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