Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (March 16, 1899)
roBc VOL. 3. R eason . SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, MARCH IB, 1899. NO. 10. For the Torch of Reason. deluge, but that they had lived The Press vs. the Pulpit. the highest, now whispered to the H u m an ity’s New School. long before the historical or the broken in spirit peace. mythological periods, a rewexplan BY JOHN W. DRAPER. If such were the influence in the BY J. E. H. ation was looked for, one that cathedral, not less were those th a t H E R E are tim es w hen n atio n s are would not antagonize the old HOEVER will attentively gathered round the little village happy; creeds. So it was assumed that compare the thirteenth church. To the peasant it was en T here are tim es w hen th e y ’re the creative power of the deity had gloom y and sad, with the nineteenth deared by the most touching inci But how ever th ey feel, for woe or for been exerted from time to time century cannot fail to see how es- dents in his life. At its font his weal, T h ere ’s a m orrow to be h a p p y and glad. during the geological periods as oc- sential oral instruction was in the parents had given him his name; at casion seemed to require. Men had former, how subordinate in the lat- its altar he had plighted his matri The m ost of o u r tro u b les a re useless, W h eth er those of th e n a tio n or m en. mherited this creation disease, ter. The invention of the printing monial vows; beneath the little They com e from o u r fe a rs; and our through such a long line of revered press gaye an instant, a formidable grass mounds in its yard there p rayers and our tea rs, And our w ars have, like slips of th e p en, ancestry, that no remedy could do rival to the pulpit. It made possi- awaited the resurrection those who ble that which had been impossible had been untimely taken away. Made blots on th e w hite page of progress more than palliate. And m arred civ ilizatio n ’s g re a t book; Before the commencement of the before in Christian Europe_direct Connected thus with the proton nd- But w h atev er w e’ve done, in e a rn e st or present century the great mind of communication between the gov est and holiest sentiments of hu fun, T h ere’s a fu tu re to w hich we m ay look Geothe began to reject the special ernment and the people without manity, the pulpit was for instruc A fu ture of real m en and w om en— creation theory and grasp the true any religious intermedium, and tion a sole and sufficient means. In beginning we all m u st ta k e a p a rt; And th e pages w e’eve b lo tted , all b lu r solution of the problem. He held was the first step in that important Nothing like it had existed in pa red and all sp o tted , that all parts of a flower are modi change subsequently carried out in ganism. The irregular, ill-timed, From th e new let us cast a t th e sta rt. fied leaves; that skulls are modi America, the separation of church occasional eloquence of the Greek T h ere ’s a page of both black and w h ite fied vertebrae, and that plants and and state. Though in this particu republican orators cannot for an s la v e ry ; T here’s a page of divine rig h t of k in g s: animals have been evolved from a lar the effect was desirable, in an- instant be set in comparison with T h e re ’s a page of th e ghosts, and th e an few parent types. The new the- other its advantages are doubtful, such a steady and enduring sys gelic hosts, And th e ignorance and crim e th a t it ory was dawning among advanced for the church adhered to her an tematic institution. brings. In a temporal as well as in a thinkers and workers like Erasmus cient method when it had lost very Ah ! th e old leaves m u st go am i forever, Darwin, the grandfather of Charles much of its real force, aud this ev spiritual sense, the public authori For new leaves of sin-savin g science W ill dry up our tears and w eak, childish Darwin, Kant, Buffon, Lamarck en at the risk of falling into a life ties appreciated its power. Queen fears Saint Hillare and Oken. Elizabeth was not the onlv sover less and impassive condition. And bid su p e rstitio n defiance. In November, 1859, “ The Origin And yet we must not undervalue eign who knew how to thunder Then up, all ye w orkers, ye w riters of Species by Means of Natural Se the power once exercised on a non through a thousand pulpits. Of th e new book for h u m a n ity ’s sc h o o l! For a length of time, as might Send tru e sam ple pages to fools and to lection, or the Preservation of Fav reading community by oral and sages, ored Races in the Struggle for scenic teachings. What could bet have been expected, considering its And “ e x p a n sio n ” will soon be the rule, Life,” by Charles Darwin, was pub ter instruct it than a formal con power and favoring adventitious And w hen th e old sch o o lm aster, Tim e, lished. The great