Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 1899)
th e TORCH of REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, JANUARY 12. 1*M>. 6 whom Luke writes was born. This mav seem strange, but we snould remember that “all things are pos * BY’ CHAH. C. MILLARD. % sible with God.” Our Christian friends often cite With these facts before him, what, the letters A. D., which are com- * ueVuuv ------- devout monk - to do? - 1 he , monly affixed to dates, as establish- «qnerrant word,” according to Mat ing and commemorating the fact tyiew> wag jU8t as strong as the “in- To sell property that Jesus was born at the begin- errant WOrd,” according to Luke, ning of our era. 1 he following, & date had to be fixed; the To buy a home taken from a religious paper,shows authorjtje8 demanded it. He de- To go into business that our time is not reckoned from tfae quegtion jn the only way To exchange real or personal property that event; and that A. D. 1 ss an which jt wa8 pcssible to give arbitrary point of time, and not a credit to each gospel. He To work, or to hire workers memorial of any great event, eith- the (jate of “the birth” just ANYTHING er real or supposed, in the world’s half way between the dates as given history: by each, or to express it in a com- ‘Our year is supposed to be reck- he ugpjit the difference.” W R IT E T O U S . W E C A N H E L P YOU oned from the birth of Christ, and And so it remains unto this day. is called Anno Domini. The learn Dyonsius made no mistake, the ed monk, Dyonsius, singularly mistake lies elsewhere. enough, made a mistake of four This is one of the vexatious prob- Address, INFORMATION BUREAU years, which causes Christ to be : lems of “holy writ,” which, like the Silverton, Oregon. W a t e r S t r e e t , chronicled in history as hiT D* ' celebrated ghost, will not “down.” O pposite L iberal H all. M RAm«av been born four Years before [after] Dr. w W. M. Ramsay of of Aberdeen Aberdeen his actual birth. The Christian unjverpy has written a book and era, by this mistake, began when ha(J pubiighe(j recently, in which Christ was four years old. \V by endeavors to prove that “Christ should this blunder be perpetu- born Betbiehem at the time -D E A L E R S IN- ated?” stated in the gospel, according to St. The writer then argues for the Matthew.” Dr. Ramsay admits correction of the error. (The “af-1 foregoing facts, and also that ter,” which I have inserted above, !«at thig point apologists for Luke must be read instead of “before,’ in bftve tbrown up their hands” ; but order to avoid contradicting the he proceeds to make history as fol- statement in the following sentence jOW8: “Quirinius was twice govern and the remainder of the article): Or of Syria, and his first term was As Dyonsius Exigous seems like contemporary with the last years of) ly to be condemned unheard, be Herod's reign.” 'Chat he is leading SILVERTON, ORE. Corner Main and \\ ater Streets, cause he has been a long time dead, the rear guard of a forlorn hope is I will volunteer to plead for him, shown by the new evidence he “Not guilty.” The learned monk brings forward to sustain his as- believed that the gospel, “according eertion. He tells us that three era- How to Make to St. Matthew,” and the gospel, ¡nent men have discovered, in “according to St. Luke,” was each a Egypt, that under Nero, A. D. 61- part of “the inspired word of God” ; 52 and later, a Roman census was The Government nationalized the Postal System, why not also and that each was “equally inspir- taken every fourteen years; and he the Money System? A plan is told by C. ELTON BLANCHARD ed and inerrant.” He also knew a?gumeg that this periodic taking in his book entitled........................... that the date of the birth of Jesus, extends backward to the time of UNCLE S A M ’S aa given by the writer of Matthew’s Herod, and that the first one when gospel, is “in the days of Herod the the decree went forth was passed in H O M IL IE S ON F IN A N C E king,” and that two years later this silence by Josephus. The conclu- Postpaid for 25 Cents. king wasstill reigning; hence, “the g;ou ;g a non requitor, it does not All profits on this book will be given to the Liberal University. It should be in the hands of every thinking person. Address all orders to birth” must have been at least two follow the facts. The TORCH OF REASON, Silverton, Oregon. years before the death of “ Herod, A few plain, undisputed facts, verified by the authority quoted king of Judea. He was also obliged to notice above, will finish the argument. W ho D oes Y o u r — - Cut This Out that Luke, the only other New Tes After a long reign, Herod died B. tament writer who gives a date for C. 4. After King Herod, Archelaus Fill it up, and forward with was king of Judea, Idomea, etc., un “the birth,” gives a different date, $1.00 to the namely, when a decree went out til A. D. 6, when he was removed L ib e r a l U n iv e rs ity C o ., “from Cesar Augustus that all the by the emperor of Rome. Silverton, Oregon. Judea was then annexed to Syria, world should be taxed” ; and at the time of the first taxing under this and Quirinius, governor of Syria, If you require any decree, “when Cyrenius (as Quirin was also governor of Judea; after ius) was governor of Syria.” Jose this, for a long time, Judea was phus, a careful and contemporary governed by procurators, who “were C a rd s or C irc u la rs , To the P u b lish ers ( if the Torch historian, gives the date of the first subject to the Imperial Legate of B ill H e a d s , o f Reason: N o te or L e tte r H e a d s , taxing as in the year 6 or 7 of our Syria.” Please send the T orch of R eason to era, which corresponds to the time Until A. D. 6, it mattered not to S t a t e m e n t s , my address for one year, for which I en when Quirinius began to be govern Judea nor to a Judean writer who T ic k e ts , P ro g ra m s , close $1.00. or of Syria, according to known and was governor ........ __________________ of Syria, for Arche- In v ita tio n s , Hebrew history. (See Encyclo- |au8> as well as Herod, held the title Sam e. B o o ks or P a m p h le ts , psedia Brittanica, vol. 13, pp. 426 of king and was subject only to the and 427, art. Israel). emperor. But while Judea and E n v e lo p e s Post o ff ee. Then this last date is, at least, Syria were under the same govern- Or any other Printing, you will serve eight years later than the first, and or (Quirinius), the first taxing was I vour own interest and help support the Jesus, who was born in the made under the decree of Cesar the Liberal University by send reign of Herod, was eight years old, Augustus. Luke says it was the ing your orders to us. We will execute them promptly, tastefully, j State. or upwards, when the Jesus of, Continued on 7th page.- I n f o r m a t io n Anno Domini. burfa U DO YOU WANT C u s ite r & D a v e n p o rt General Merchandise Good Times for all Time P rinting 9