Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1900)
T H E TORCH OF REASON, SIL V E R T O N , O REGON , F E B R U A R Y 1. 1900. 4 are capable— the service of each for The horrible fear th a t the m ajority of men and women have is a m at The O n ly P aper of Its K in d . the em otions and the will m ust all ter of centuries of superstitious ed — be con verted from t heir self destroy- ucation. R eaders of history know P ublished W eekly by th e L iberal U n i- ing egotism to a self-preserving, th at the S p artan s feared dishonor versity C om pany, in th e In te re sts of S partan boys or, perhaps better, a self-includ more th an death. C onstructive, Moral S ecularism . were tau g h t to steal and thought it ing altruism . As soon as a few m embers of the perfectly right, hut would rath er J. E. H osm er..........................Editor hum an fam ily are fully converted die th an he caught a t it. So we see P. W. G eer,....................... M anager to this inconceivably, far-reaching th a t education has everything to do Religion of H u m an ity , they will be with it, and as long as we suppose, E n tered a t th e postoffice a t S ilverton, able to convert the whole world in and most everyone does at present, Oregon, as second-class m ail m a tte r. They will have th a t Death is certain, th e o n ly way — a verv short time SUBSCRIPTION RATES. the power necessary to do more in to defeat him is by the evolution twenty years tow ard bringing us ary, educational process of d isab u s One year, in a d v an c e .......................... $1 92 l t ................ sc I th e true salvation, th an Jesus and ing the m inds of men entirely of Six m o nths in a d v an c e .................... 22 . . , T hree m onths, in a d v an c e ................ -» ] his disciples have done in tw enty the fear, and thus rob this feamson- In clubs of five or m ore, one y ear, devil of the source of his power. centu ties. in ad v an ce.......................................... But after all, this first way falls Perhaps some who read these Money should l>e sent by registered le tte r or m oney order. lines are too obtuse, although it is very short of robbing death of some not their fault, to u n d erstan d what of his worst “ stings.” I t is said Notice! it m eans to bring true salvation to th a t when a m an ju st begins to the world. But he who can think, learn how to live he has to die. A h a n d poin tin g to th is notice denotes let him think of the devils from This is true, and the world loses th a t your su b scrip tio n has e x p ire d . You are e arn estly requested to r e whose hoofs, and horns and poison all th a t one m ight do, by his being new so th a t you m ay receive th e pa ous breath we need to be saved. obliged to “ shuffle off” ju st at a p er w ith o u t in te rru p tio n . W e have de cided th a t it is best for all concerned Not m entioning m urderous war, time in life when he is prepared to th a t we do n o t send papers longer th a n the stultifying greed for wealth, do the most good. W ho can pos th e tim e paid for unless so ordered. T his will prev en t any loss and we will the prison of poverty and ignor sibly estim ate the lo.-s th at the know just w here we sta n d . ance of countless m illions, nor the world sustains when old age and We request you to send us th e nam es of Secularists who m ight becom e suh- destructive, im m oral h ab its of the death overtakes such men as Paine, soribers and we will m ail sam ple copies. masses, let us briefly exam ine just Jefferson, D arw in, H uxley, T y n one devil, whose power may be d all, Spencer and Ingersoll. W hat a fortune did the dying THURSDAY, FEB. i, E. M. 300. overcome when a few have evolved sufficiently to drop th eir childish queen offer for only one m ore short hour of life! A R E YOU F U L L Y CO NVERTED? thoughts and “ let the Savior in .” “ It is not necessary for men to The devil of which we speak is The Religion of H u m an ity has one th a t m ay perhaps be called the die!” is being whispered about its devils to fight. As Science is its “ devil him self,” or the chief devil am ong some of the men who have savior, so is Ignorance and the for which all others are but imps. been considered the most learned evils it brings, or perm its to come His nam e is D eath . The C hrist and soundest scientific th in k ers of A nd some think upon us, its devils. y ow, in order ians may sing, “ Safe in the arm s of this generation. to become converted to this up-to- Jesus,” but they prefer to stay out it possible th a t even our lives may date, scientific and true religion.all of his arm s as long as possible, and be prolonged hundreds of years . If this is accom plished, will be those who are “ outside of the fold” judging from their looks, when have to do is to be baptized by a death stares them in the face, lief in Jesus have brought it about? ra th e r see most Ah, no. Science is the savior th a t perfect and unconquerable desire to they would know the tru th — to know as much anyone else com ing— an Infidel lec has saved m any individual lives And F ree and is now placing its bow of hope of the tru th about everything as tu rer not excepted. they are capable of, and the desire thinkers, even those who have in the sky of hum an th o u g h t to be to help others to its saving light. best learned to take things philo read by all whose eyes are not This last idea of helping others is sophically, and who know th at blinded by the fluttering flag of very essential. The powers of the there is no suffering “ beyond,” are the old S alvation A rm y. A few have hum an m ind are three fold. We not over anxious, in a norm al con crept away from the din and cou- know, we feel and we w ill; and in dition, to run up against this fusion of the drum s of orthodoxy order to be fully converted to this “ eternal sleep” which we som etim es and begin to catch the “ angelic” music of science.’ I t comes clear as great and w onderful Religion of eulogize W hat would you give, dear read a silver bell and sings of peace and H u m an ity , all these powers m ust be fully changed from the old self er, to find the fountain of eternal love and long lives of happiness ish self-service to the service of the youth? “ Let us be honest.” We and joy. race. In order to know all we can m ay m ake up our m inds th a t In the tem ples of Science are now death is certain, th a t it m ust he so, know we m ust have a desire to m any w orshippers who love aDd brace ourselves by the labor (the best w orship) to in te r know, and the desire, if perfect,will and convert us from an ignorant state thought th a t we will meet it as be- pret the“ holy” language to the glory of fear to a knowledge and a confi- comes a C hristian or as a philoso- of m an. Some of these in terp reters dence th a t no creed, nor church, pher, and then dism iss it from are becoming fully converted to the nor priest can possibly give. But m ind as much as possible; but Religion of H u m an ity . They are to knowledge and fearless confi- f°r the com ing generation and pos- learning th a t our help m ust come dence m ust be added the lively in- sibly during our lives,even the black from ourselves and not from gods terest in, and intellectual love for death-devil m ay be conquered, nor sons of gods. W ithin the last our fellow men, as an incentive to 1 here are two ways in which this few days a F rench b ro th er has gain knowledge; or for w hat pur- wonderful feat m ay be accom plish- m ade a w onderful discovery which pose would those who have been ed. 1 he first way is, we believe, is thought by m any to practically converted from the selfish state an u n n atu ra l way, and will take a p u t Old Age and D eath within “ dig deep while sluggards sleep?” *ong time, besides it does not really our control, and while we do not In fact, in this com plete Religion of conquer Death, it only lim its his say th a t this attem p t will prove H u m an ity , instead of there being power. successful, yet we do say th a t there only the em otional p art of m an This is the plan: E ducate out, of is a cause for death and th a t we affected the whole being is enlisted the m inds of all, the fear of death, can see no reason why this cause in the highest service of which we It can be done. It has been done. caunot be indefinitely postponed. a £ Torch of Reason ali and aJ1 for each The inteIlecti If this can be accom plished the fear of pain caused by accident will yet rem ain and prevent us from be com ing too careless. B ut the em an cipated need not fear for the final result. T he tru e sp irit of science has entered the world and “ will not dow n” . I t m atters not th a t m any tem ples erected in its nam e are dom inated by the worshippers of stran g e gods, our cause will tr i um ph aud our savior will finally “save to the u tterm o st”. T here is only one way, how’ever, for this greatest of salvations to come upon us. Only a very few have as yet known the tru e state of things and only a few individuals here and there have become th o r oughly imbued with the h u m a n ita rian idea, who have also had the scientific sp irit and intellect to carry out th eir desire. Our relig ion m ust he ta u g h t and it m ust be scientifically taught! We m ust be careful. We m ust take pains. We m ust look into the minutiae as care fully as a trained detective does in to all the details of an im p o rtan t case. Listen to this, from the pen of Doyle: ’“ H ere, for exam ple, [speaking of a book] is one ‘Upon the D istinction Between the Ashes of the V arious Tobaccos’. In it I enum erate a hundred and forty forms of cigar, cigarette and pipe tobaccos, with colored plates illus tra tin g the difference in the ash. It is a point which is continually tu rn in g up in crim inal trials, and which is som etim es of suprem e im portance as a clew.” It is one of the im p o rtan t duties of our m odern religion to detect the errors of the past aud present and if we are successful it will be because we learn to work in a scientific m anner. Our success, and the prosperity and happiness of all the coming generations are a t stake. Let us m ake haste slowly, but let us make haste. And let us rem em ber th at intellect and knowledge are not alone sufficient. W e m ust be th o r oughly converted or our knowledge will be wasted on self and our ener gies exerted for vain purposes. An you fully converted to the Religion of Science and H u m an ity ? A T PE A C E . When the Liberal University was founded over three years ago we had no buildings of our own, no m oney, no library and nothing but a very few en th u siastic workers and friends. In our weak, financial condition we were n eith er feared, loved nor respected but by a very few, and m any of the few began to forsake 11s as soon as we did con tra ry to some of th eir various and contending ideas. B ut we labored on, and now’ we seem to be at peace with the whole world, excepting in our opposition to w hat we consider the evils of our tim e. And see w hat we have accom plished in three