will liberalize
as such, but because he is a profes
ius
the
world
has
seen”—though
he
the world. We honestly believe
sor of religion. Because he has
himself
regarded
worship
“for
the
The
view
which
some
good
peo
that the building of the Liberal
chosen to profess religion, other
most
part
of
the
silent
sort”
at
“the
ple
take
of
their
moral
responsibili-
University is the greatest work of
people are to be restricted in their
the closing days of the nineteenth
actions by the law of the land.
century.
This is what his view, simply an
T w e n ty Forerunners.
We must not follow the Chris
alyzed, amounts to.
/ v - a A v A / v ~ a / v >< / va / v a / v a / v a ¿ v - / v . / v a / v a / v a / v a / v a / v a / v a / v a / v a / \
£ V
tian plan and, for a few pieces of
K
But human liberties rest on no
silver, allow our Savior of Science
TO B U IL D SECULAR HO M E.
such narrow basis; they cannot
to be betrayed into the hands of !
thus be subjected to the human
the enemy. The Christians are
will. They rest upon the broad
1 8 9 ..
frightened, coaxed and forced into
ground of the common inalienable
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 Litt
supporting their institutions. We
rights shared by all mankind alike,
e r a t U n iv e r sity C o m p a n y F iv e H u n d r e d D o lla r s <$500)
can only appeal to your reason. Is
irrespective of religious belief or
fo r a n d in co n sid e r a tio n o f a g o o d a n d su ffic ie n t w a r r a n
it not a reasonable thing that we,
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
variations of personal condition.
L ib e r a l U n iv e r sity a n d th e c ity of S ilv e r to n ,M a r io n C o u n
while we have life and strength, do
And this is the only proper ground
ty»
O
regon,
kn
ow
n
as
S
e
c
u
la
r
H
om
e,
a
n
d
a
w
r
itte
n
p
r
o
m
all we can for the cause which we
of civil legislation. Based upon
ise fr o m s a id co m p a n y th a t w it h in n in e ty d a y s a ft e r r e
know will save humanity from its
narrower ground, as the believers
c e ip t o f s a id F iv e H u n d r e d D o lla r s [$500J s a id co m p a n y
greatest curse? Let us hasten to
in Sunday sacredness would have
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
the rescue!
it, legislation can only invade the
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 s u c h p la n s a s th e s a id p a r tie s m a y
rights which it ought to protect.
a g ree u p on a n d to be fin is h e d w ith in s i x m o n th s fr o m
The field of religious belief is prop
P ertin en t Paragraphs.
d a te o f b eg in n in g : P r o v id e d t h a t not le ss th a n tw en ty
erly the field of moral suasior, and
r e lia b le persons have sig n e d t h i s co n tra ct w hen s a id
of that only.—[American Sentinel.
SELECTED BY D. PRIESTLEY.
d e m a n d is m a d e.
Everybody knows the effect of
continued intermarriages among
persons related by consanguinity.
The cognate blood, unenriched and
unstimulated from other fountains,
soon breeds weakness, disease and
imbecility. Just so it is with a sect
that shuts out truth because it was
not embraced in the scheme of its
founders. The ideas of such a sect
have no alternative for their con
tinued existence but to breed in
and in, and this, by a psychologic
al law as immutable as the physi
ological, soon begets a progeny of
faith erroneous, absurd, imbecile
and idiotic.—[Horace Mann.
It is not by shirking difficulties
that we can remove them, nor by
avoiding perplexing problems of
life or speculation that we can solve
them, nor by saying “ Hush! hush!”
to every rude questioner that the
question can l>e answered and the
asker silenced. Men cannot go on
forever living upon half exploded
shams, keeping obsolete laws with
admitedly false preambles on our
statute books, professing creeds on
ly half credited and quite incredi
ble, standing or sleeping on suspect-
ed or recognized volcanoes, erecting
S ig n e d ............................. P E T E R R A U C H .
S ig n e d
Catching a “ S p irit” .
An amusing scene occurred dur
If you wish to become one of the T wenty F orerunners , cut out ing the performance of a spiritual
or copy the above, sign it and forward with answers to the following:
istic seance in Birmingham, when
F o u r F u m e ............................................................................................................... several gentlemen who doubted the
A g e ...................
F a m i ly ................................................................................... genuineness of the performance,
R e lig io u s B e l i e f ...................................................................................................... visited the establishment to inves-
___
__
tigate matters. The visitors were
altar of the Unknown and Unknow-{ties in connection with the affairs of I usbpre^
ad.irkoiod room. One
able” as the ideal of the highest hu- their neighbors, is well illustrated
J em P ace his hand upon the
man worship. Of course I do not by the following, which appears in 11
an° 5 UIC, ~ caught bold of
doubt that he made the allowances the correspondence column of the J H
"V* **
hand.
It
was
found that the spirit
whioh every wise man must make Defender. This journal is the or-
for the immense chasm between the gan of Sunday enforcement in New was a young lady who had conduct
age of faith and the age of science, i England, and has been sending out ed the proceedings. A scene en
But why he should speak of Jesus through that section extracts from sued, the visitors denouncing the
Christ “as the realized ideal of al- the Sunday laws of the New Eng- “spirit” as an impostor and trick
most perfect humanity”, if Agnos- land states; and in reply one recip- ster, and one old lady w ho for some
time had been endeavoring to as
ticism be the nearest approach to ient writes:
truth that we have yet made, I can
,. certain the whereabouts of a miss-
not understand. Surely “the real-
“ I received your extracts from in^ W1
Ur8t ,nh) tears wben the
ized ideal of almost perfect human- the Sunday laws. We have a gro- discovery was made.—[Leeds Mer
dealer who
-------
ity ” has done more to keep the hu- cer and provision dealer
per- 1-----
cury.
sists in keeping open his store on
___________
man race from appreciating natural the Sabbath. The day passes very
,
rarely
when
he
does
not
have
from
Civilized
people
arc
becoming
knowledge at the high rate at
which Huxley valued it, than any three to six customers, and often tired of their old rag dolls of Chris-
other human being who ever lived. more. fSome of the children from tian dogmas, and are sending them
Nav even Chri.t’e t.nre and ideal *°. ^?efcn yeafrB ol<! ; 1 h“ve se.«" I»° 'he «mailer children of heathen
x^ay, even unrisi pun anu i ieai repeatedly comefrom the store with
lands, who will play with
morality was rooted deep in the groceries or meat. Some times on
life of the living God, and not at a l l ! [e,Url1*11*’ J ™ • " * / * « * * » » « 11 long
'° ng after they " are
re looked UP° n
have counted four or five young with contempt by the children of
like “ worship for the most part of boyspurchasing candy and cigars. science.