T H E TORCH OF REASON, S IL V E R T O N , OREGON , AUG UST 17, 1899.
1
i orch of Reason
The O nly P ap er of Its Kind.
P ublished W eekly by th e Liberal U ni­
versity C om pany, in the In terests of
C onstructive, Moral Secularism .
J. E. H o s m e r,....................... E d ito r
P. W . G e e r,....................... M an ag er
E n tered at th e poetoffice at Silverton,
Oregon, as second-class mail m atter.
SU B SC R IPTIO N
K A TES.
One year, in a d v an c e ..........................$1 (X)
Six m onths in a d v a n c e ....................
50
T hree m onths, in a d v a n c e ................
25
In clubs of five or m ore, one year,
in a d v an c e ..........................................
"6
Money should be sent by registered
le tte r or m oney order.
Notice!
A h a n d p ointing to th is notice denotes
th a t your su b scrip tio n has e x p ire d .
You are e arn estly requested to r e ­
new so th a t you m ay receive th e p a­
per w ithout in te rru p tio n . We have de­
cided th a t it is liest for all concerned
th a t we do not semi papers longer th a n
th e tim e paid for unless so ordered.
T his will prevent any loss and we will
know ju st w here we sta n d .
We request you to send us th e nam es
of Secularists who m ight become sub-
ncriliers and we will m ail sam ple copies.
THURSDAY, AUG. 17, E. M. 299-
A PIO US L IA R .
In speaking of Robert G. Inger­
soll, T. De W itt Talm age, a very
fair representative of orthodoxy, in
his ‘‘C hristian H erald” , says:
“Once in his life he was induced,
while at K alam azoo, Mich., to look
into the life of a church there, and
when he saw’ how it was seeking to
help men to a better life, he ex­
claim ed, ‘It is the grandest thing
in the country.
I would join such
a church as th a t if its members
would perm it me.’ ”
He also says:
‘ He never had more than a sup­
erficial knowledge of the Bible, and
even th a t was acquired through
jaundiced vision. This was proved
by the fact th a t the qualities of
love and generosity and kindness
and ch arity , which he most lauded,
are the very qualities inculcated by
the hook, whose influence he did
his utm ost to underm ine. U n h ap ­
pily he succeeded in prejudicing
m any shallow m inded young "men
against religion, by leading them
to believe th a t his conception of it
was the tru e oue.”
Mr. Talm age in tentionally lies,
or writes about things he is grossly
ignorant of, and ought to he ash am ­
ed of himself. The church in K al­
amazoo, to which Ingersoll referred,
was not a C hristian church, hut a
Church of H um anity.
It was a
church th a t any moral Infidel
could join if he would promise to do
all the good he could.
M any
known Infidels were members, and
when our cham pion went to ‘‘look
into the life a church there” he
knew it was not a C hristian in sti­
tution.
It makes our F reethought
blood boil when we realize th a t we
cannot reach the m any thousand
C hristian readers of the H erald and
explain to them Col. Ingersoll’s
true position in this m atter and
their hum bug preacher’s dam nable
rascality in m isrepresenting our
dead brother’s endorsem ent of a
non-sectarian, secular church.
The next falsehood th a t Rev.
Talm age perm its his evil pen to re-
cord, th at Christ m ay abound, is
this:
“ He never had more than a sup-
erficial knowledge o f the Bible.”
Every interested person, w hether
C hristian or Infidel (and this in-
eludes our reverend enem y), knows
th a t R obert G. Ingersoll had a
knowledge of the Bible th a t very
few men possess, and th a t it was
acquired by honest stu d y ; and we
Infidels know th a t after honest
study no scientific m ind can agree
that it is a hook of love, generosity,
kindness and charity.
We also know’ th a t he happily
succeeded in opening the eyes of
m illions to the beauties and benefits
of m ental freedom and the a b su rd ­
ities of the idiotic doctrines of such
shallow m inded religious fanatics
as the great(?) De W itt Talm age,
who, we believe, holds bis present
high position am ong the saints on
account of his willingness to play
the hypocrite and com bat the heroes
of T ruth.
own satisfaction. He hesitates not
a second. \\ ith a superior sm ile he
answers, “ I have gone over the
same ground as the youth you men-
tion. I know just how it is. There
is only one way—leave it all with
Jesus. Don’t try to pry into things
you should not know. If we knew
everything, my dear brother, d o n ’t
you see we would know as much as
God him self.” T hat is all. Strange
isn’t it? But we are not satisfied,
T his looks to us like m ental suicide,
and we believe th a t death would be
alm ost preferable to the rem edy ad-
vised by our preacher, who is cer-
tain ly dead in his superstition,
\V e consult an other, and find th a t
he believes in “ predestination.” He
believes a great God above m ade
each living thing on earth for a cer-
tain special purpose. O ur life has
been fore-ordained, and we cannot
change it one h a ir’s breadth. W hat
is to be will be.
T he assassin
works out the mission God has
given him , just as surely as the
saint and all work for the glory of
God. We tu rn aw ay disheartened,
and m u rm u r “ M oral suicide!”
We are saved from despair at
last by the philosopher. He teach­
es us th a t all things are a product
of evolution. All good and all evil
in the world are sim ply effects
brought about by certain causes.
In order to bring about reforms we
m ust seek the cause of evil and les­
sen it; seek the cause of good and
m ultiply it. S tudying along this
line, we find th a t life indeed is good
and beautiful. We find ourselves
growing m entally and m orally
stronger; existence is m ade not only
bearable, but enjoyable.
