Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903, December 08, 1898, Image 1

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    T orch of
VOL. 2.
R eason .
SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1898.
NO. 48.
Liberty.
an internal ÎUuaiônÏ’To think t h « t k , ', ‘ h n l
.” *‘“7
no‘ , h“ 80 n> ’ >•»
himself and was
.
.
.
.
i
’
......
..«r,
iiiuir-eii
a n a w as
an internal illusion! To think that u.th .he requisitions of theology! also his own father, and who
L ib erty , can m an resign thee
was
Once hav in g felt th v generous they begin with the superstition of
hat a new sense of reverence immortal, to die upon the cros«
flam e?
supposing
a
God
of
essentially
their
Can dungeons, bolts or bars confine thee,
awakens ,n us when,dismissing the and, by this sacrifice, to atone for
O r w hips th y noble sp irit tam e?
own nature, who is their friend and
age of a creator bringing the the sin which God himself had
Too long th e world has w ept, bew ailing
T h at falsehood’s dagger ty ra n ts w ield ; in sympathy with them, and the universe out of nothing, we clearly
•
,
—
■■ j cal,sed Adam to commit, and thus
But freedom is o u r sword and shield, director of all the events of their
perceive that the very conception to appease the merciless vengeance
And all th e ir a rts a re u navailing.
lives and the thoughts of their
To arm s, to arm s, ye b ra v e !
at i r 13 a g,re8t f°r
a'"1 ° f ' he
which would
T he avenging sw ord u n sh e a th e !
minds; and how\ when driven from D
that
deeper
and
deeper
down
in
otherwise
have
been
continued
M arch on, m arch on, all h e a rts resolved
this
grosser
superstition
by
the
evi­
On victory or d e a th .
f a r i b t i T l 1 ’.l,'"e’ /.ar,her. a'.'d a«ain8t men -Vet “ »born for an of-
—Hom e P astim es.
dences of Law which are all around farther away in the vistas of the
them, they remove their God a ages, all was still what we see it ftnse they could not have been con­
--—
- - in V
cerned
or a M
accessory to. Wheth
Release From Notions.—Entrance stage from them, and talk of a gen-
n
o
w
-a
system
of
ever-working
er
those
who
had died before
Upon Knowledge.
eial instead of a particular provi­ forces, producing forms, uniform in
dence, and a necessity which mod­ certain lines and largely various in Christ’s coming are redeemed the
BY HARRIET MARTINEAU.
ifies the character of prayer, and the whole, and all under the opera- Bible does not clearly tell us.
nf ,•
. i. r
*
1 h°8e born a^ter are redeemed only
how, next, when the absolute do­ Hnn
Ron of „„mutable Law! But lio n condition of their faith in the
AM glad I asked you in what
minion of Law7 opens more and
....
.
......jwu to u h you
mt- on
pnv
sense you used the words
. not ’ enlarge
the priv- efficacy of the sacrifice offered, and
more
to
their
perceptior,
excluding
I
ileges
of
a
state
of
freedom
and re-
“God,’’ “Origin,” etc., for your
in the truth of the history of Jesus’
reply comes to me like a piece of all notions of revelation and per- ality. You know what it is to have life. The doctrine of salvation by
refreshing sympathy—as rare as it soual intercourse between a God no longer cause to blush for the sacrifice of human life is the doc-
a man, and of sameness of na- moral character of your faith and ♦ '
T ° u “ m an
the doc
is refreshing. I can not tell you and
ture in God and man: to think to t r ^ h ,«
° f a barba™ * a" d «»Pe»ti
how the pain grows upon me of ture in God and man; to think to tremble when a passing breeze tious age; the outgrowth of a bru­
seeing how little notion men have that, when men have reached this finds its way into the old cavern tal and depraved era. The God
of the modesty and largeness of point under the guidance of science, I and shakes its painted vapors and who accepts the bloody offering of
conception necessary in approach­ they should yet cling to the base-j threatens to dissolve them,
an innocent victim in lieu of pun­
less
notion
of
a
single,
conscious
be-1
I
look
back
with
a
kind
of
bor­
ing the study of themselves or any
ishing the guilty culprit shows no
other part of nature; and in the ing outside of nature—himself uu- ror, as well as deep pity, on myself mercy in sparing the offender: he
conduct of their mere daily busi accounted for, and not himself ac- in the days when I thought it mv has already satiated his lust for
ness. Of all the people I have ever counting for nature! How far hap- duty to cultivate (against nature) vengeance on the first object pre­
known, how few there are who can pier it is to see—how much wiser to J an anxious solicitude about my sented to him.
suspend their opinion on so vast a adm it— that we know nothing ¡own “salvation”—my own future
"Vet sacrifice is an early and
whatever
about
the
matter!
And
spiritual
welfare.
