Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1899)
S IL V E R T O N , OREGON, TH U R SD A Y , A P R IL 20, 1899. VOL. 3. NO. 15. W hen the m ythologian shall the B ritish Museum one of the have shuffled off his clerical garb, most ancient legends seems to be and when hie doctrines, his dog illustrated by the draw ing of two mas, his superstitions and his non figures seated, one on each side of sense have all to the grave gone a sacred tree, and reaching forth a down, m ay the world forgive and hand to its fruit, while behind one forget his errors, his crimes and his of the persons is stretched a ser Does it seem th a t th e lig h t of today w j . . r caught cuting witnesses, and they have intolerance, while his ashes repose pent. A braham left “ Ur of the brought into court an the re- in peace and tra n q u ility under the Chaldees ’ and took the Chaldean An<l shall reign in his realm a t lis t. suit of free thought and free speech ever-watchful care and guidance of trad itio n s with him. He founded the Jew ish nation, which worked p<>es it seem th a t th e few reap harvests in spite of the strenuous efforts of H orus, Ra and Turn, where no bu- 1 - 1 gle’s blast shall wake him to battle the C haldean fables into its cos- w hile the church to crush them . The m anv have sow n th e se e d r ., , again. — [H ebrew and C hristian mogony and theology. The Chris- That the tens are wooed by F o rtu n e ’s Listen to Byron while h e s a y s : tians adopted and perniciously M ythnlogy. While th sm e ile, m illions are scourged by “ E ven gods m ust yield, religions tak e th e ir tu rn , expanded this cosmogony and the Need? ’Twas J o v e ’s, ’tis M ah o m et’s ; and o th e r That the m u ltitu d e , for M am m o n ’s gain, ology, and thereby turned back th e The Eve a n d Apple S to ry . creeds will rise Must toil th e ir lives aw ay? shadow on the dial th a t m arked Yet know thaT R ight as a prince shall W ith o th e r years, till m an shall learn l t t kiiJ s f , V u ainly m lv his h i« i incense n c e n s e soars, s o a r s , his VlCtl victim V reign the progress of the hum an race. BY RALA DIN . bleeds, O’er the e a rth som e day, so m e d a y . Poor child of It is alm ost as silly to take tim e o d oubt and d e a th , whose hope is b u ilt on ree d s.” Poes it seem th a t th e sh ed d in g of hum an H IL D IS H beneath contem pt to refute the Adam story as it is blood Dr. L. B uchner, the great Ger- though the Eve and the childish to believe it. B ut it would Will be ended neverm ore? That the light of th e d ream of B rother- j man scientist, in his “ Man in the apple story he, it is a fable he easy to show th a t, in “ the de hood 1 Shall be quenched in th e sm oke of w ar? Past, Present and F u tu re ” , speak- j which C hristianity m ust regard as crees of G od,” Adam m ust have That the world is given over to strife, ing of C hristianity, says; “ It a divine tru th or perish. The been created for the express pur- And th a t H ate sits on th e th ro n e ? Yet know th a t Love is th e queen of life stands, by its dogm atic portion or m om ent it discards the talk in g ser- pose of eating the apple and of And shall som e tim e rule h er own. contents, in such striking and ir pent, it breaks its own neck. If thereby dam ning the world. An For however dark th e n ig h t, it flies reconcilable, nay absolutely absurd there was not a literal “ F a ll,’’ then exam ination of the following calcu t roin th e golden w ings of d a w n ; contradiction with all the acquisi- there was no use for a literal “ Re- lation shows th at the world could And evil, how ever m ighty, dies tions and principles of m odern sci- dem ption.” If there was really no not possibly have continued to ex As our reason m arches on. As th e e a rth is liorne th ro u g h th e years ence, th a t its future tragical fate ! such a person as the falling Adam, ist w ithout being dam ned. to be can only he a question of tim e.” there was no use for such a person Of the younger e ra , th e n It is the opinion of nearly all T ru th , R ight and Love are th e trin ity We are living in an age of reason as the redeem ing Jesus. T h at the who believe the Bible th at m an T hat shall reign in th e co u rts of m en. and common sense, an age of sci- whole Adam story is one of the kind would have rem ained im ence and toleration, an age of pro- most silly and absurd of fables, m ortal if F ather Adam had not Decay of S upe n a tu ra lis m . gress and growing hum anity. The goes w ithout saying. He the “ first been so weak as to yield to the en i world is better than it was m the m an!” W hy, K en t’s cavern in our treaties of Eve and bite the apple; BY PARISH B. LA DD . , dark ages, man is better today than own E ngland gives evidence of the hence death is in consequence of a existence of man in Devonshire bite, and if F ather Adam had taken att - t iv - . „ i: : - he was J yesterdav; VERA system of e religion, • ’ and , he . will , be •oine 70,000 years before, according a more wholesome