9
For the Torch of Reason.
T H E TO RCH O F REA SO N , S IL V E R T O N , OREGON, F E B R U A R Y 15, 1900.
th a t her mind has never ceased to 1 For theTorch of Reaw,n-
witnesses and the testim ony of the
“ E ighty Years and flo re.1
travel onw ard into new light “even
“ W h at’s in a N am e?”
eight witnesses.
These witnesses
unto th is present d ay .” T hat is a
testify before a notary to having
BY HELEN H. GARDENER.
BY D. PRIESTLEY.
rare q uality in man or woman.
seen the gold tablets upon which
Most people get their m ental growth
-----------
the divine Book of Mormon was
Have you read the last hook by i>y t^e
they are fifty or so.
Reverend Copeland has taken the w ritten. T h at is very much more
Elizabeth Cady S tanton, th a t splen- After th a t they stand still or go trouble to correct the Oregonian in than we have in au th en ticatio n of
did old philosopher
outrider o n ¡ n t o t h a t H ia le of in activ ity or re- regard to U n itarian belief. He ex- any other sacred fables. And yet
the path of hum an progress? My trogression, variously called »econd plains th a t U n ita ria n s believe in
the whole thing is a “ dead give­
husband and I have ju s t lieen re a d ­ childhood, or “conservatism .”
Jesus the C hrist— in Jesus the m an a w a y ”. The witnesses solem nly
ing aloud to each other her “ E ighty
Mrs. S tanton has sim ply gone — but not in Jesus trie god. The affirm th a t they “ were perm itted
Y ears and More” , and we are both bravely and stu rd ily on growing in Oregonian rem inds him th a t Christ
by the Lord Jesus C h rist” to see
charm ed by its style and deeply in­ grace and a sense of liberty and means divinely anointed and has
these golden plates. T h at is proof,
terested in its substance.
no
significance
aside
from
the
idea
freedom and power, and an abiding
t o the person of sense, th a t no gold­
Its steady flow of wit and gentle self respect, and kept a youthful of the divinity of Jesus.
en plates were in sight. We do not
sarcasm is delightful. In all the interest in, and a m atu re grasp
The idea is th a t Jesus was greas­ have to be “ p erm itted ” to see w hat
years I have known and loved her upon, a n new problems as well as ed with sacred grease. H is name, is before our eyes. And yet there
it has been a wonder to me how she upon old perplexities.
T h a t is if he ever had a nam e, was Joshua. is not as much proof th a t Jo sh u a of
has “ kept sweet” — has not been superb.
And I cannot recall at But as the character, as we have N azareth ever lived as there is of
soured by the long struggle she has this m om ent six men of the past received it, is a Greek invention, it
the existence of th e gold tablets
made for w om an’s freedom, and her hundred years of whom it can be comes to us as Jesus. It became
which contained thn original of the
right to live her own life in her own tru th fu lly said. One fault I find Jesus the C hrist.
Then “ the” was P resbyterian
preachers’ novel,
way w ithout rem aining in perpet­ with her book— the picture used as om itted and he was called Jesus
which was stolen by Sidney Rigdon
ual tutelege to man. It is all made a frontispiece. It does not do her C hrist, as if C hrist was his su r­
and worked over into the Book of
clear in th is book. She was saved credit. It has a look th a t people name. Then Jesus was om itted and
M ormon.
by her keen senne of hum or and her who do not know her, would sav, he was called C hrist.
native wit — two of the greatest of “ W omen who do things look like
There was once a man by the
The W an ing of Faith.
blessings.
th at. I should be afraid of her and nam e of A lexander, son of P hillip
I have som etim es said, when op- I could not love her, however much of Macedon.
Long after he was
E ditor T orch of R eason :
, ressed by the sorrows and wrongs I m ight adm ire her ab ility .”
dead, to distinguish him from other
I write you this to express my
of the world, th at had I not in h er­
No, I don’t like th a t picture of A lexanders, he was called A lexan­
ited a sense of hum or I would have her to stand in front of th a t book. der the G reat. If historians or fab­ delight at the founding of the L ib­
long since gone insane. For, with If she ever had th a t look I have ulists had om itted “ th e ” and called eral U niversity of Oregon, and my
a lively im agination, those of us never seen it, and I know th a t it him A lexander G reat, it would earnest wish th a t it m ay grow into
who see and think and feel the woes does not convey the idea of her as have been strictly parallel with an extensive and perm anent in sti­
tution for th e dissem ination of
o f those who suffer the worst cruel­ she is and alw ays was, a strong,
w hat ecclesiastical fabulists have
ties of the w’orld (which we daily sweet, high-bred, courtly, m erry, done with the nam e of Jesus. Y et scientific knowledge and the pro­
seem to be a p a rt of, in keeping it tender, wom anly woman. I want an extrem ely Liberal U n itarian motion of rational m orality. Rules
an inferno), we could not bear it if th a t frontispiece changed in future seems to th in k w hat people believe of right doing, based on reason and
science, m ust soon be form ulated
it were not for th a t other side of our editions. The other pictures in the
about Jesus a m atter of im portance.
