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STIA ERTÖN, OREGON, THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 1899.
VOL. 3.
For the Torch of Reason.
Nature.
BY GRACE E. GRUBER.
W
HEN dusky shakes are g a th e rin g ,
And th e sky is streak ed w ith
gray»
Then the pink and p u rp le tinges
Proclaim th e fading day.
Then the w inds come slowly w hispering
To a little stre a m le t near,
It is then we stop and listen —
Ah ! w hat is th a t sound we h ear?
It is just a sad, sad m oaning
Of the wind in plain tiv e sigh ;
Eor, like life, w ith day declining,
It would ra th e r live th a n die.
Then its m oan grew faint and fain ter.
And ’twas th en a gentle breeze
Fondly kissed a tiny rip p le—
Then ’twas calm and seem ed a t ease.
And th u s n a tu re has o rdained it,
Yet the blind can never see
N ature’s sun go b rig h tly dancing
O’er the ripples of th e sea.
N ature binds th e birds and flowers
In com panionship, and they
Know no grief nor care like ours,
For here n a tu re holds full sw ay.
Yet we m ortals feel d istra c te d ,
And we som etim es close our eyes—
And not alw ays in th e evening,
B ut w here b rig h te r lig h ts arise.
W hen th e evening shades are falling,
N a tu re ’s hand will here adorn
Ju s t th e sam e b rig h t, tru th fu l gleam ing
At th e com ing of th e m orn.
Ah ! ’tis then I love to ponder,
For in n a tu ra l laws I see
Many thin g s could l>e m ade clearer
W hich we now call m ystery.
From the Old to the New.
BY B. F . UNDERWOOD.
H E present is rem arkable as
a period of transition from
old to new ideas and meth?
ods.
In religious th ought the
change is very m arked. D uring
the last tw enty years the decay of
faith has been the subject of a vast
am ount of com m ent and discussion
from every point of view. H ercu­
lean efforts have been m ade to turn
the tide, but these efforts have ap ­
parently served only to strengthen
and extend doubt and disbelief.
The ra p id ity with which doc­
trines, once firmly fixed in the pop­
ular m ind, have, d u rin g the last
two decades especiclly, lost th eir
hold upon the masses is, on so large
a scale, w ithout precedent either in
the ancient or modern world. The
spread of skepticism in regard to
the Pagan faith when C hristianity
was m aking its early conquests and
preparing to assum e im perial con­
trol, affords no p arallel to the pres­
ent rapid diffusion of skepticism as
to the essential theological dogm as
of C hristianity.
I'he facility with which ideas can
now l>e widely and quickly spread,
puts into the possession of m illions
T
NO. 12.
at once, argum ents and utterances old faith ami to adopt as little of men who are w ithout belief in “ the
I
which, if published a few years ago, the new tru th as the dem ands <>f fall of m an ,” or “ salvation through
supposing even that they had not his intellect, influenced by his feel-' C h rist,” w ithout faith even in the
been suppressed by (he authorities, ing, w ill p erm it; and such incon­ more general doctrines held as in ­
would have reached but a com par­ sistencies and stultifications as are dubitable in Pagan nations, such
atively few. Now, not'sim ply bus­ seen, for instance, in the views of as the im m ortality of the soul. On
iness and news dispatches, hut th e those who are trying to satisfy the other h an d , am ong the ad v o ­
opinions of em inent th in k ers, ser­ them selves with ‘‘progressive o rth o ­ cates of F reethought are ex-preach­
mons hv famous preachers, speech­ doxy”, are the result.
ers of orthodox sects, men who have
The
hideousness
of
the
doctrine
es, lectures and essays by men who
broken loose from the churches,hut
are a ttra c tin g atten tio n , chapters of eternal torm ent, with no chance who i rj m any cases are satu ra te d
from, or the leading thought of, for repentance and reform after with bigotry and prejudice, and
the latest im p o rtan t books are tele­ death, is seen and a progressive with whom declam ation takes the
graphed from one com m unity, from step is taken by ad m ittin g first place of argum ent, and ignorant
one country, to another. In pro­ th at there m ay he, and then th at assertion the place of proof; who
portion to the intelligence of the there is, according to the scripture, have neither the intellectual free­
people or th eir capacity to u n d er­ “ probation after d e a th ” . Joseph j dom and flexibility necessary to
stand or assim ilate the thought Cook is not up to this point, hut he enable them to rise above the n a r­
which is ‘‘in the a ir ” , do they profit says the §oul rem ains in the body rowing influences of th eir old faith ,
by this rapid transm ission of ideas a short tim e after b reath in g has nor the education and knowledge
and th is diffusion of literatu re ceased, and between th a t tim e ami to com prehend the best m odern
actual death there is a chance for thought.
throughout the civilized world.
