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.
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