nourishm ent he would he still living and m ight en , . , i _better tom orrow than he is today. w hatever m av have been . J i , . , , , , joy , the society of his num erous \ .. Even th e m ythologian is betraying to the Bible, the world had been fam ily, as well as note their w’on- its statu s in form er tim e s,, , . , • « . „ ’ . , ,, . . . . c . signs of aw akening hu m an ity , “c n a te d . H onest men read God s derful progress. Now, the question must in this day of free thought! » t , . , , . , i i . W hether life be the result of force hook in stone and fossil; dishonest the w • riting and advanced science lie able to 1 pendent on such . forms , , 3 i .. on i stone; is, could he find sufficient room for for its , e . x Science reads son, or , , it m ust take c . its . . place among , acting on organized forms, and de- Theology men read prefers it in ink and paper, the w riting on him self and fam ily to live com stand the test of criticism and rea- istence, or w 6 hether it be independ the fables, legends and m yths of . . i , ’ . m en t m atter, residing in such organ- paper— it pays best and is better fortably? or, how would the earth the dead past. M any of the a n -j ’ 6 .. ‘ • 1 ized form s and self-existent, science suited to gulling the u n th in k in g look if all F ather A dam ’s and cient system s, resting on, if possi- “ ’ , M other Eve’s offspring were still i , t j ,• u ... , gives no response. And whether m ultitude. ble, better foundations than the t j l ____ A life is to continue beyond the grave The Adam story, which alone I living present living ones, have passed is a problem resting on the hidden makes the C hristian story neces- Now, take a piece of paper and IV 1 1 I 2 Cl O V I I ) L I LI 1 e i i /* * I __ A4 i into oblivion, leaving doubtful , and im m utable laws of nature, the sarv, is not even original, as far as pencil and follow me atten tiv ely , m anuscripts and n.ore more enduring! enduring) ■ • , ......... . . „„„„„„„„a . L_____ ........ ...nbn . . . ... key to which is as accessible to the the w riter of Genesis is concerned. because it is very easy to make m onum ental inscriptions of th eir / „¡-H o insect and the quadruped as to the l he w riter, whoever he was, stole it m istakes in such figures as ours influence and power over the m inus r , i ... , , . ,. f scientist or the priest. Man in his from the C haldeans, who possessed wln he. r . . m i i onward course is no longer a slave a far older and far g ran d er civili- Suppose th a t each m arried couple powerful rel.g.ous system s of Chai- zatil,n ever d jB,ingulehed the ,rom lh e tim e of Adam had only its m urder of th irty or forty m il lions of innocent m en, women and Pevised for the Torch o f Keason. children, and for other crim es, hut for its claim to he of su p ern atu ral Y b rothers, siste rs, von w ho long For th e reign of T ru th an d R ight, origin. Poes it seem th a t th e w orld is ru l Criticism , science, history, reason ed by W rong And th a t E rro r is infin ite? j coninion sense are the prose Som e Day. M c E a < ea, a>y o n , g y p ,^ c a n lnavia, Th m ythologian m ay lam ent hie Jew s. The Jew s stole the fable three children, which, all will al- , , . j . tV fading glory, he may hurl his and set it down as a direct inspir- world and w ere a c c e n te d a« divine anathem as, he may bewail his de- ation fmm their God, and the .’ u n » h 'd in in g influence, he m ay parade C hristians derived it from thé Jews an linraorta tru t is, ave passe bi8 pit of to rm en t, an d he may call a n d linked a C hrist on to it in awa.v to s eeP t r 6 ° H * \ upon his self-made divinities to whom the Jews do not believe! nity, w l e in n la , e c r a e 0 buri tb eir ^ u u d e rb o lts , while the How tru ly curious are the “ lively a . re igions, an in una, e gensibje worid em iles a t his child- oracles!” On a few barefaced tricks i H,e h ru ^ë ing Hi æ j8h sim plicity. in fable-m ongering depends our ea i rOe^’ , T he church has lost its power to “ plan of salvation!” The nam e u ai^m is a t ,n 8 ° ’1 ,e Pa b uge jn8lrua)ent8 of torture and to Adam, given to the first m an in its o \U^h . WeeU 1 a a rte d ’ a PP*y torc^ to an unbelieving Genesis, is found in the C haldean i s sou av ,n g a rea > ePar »! ij Tbe ¡O88 of t his power c a r - ! account of the creation as m eaning leav-.ng the body io be cla.m ed for u I m an k in d _ Adam i o r A dm i. On all, C h rlstU n h y ^ T o n tria l,’not for death ¡» o n ly a question o f time. * 'a very early B abylonia» seal in low, is not an exaggeration. Sup- pose, also, th at, since the b irth of Adam until now, 6.000 years only have elapsed, and th a t no m an en- riched the world with a little citi- Zzfcn until th irty years of age, which suppositions, you will readily ob- serve, are under and not over th e norm al population rules. If, therefore, the increase of gen- «rations since Adam be taken only hundred times, proportioning 2 (a niBrried couple) to 3 (three Concluded on 6th page.