or the people will be left w ithout a
natures, th a t safety-valve of sensi­ book are altogether lovely, includ­
However
short
a
m
a
n
’s
religious
com pass with which to steer their
tive souls, a sense of humor. T h at ing the one of th a t stu rd y son on
creed m ay be, he seems to thim k course of action. The old “ Thus
has kept Mrs. S tanton preem inetly page two hundred and one. I don’t
him self wronged unless it is taken saith the L ord” precepts are fast
sane and sweet through all those know w hether he is “ my son T heo­
for granted th a t he believes some­ losing their power over men; and
years of contest before her greatness dore” of whom she writes with such
thing which is not supported by in the future better reasons m ust be
was grasped or appreciated by even adm iration and com m endable pride,
those who were yearly reaping the or w hether he is G erret or “ Bob,” the slightest evidence. T he very given for enjoining certain com ­
little th a t the U n itarian believes is m andm ents th an the bare statem ent
benefits of her unequal struggle.
but he is a fine chap, and I ’m ju st
ju s t as far outside of the world of of some old book th a t thev were
One of her chapters, however, glad she d id n ’t m ake him take the
•r
fact and objective reality as th e long ago prom ulgated by a super­
made us wonder, am idst our laugh- tops and nails and bric-a-brac out
creed of th e most orthodox. The n atu ra l “ God.”
ter, if her slipping through life with of his tro u .ers pocket before he
very idea of faith is the acceptance
Even the actual good th a t the
a smooth tem per and a suave sp ir­ posed for his picture. If she had
of some proposition upon a u th o rity “ Bible” contains is m ore or less
i t m ight not be due largely to th at we would have lost a p a rt of the
of some priest or prophet w ithout discredited uow -a-days because of
gum arabic and slippery elm diet ch aracter of th a t boy.
p u ttin g him to the trouble of prov­ the popular disbelief in the claim s
in K ansas! T ruly, the book is good
The book should be in every ing it. Belief on evidence has nev­
of the church as to the source of
for the blues. T h at ch ap ter is fun- I public and private lib rary which
er been supposed to have an y m er­
the book. The claim s th a t an in ­
t i l e r than M ark Tw ain.
W h at a m akes an y claim to keeping abreast
it. Even the ungodly will accept a
finite, personal God has said this
superb trib u te she pays to “ A unt of the times. Its philosophy, its
proposition th a t can be proved.
or th a t, is at least trip ly im prov­
S u san ” A nthony, and how glad we wit, its hum or, its inform ation and
T he pietist will testify as to gods
able. In the first place, nobody
younger women are to know th a t its rich fund of recollections m ake
and devils, heaven and hell, and
knows th a t any such being has an
both of them have lived to know it of unique value to this and future
other impossible en tities and places
existence. Then, second: If it is
th a t their work is like the soul of generations.
ju st as em phatically as he will of
granted th a t such a God exists, no
John Brown, “ m arching on” g ran d ­
I confess th a t, as a rule, “ R em i­ the every-day facts of the real
one knows, and in the n atu re of
ly aud irresistibly and th a t the
niscences” are a drug in my m ental w orld. The sacred fabulists who
things can not know, th a t he ever
time is not so far off now when their
m arket. Most of them are stupid wrote the gospels would describe
said an y th in g to m an. T hird: If
names will stand in honor and
in method and un interesting in a flock of angels in as com m on­
glory beside those of W ashinton,
it is conceded th a t there is such a
m a tte r—or both. Those ju s t put place a way as if they had been
Lincoln ami Ingersoll in the rever­
being, and th a t he once talked to
out by Mrs. H p u t me to sleep. crows.
They would give m iuute
ence of the lovers of freedom and
m en, no person can now know just
They are of the copy-book order, accounts of the conversations of de­
liberty for m an, woman and child.
w hat he said.
This is common
We are glad and happy to know “ Be
<aa 1 aIn) a " d y»« will be vils, and th eir transference into
sense,and it is ju st the line of
th a t they have both lived to per > h a P I » '” “ ^ P j o u r face clean if >igs. They not only failed to re­
th o u g h t th a t runs, however uncon­
eonally know an d feel the love and : 5
7 " 1
* J 0" ' 7 c h i l d “ " d spect plain, o rdinary facts, but they
sciously, in the m inds of millions
. • *
,
t a ü equally profound and wise things were not even discrim inating as
adm iration ♦ they
in « m ire d i in
n
»
.
of people a t this time.
7 i have inspired
( And
the Wethod
It ig of tfa tnings. com pilers of m yths.
the noblest and best, and to be sure v. i
, , .
•
But few intelligent persons now
th a t their g ra titu d e is given to them
’ ?°Py b o o k ,8 h -
M r,,
I t is because of this ch a ra c te r­ will say, in good earnest, th a t they
fe
is given to them S tan to n ’s is altogether delightful,
istic of piety th a t testim ony in the believe the doctrines of the C hrist­
both.
and I co n g ratu late her and the interest of religion becomes abso
ian church. And most persons who
" ubH° ihi* ' si-
p»« - - ique lutely worthless.
As
a
preface
to
prefer to believe the creeds, really
is her absolute freedom from all and interesting an experienc
in the Book of Mormon we have w hat look upon the statem ent th a t they
ca n t and su p erstition, and ,he fact 8uch charm ing form.
is called the testim ony of the th ree m ust act in a certain m an n er be-