Verily,
all things are possible to m an. O,
youth! O, preacher! O, friends!
Here, with the philosopher, we find
our answer: E volution I
in nor practice good governm ent
nor home building cannot succeed
in such an undertaking.
The experience of Liberals who
have tried hard to organize an d
thus rapidly convert the world to
Ereethought, have alw ays been d e­
feated by this im pudent elem ent in
our ranks, who care more for th eir
own little, nasty creeds th a n for
the m ain issue. As we have said
before, there are F reeth in k ers and
F reethinkers, and we m ust learn
to classify and work accordingly, or
our work will move at a snail's
pace. W e m ust educate!
C H R IS T IA N E N D E A V O R E R S.
There is a vast arm y of C hristian
E ndeavorers. In fact, all C h rist­
ian s who are honest, and not in the
church as a business proposition,
are only endeavorers. They are
trying h ard to believe th a t which
is unreasonable, because they have
been tau g h t th a t to even doubt the
m iracles and doctrines of th eir su p ­
posed savior is a sin. They th ere­
fore try hard to stop up their m inds
against every argum ent; pray th eir
G od’s forgiveness if a stray ray of
light happens to come upon them
unaw ares, and prom ptly drop, as
they would a red-hot iron, every
hook or paper th a t com bats the old
theories of th eir holy directory.
This leaves the young, active m inds
of the brightest endeavorers in a
m ost pitiable condition, and the
only refuge is found in sm othering
all aggressive thought and su b sti­
L IF E ’S PUZZLE.
tuting, therefore, only light, friv ­
olous gossip, repartee, and silly a t ­
As soon as the little child is old
tem pts a t happiness, instead of that
enough to th in k , he is puzzled a t the
tree, n atu ra l happiness th a t comes
wonderful new sights and sounds
to those whose m inds are unfettered
by superstition.
th a t are being continually conveyed
As a society, the C hristian En-
to him through his senses. His
deavor, and other kindred societies
eyes open wide with wonder, and he
such as the Epw orth League, the
stretches forth his tiny fist to grasp
Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A.,
the bright toy. He soon begins to
are great factors in building up the
C hristian churches.
The obliga­
ask the questions of “ W h a t?”
tions are ju st enough to keep the
C A U SE OF R U S K IN COLONY’S
“ W here?” and “ W hy?”
young men and the young women
F A IL U R E .
The youth is continually th irst­
from asserting any ideas of their
ing for more knowledge. He has
own, thus preventing them from
solved the sim pler problems of his
The 1 ruthseeker of the 12th inst. doing any very valuable work, or
childhood days, but still he is not C0Inments on the failure of the Rus- m aking any valuable discoveries for
satisfied.
His eves sparkle, his kin Co-operative Colony in such a Science, the true savior of m an.
In nearly every S tate school
cheeks glow, and his heart beats n ,a n n er as to convey the idea to us
throughout our land, the C hristian
faster as he leans forward to catch th a t the M acdonalds have but little
societies are not only allowed but
the words of an eloquent speaker, objection to free love and an arch y encouraged, advertized, an d aided
He is still unconsciously trying to while they belittle the idea of co­ with public money. N on-C hristian
answer the questions of his baby- operation. We believe the failure people are in the m ajority, or, at
hood days, “ W h a t? ” “ W here?” and of the colony has been w hat the least, th ere is a very respectable
m inority, and why should we be
“ W hy?” W ill there ever come a T ruthseeker states oue of its ex- forced to help support these in s titu ­
time in his life when he will be m embers declares it to be:
tions, which are not only absurd to
“
The
failure
was
not
com
m
ercial.
us but absolutely of a very p e r­
fully satisfied; when he can take
The
association
was
perfectly
sol­
nicious character?
F reethinkers
the good and had the “gods” pro­
vent. It had alw ays discounted all m ust organize sim ilar societies in
vide, ask no questi >ns, and feel no its bills, an d was rated A1 at Brad-
the nam e of Secularism , and then
curiosity to know? Can he hope streets. The cause of the trouble we m ust force the schools to recog­
for rest this side of the grave, or was the dissatisfaction of less than nize us. If we pay taxes to support
These people schools, we should see to it th a t our
will this phantom of unrest follow a dozen members.
attem
pted
to
dissem
inate
him , rem orselessly dogging his foot- . .
. .
,
, the , doc- ideas have a fair chance with those
.
,
. 0
, . trines of A narchy and hreelove, who th in k th a t “ Jesus is the way.”
steps by day, and hovering over Ins but were pl.evented by tbe rem ain- Y ou n g m en’s and young wom en’s
couch by night, until his m ind and ing two hundred, who stood firmly E reethought associations have ju st
body is racked with a consum ing for law, order, and m orality.”
as much right to be recognized in
fever, and he longs to “ die and end
W hen free lovers and an arch ists our S tate schools as have the Young
it a ll? ”
begin to show them selves, people M en’s and Y’oung W om en’s C h rist­
Let us ask that gray-haired who believe in homes and good gov- ian Associations, but people will
uever have their rights u n til they
preacher. He has had experience em inent begin to move out, and are bold enough and united enough
and looks as though be had solved finally the society falls of its own to dem and them . We m ust edu­
the problem of life, at least to his , weight, for those who do not believe , cate!