Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 1899)
THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, AUGUST 31, ISbU. For the Torch of Reason. L ittle T orch es. BY W. E. JOHNSON. Satan was unable to sinite Job till the Lord had spoken the wn 1 of consent.— [Nashville Christian Advocate. That’s just like your God—goes in cahoots with a brigand to lie in wait for a friend. What a nice, amiable God he must be. The principle behind it all may lie embodied in an essay on fools. There are three kinds of fools. The fifst fool is the fool that says there is no God. The second fool says it is impossible to know whether there is a God or not. The third fool says he has no need of a God, and doesn’t care materially whether there is a God or not.—[Rev. B. F. DeCosta, D. D., in his sermou in New York City. You left out one breed: there is the fool who admits he is a fool and of no account save through the merits of a Jew who was murdered 2,000 years ago. This fool knows there is a god because no one but a god could make such a foolish fool as he is. Nail God to his promises. Look for promises for soul-saving, put your finger on them and say, “Now Lord, you have promised to do so and so, now you are going to do it.”—[Toronto War Cry. If you must have a god, why don’t you select one who will live up to his agreements like an honest man, and without having to “nail him to his promises.” As Colonel Ingersoll said, “An honest god is the noblest work of man.” There is no other such love as God’s redeeming love for sinful, un godly men. — [Western Christiau Advocate. Yes, God so loved the world that he built a bottomless pit, a sort of an eternal base-burner, in which to forever torture the children of men. He loves in just the way that the wolf loves mutton. Those who honor God shall be honored, and those who despise him shall be lightly esteemed.— [Christian Conservator. So the “you tickle me and I’ll tickle you” principle applies to sal vation, does it? Your God seems to be like an Oriental nabob who can be “worked” best by flattering his vanity. Torch of Reason, and very bright its light is. It is conducted in the interest of “ Moral Secularism”, the first foreign paper in which I ever met the phrase. One of its mottoes is from Wordsworth, which Sir Rickard Tangye might have prefix ed to the little book which I men tioned last month, “The Greatness of Little Things”. <^The-^> MZ MZ MZ MZ > / A V < MZ MZ MZ MZ T H E ON Y S C H O O L MZ OF T H E K IN D . Whether the late Col. Robert MZ Green Ingersoll said at the funeral oration of his brother, “ If I have MZ taught you wrong may God have MZ mercy upon my soul,” has been a MZ subject of no little discussion by the Times-Star readers. Much of the MZ discussion has been given publicity, MZ F ree from S uperstition but with each publication the con Ç troversy only became more compli cated. There were theoretical de nials and confirmations, but on MZ Sm all service is tru e service w hile it la s ts ; Of friends, how ever hum ble, scorn n o t , one: The daisy, by th e shadow th a t it casts, P rotects th e lingering dew drop from th e su n . Liberal University fir . In g e r so ll’s P u b lish e r W r ite s a Card. both sides was there an absence of positive proof and know ledge. Some made out a strong affirmative hypothetical case by other utteran- cee of a similar character. For ex ample, one correspondent cited that Mr. Ingersoll prayed on the capitol steps, “God save the nation,” dur ing the crisis in the country when President Garfield was assassinat ed. Others pointed to Mr. Inger soll’s oft repeated doubts as to the existence of soul and God, a God such as he was said to have prayed to for mercy for his soul. From Walston, Dobbs’s Ferry-on-Hud son, comes the following: To the Editor of the Times Star: There seems to be a dispute in the columns of the Times-Star as to whether Col. Ingersoll made use of the fi»llowing words in his address at the bier of his brother: “If I have taught you wrong may God have mercy upon my soul.” In behalf of his family I wish to say that not one word, more or less,was uttered by Col. Ingersoll on that occasion than what is contained in the printed version. I also wish to state as his publisher that he has never received one farthing from the sales of his hooks. This was given to others. Injustice to the dead I hope you will publish this leiter. Yours truly, C. P. F arrell . As i6 generally known, the ex A pp reciated in E n g la n d . pression does not appear in the For thirty years I published a printed version.—[Times-Star. iiurnal under the title of “The Leasoner”, a name then held as Difficulties are always mountains omewhat eccentric, as reasoning till we meet them, and mole-hills bout things was not thought good when we have passed them. usiness. The Rev. Dr. Rylance, a One by one the great thinkers of ¡hurch of England clergyman, now the world are giving up the dog f New York celebrity, published a mas and superslitions of the past. uurnal in reply to mine entitled How much trouble he avoids who he “Christian Reasoner”. Now does no look to see what his neigh easoning has become a fashion, if bor says, or does, or thinks, hut iot a habit. I almost weekly re only to what he does himself, that vive from Silverton, in Oregon, the it may be just and pure! MZ MZ MZ MZ MZ MZ MZ MZ MZ MZ MZ MZ MZ MZ MZ S trictly N on-Sectarian MZ Pupils are (liven Every O p p o rtu n ity to Learn W ith o u t Being H am pered by S u p e r s ti tio n s and Dogmas. L o c a tio n H e a lth f u l S o c ie ty G ood. E x p e n s e s M o d e ra te A Splendid Corps of Teachers and Good F acil ities for Teaching. For inform ation, address SJZ J. E. H O S M E R , Ph. D., B. S. D., w P R E S ID E N T , SILV ER TO N . Lv OREGON-