work was sup gregating of neighborhoods togeth circumstances, the pulpit maintain rings ed itself against the press. Never The new tw e n tie th c e n tu ry bell, ported by the accumulated and er each sabbath-day to listen in theless, its eventual subordination From th e old being freed, in th e new abulated facts. It was attacked silence and without questioning? was the less sure. n If there book w e’ll read ■■— none ■ mm! Of salvation from d a rk e st of hell. by an army of big and little theo- In those great churches, the archi- , are disadvantages in the method of ogians. I hey knew the weakness tectnral grandeur of which is still kno»l«lgo by reading, The Origin of Species. of their defences, and attempted to the admiration of our material age, f„r, though upon the printed page Tighten and mislead with clamor. nothing was wanting to impress the the silent letters are mute and un- BY GEORE W. MOREHOUSE. Defenders like Wallace, Haeckel, worshipper. The vast pile, with its sustained by any scenic help, yet Spencer, Huxley, Tyndall, Hooker, turrets or spire pointing to heaven; I oiten— a wonerful contradiction— HEN men first began to yell, Draper, Gray and Youmans its Bleep inclining roof; its wa||B ll,®y Pour f<»-th emphatic elorpience , , * I that can make the heart lean with wonder how the objects came to the support of the unpaid ... . , with niches and statues; its echo- emotion, or kindle on the cheek the around them, the solid truth. Such an avalanche of books, ing belfry; its windows of exquisite blush of shame. The might of per- ground, the seas, the trees, the sun, pamphlets, papers and tracts, all hue3 and of every form, lancet, or ' »uasiveness does not alwaye lie in the moon and stars, the animals, upon one subject, the world had wheel, or rose, through which stole articu'ate BPeech. The strong are themselves came to exist, they very never seen. Darwin stood unmov in the mauy-colored light; its chap- ° t " lhe . ( ilen ‘- never »peaks. ... g ,, I here is another condition which naturally ascribed it all to their ed upon the corner where the ad . els, with their pictured walls; Us gives to reading an advantage over deified ancestry or mysterious in vancing thought of the world halt rows of slender, clustering columns listening. In the affairs of life visible beings possessing the power ed momentarily, and then—filed to and arches tier upon tier; its many ! how wide is the difference between to make all things. They them the right. The march has been tapering pendants; the priestemerg- ?lavinp a thing done for us and do- selves had made useful imple steady and continuous in that di ing from his scenic retreat; his IL“gw'‘ ours?lvee! . In the lattercaae ments of wood and flint. Thus rection ever since. i .i; i r j i ’ how great is the interest awakened. Chahce and forbidden wine; th e ! how much more thorough the ex’ r» the methods of the gods sup- Defeated in their attempt to de covering paten, the cibory, and the amination, how much more perfect }"»•'> <1 to he allied to human rneth- stroy the Darwinian bridge, the pix. Amid clouds of incense from the acquaintance. To listen im- Nature’s ways being then un hosts still suffering from the inroads smokiugeensers, the blaze of lamps pl.’e j merely a Pa8sive frame of known. of the creation microbe, are trying ihrough all the centuries, and to prevent the completion of the F ,c n , t h e c a c j other Buck con- up to very recently, mankind, with aproaches, and thus compel their .ticks, the tinkling cf .i n , h i l l , few exceptions, have believed that followers to continue to flounder in the play of jewelled vessels and »’derations, it might have been fore- gorgeous dresses of violet, green and »een that the printing press would the different species of animals and the quagmire of superstition or to gold, banners and crosses were at ,ast dePrive the pulpit of its su- Plants were made from earth—on** take to the woods. It is a forlorn borne aloft through lines of kneel- pr®“ acy’ m»king it become inef- Week not 6000 years ago, by special ho,,., ,0 . ,o ,„ ,0 . to, .....i“ ' S " 7 i = b ' . , ™“C “ £ l; creative power. The species were The that the time would arrive when, Sieved to be fixed. When the jridges, the highways, the temples services along the aisles. and the truths of nature, with all chanting of litanies and psalms though adorned by the eloquence ^encc of geology began to gain a their wealth of utility and relief, gave a foretaste of the melodies of o f8reat and good men, the sermon t l ’ and became evident will be free to all. Then men will ‘ heaven, and the voice» of the chor-) X k r ' X ™ / ° V at the fossil animals and plants cease to f e a r .- [The Wilderness o f f e r s and Bounds of the organ now —[The B"eveh " r> not the victims of a Noachian \\ orlds. thundered forth glory to God in opmeut of Europe. T w d W u iu ,