It is only a question of time repentance and salvation! So while
The term s F reethought, L ib eral­
th at the agitation of thought induc­ there is no probation after death,
ism, M atérialisai), Infidelity, Secu­
ed by m odern agencies and the j t ere is probation after breath!
larism , e tc , are indefinite labels
habit of m aking facts the d ata ofi S i. George M ivart recently con­
which denote opposition to theolog­
belief, and proofs the teat of their j tributed to a leading English m ag­
ical beliefs, together with a m ass of
validity, will cause the mass of peo- 1 azine an article en titled , “ H appi­
in d iscrim in atin g
or undigested
pie to become discrim inating, as ness in H ell,” in which he a d v a n c ­
thought on philosophical, social
the few are now, and m ake reason er! ■ H'- idea (consistently with his
and moral questions. D uring tra n ­
prevail over au th o rity and science faith as a good C atholic, he b e ­ sitional periods, like the present,
lieves) th a t m any if not most of the
triu m p h over superstition.
there is much incidental to progress
D uring the tran sitio n from the people who go to hell will he in a which is offensive to the thin k er
old to the new thought, there is state of happiness, and th a t men and to the man of practical views;
sure to he a great deal th a t is in­ mav be there dam ned and not know but it is inevitable and will drive
consistent and anom alous. The de­ it! The C atholic Review, while not no wise reform er from his purpose.
sire to accept the new and yet re­ wholly approving Mr. M ivart’s
We should never lose sight of the
tain the old, results in some very views, thinks his article will have a
fact that in the old system s of p h i­
grotesque com binations of thought. good effect upon those who have
losophy and faith there are im port­
H um an nature does not take on an been repelled from the church By
ant tru th s. He who while reject­
entirely new mood at once. It does its a lle g e d teachings in regard 1o
ing the errors of these system s, can
not break with the past suddenly the fate of the m ajority of m an ­
hold fast the tru th s they teach and
and forever, but gradually. An kind.
add to them the best thought of
The absurdity • of the doctrine I
extensive stroke of m ental and
the day, is the man who will find
m oral evolution will have to he u n ­ that all who, having heard o f ,
the least difficulty in adju stin g
dergone even by the most en lig h t­ C hrist, die w ithout belief in his
him self to the changes of this t r a n ­
ened m inds before they can assum e saviorship, will he forever dam ned,
sitional period.
the P hrygian cap of perfect moral is conceded unw ittingly and unw il­
and intellectual freedom. If this lingly by those who say th a t the
The belief in a dem onic world is
is true of the most advanced class actual condition of sa1 vat ion is be­
of think» rs, how difficult it m ust he lief in the “ essential C h rist’’, the inculcated throughout the Gospels
for the average m ind, with its more “ C hrist principles” , which need not and the rest of the booksof the New
lim ited knowledge and with its in ­ include belief in the “ historic T estam ent; it pervades the whole
herited predispositions, to discard C h rist”. It was in this way th at pat ristic lite ratu re; it, colors the th e ­
old beliefs and adopt new ones. the Independent, a few years ago, ory and the practice of every C h rist­
Reverence for ancestral faith and assured the world th a t Montefiore ian church down to m odern times. .
practices, and attach m en t to relig­ and V ictor Hugo, though unbeliev . . More especially is th is concep­
ious associations, olc observances, ers in C hristian dogmas, were tion fundam ental for the au th o rs
together with the difficulty of find­ am ong the redeemed. W ith m any of the Gospels. W ithout the belief
ing an y th in g to tak e the place of the fallibility of the Bible was first that the present worbl, and p artic­
the dogm atism of the promises, of conceded by adm itting, as Dean ularly th a t part of it which is con­
the prayers and the hym ns which S tanley did, th a t science co n tra­ stituted by hum an society, has been
have afforded to m illions consola­ dicts Genesis and th a t the Mosaic given over, since the F all, to the in ­
tion through life and in the solemn cosm ogony,so-called, is mere legend fluence of wicked and m alig n an t
spiritual beings, governed and d i­
hour of death, blur his perception and superstition.
In this period of transition there rected by a suprem e devil— the m or­
of the absurdities of theology and
m ake him slow to accept any th in g are occupants of C h ristia n pulpits, al an tith esis and enem y of the su­
thought to he in conflict with long men educated for the m inistry, who preme god— their theory of ealva
cherished beliefs. He will n a tu r­ have outgrown all the essential tion by the Messiah falls to pieces.
ally try to retain a i much of the theological elem entsof C h ristian ity , — [T. H. H uxley.
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