I
should
now
subject as the origin and progres­
prominent, and, with slight excep­
sion of the universe! How few from the moment when we begin to ¡think this as bad as engrossing tion, an abiding feature in the He­
there are who have ever thought of discover the superstition of our j myself with storing up means of brew record — sacrifice of life finds
suspending their opinion! How childhood to be melting away—to prosperity while my brother had appreciative acceptance from the
few who would not think it a sin so discover how absurd and shocking need. How sweet it is to be loose Jewish deity. Cain’s offering of
to suspend their opinion! To me, it is to be talking every day about ] from all such solicitude, and to let fruits is ineffective, but Abel’s altar
however, it seems absolutely neces­ our own passing moods and paltry ' one’s best nature have its free play bearing the firstlings of his flock,
sary, as well as the greatest possi­ interests to a supposed author and , from hour to hour!—[ Letters on and the fat thereof, finds respect in
ble relief, to come to a plain under­ guide of the universe—how well it| the Laws of Man’s Nature,
the sight of the Lord. While the
standing with myself about it: and would be for us to set our minds
face of the earth was disfigured by
free
altogether—to
open
them
wide
A Relic of Ignorance.
deep and sweet is the repose for
the rotting dead, after God in his
to
evidence
of
what
is
true
and
having done so. There is no the
infinite mercy had deluged the
what
is
not!
Till
this
is
done,
by
chaules
bradlaugh
.
ory of a God, of an author of na
world, then it was that the ascend­
tore, of an origin of the universe, there is every danger of confusion
sac-
HE atonement theory, as pre- ing
," « smoke
Hn,OKfi from
,7om Noah’s
¡'«>»»’8 burnt
burntsic-
in
our
faculties
of
reverence,
of
which is not utterly repugnant to
eented to U3 by the Bible, is "
b'rd a" d ljea8t Produeed
conscience, of moral perception,
my faculties; which is not (to my .............
.
ano pract.ce ot ,
in
»" *>»<>»•: God i t T T , , *,CaVe,‘’ and God him-
feelings) so irreverent as to make and of the pursuit and practice of
me blush; so misleading as to make trulh. When it is done, what re- crea,e8 man- ««"ounded by such ro88ted' meats"” ' T o T h " h™"?
.
. '
me mourn. I can now hardly be pose begins to pervade the mind! circumstances 88 <he divine mind
What
clearness
of
m
o
.»
l
„
........
...
I
chose,
in
the
selection of which man
lieve that it was I who once read What clearness of moral purpose
bad no* voice, and the effects
effects of
of
. tba" f° " y-
. ,t ls , cnme' The
Milton with scarcely any recoil; or naturally ensues, and what health­
past can never be recalled, and the
Faley’s Natural Theology with ful activity of the moral faculties! which on man were all foreknown only reference to it should be that,
pleasure at the ingenuity of the When we have finally dismissed all and predestined by Deity. The re­ by marking its events, we may
mechanic god he thought he was notion of subjection to a supreme sult is man’s fall on the very first avoid its evil deeds and improve
recommending to the admiration lawless will all the perplexing temptation, so frail the nature with upon its good ones. For Jesus him­
of his readers. To think what the notions about sin and responsibil­ which he was endowed, or so pow­ self—can man believe in him?—in
God of the multitude is—morally, ity, and arbitrary reward and pun­ erful the temptation to which he his history contained in anonymous
as well as physically! To think ishment—and stand free to see was subjected. For this fall, not pamphlets uncorroborated by con-
what the God of the spiritualist is! where we are, and to see our own only does the All-merciful punish pampn,e' 8 «"corroborated by cou-
nalure, and recognize our own con- Adam’ Dut also b*8 P°8t«rity; and *8nW"rar5 ,e9,l'no"y y—^>8 history
and to remember the admission of nature, and recognize our own con­
ditions—the relief is like that of thi" Pu">8h>"ent went on for many
hich .nordertofulfillaproph-
the best of that class, that God is a ditions—the relief is like that of
coming out of a cave full of paint Centuri“ - “»‘¡' «»d, the immuta 8 y » ^ h does not relate to him,
projection of their own ideal fac­
free ~~
sky
*”
is demon-
j , b|e, chaug,,! his purpose of oontin- Htr , dT "
ulty, recognizable only through ed shadows under the ----
with the earth open a ro u n d . ..
“al condemnation of men for sins 8‘ ' t8( by''"«.ug through two self-
that class of faculties, and by no with the earth open around us to
they had no share in, and was Icontrad,c' ory genealog.es the de-
means through any external evi­ the horizon. \\ hat a new percep­
wearied with his long series of un-
° f J°8<>ph who wa" not bis
dence! to see that they give the tion we obtain of “the beauty of
.
" just judgments on those whom he j fa‘ber ~ th,ei hl8t°ry >" which the
same account of the origin of idols; holiness —the lovl.nessofa health- cr,.8ted ¡„ order , hat hg
infinite God grows from babyhood
and simply pronounce that the first
ful moral condition - accordant judge them. That then God
O
I
T
tbe„ pa’