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About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 1900)
T H E TO RCH O F REASON, SIL V E R T O N , OREGON, F E B R U A R Y 22, 1900. 4 Torch of Reason The Only Paper of Its Kind. P ublished W eekly by th e L iberal U n i versity C om pany, in th e In te re sts of C onstructive, Moral S ecularism . J. E. H osm er,........................Editor P. W . ü e e r ,........................ M anager E n te red a t th e postoffice a t S ilverton, O regon, as second-class m ail m a tte r. SU B SC R IPTIO N RATES. One year, in a d v an c e ..........................$1 00 Six m o nths in a d v an c e .................... 50 T hree m onths, in a d v an c e ................ 25 In clubs of five or m ore, one year, in a d v an c e .............. 75 Money should l>e sent by registered le tte r or m oney order. Notice! A h a n d pointing to th is notice denotes th a t your su b scrip tio n has e x p ired . You are e arn estly requested to re new so th a t you m ay receive th e p a per 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 th a t we do no t send papers longer th a n th e tim e paid for unless so ordered. T his will p revent any loss and we will know just w here we sta n d . We request you to send us th e nam es of Secularists who m ight becom e su b scribers and we will m ail sam ple copies. THURSDAY, FEB. 22, E. M. 300. PR E SE N T N 2 E D 3 A N D FUTURE PROSPECTS. In a card recently received from our noted friend George Jacob H olyoake of E ngland, he says: “ In your last num ber which reaches me today you say, ‘perhaps we w rite too much about the Liberal U ni versity .’ I th in k not.” He also speaks of the Ingersoll C hair in such a way th a t we are fully per suaded th a t this friend, whom we have never seen, yet whom we have learned greatly to adm ire, is in earnest about helping to establish our Freethought fort. Dear reader, read Mr. H olyoake’s letter concern ing the Ingersoll C hair which ap peared in the Torch of J a n . 25, and then ask yourself if we in Am erica ought not to wake up. The L.U.O. is said by friends to be the “ best th in g on e a rth ,’’ and it is from their donations and patronage th a t we have been able to continue th u s far. We sometimes fear, however, th a t m any who are able and perfectly w illing to help, wait for some great m ovem ent before doing any thing, and thus our work only craw ls, whereas it could fly just as well as not. The Ingersoll C hair Endow m ent will probably come all right. I t can not be a failure with such men of judgm ent and renown as are now interested in its success. It is exactly what m ust lie done if our work meets the degree of suc cess th a t every true and loyal F ree th in k er is praying (w orking) for. But while this is going on, while one friend is willing us one th o u sand dollars, another two thousand, oth ers insuring their lives in our favor, and still others setting aside portions of their salaries and urg ing others to do the sam e, we must not forget th a t im m ediate needs are pressing and m ust be met, or there will be serious delays and de feat- before reaching the rose-tinted sum m its of our future expectations. Too much praise and thanks can not be given to those who have put in their “ m ites” when the work was entirely experim ental. They had the right kind of “ faith ,” and were willing to risk som ething for h u m a n ity ’s sake, and now through them our success is assured if we follow up our victor ies and the people of the w’orld will soon hear som ething to their a d vantage. O ur work is now begin ning to bear fruit in dead earnest. C hristians are being converted to the religion of Science and H u m an ity. F reethinkers from every point of th e com pass are looking toward Silverton. Instead of the verifica tion of the quotation th a t “ those who come to scoff rem ain to p ra y ,” it tu rn s out th a t those who come to pray remain to scoff a t the old dogm as, and work for the new and glorious salvation th a t really saves “ to the utterm ost.” A C hristian gentlem an who has lived in our little city for a num ber of years rem arked to us the other day th a t there seems to be quite a change going on. H e said he knows of a large num ber who are leaving off bad habits,and he wanted to know w hat it all means. We are glad th a t we could tell the cause of the change and explain how much more to the advantage of the world such intellectual and scientific conver sions are th an the old orthodox, em otional, holy ghost m ethod. The tree of knowledge of good and evil th a t we set out in E. M. 296 i r this garden of Eden of the G old en West, is now beginning to bear fruit. Let us keep down the weeds; let us keep out the verm in (talking snakes, etc.); let us fertilize; let us cu ltiv ate; and the sunshine of n a tu ra l hope, and the rain-bearing clouds of honest doubt will do the rest. LOVE A N D LABO R. The civiliz d world, which is a heaven in com parison with the hell of ancient and modern heathenism , owes its existence, not to belief in a future sp iritual heaven and prayer to a god, but to honest, rightly-applied m ental and physical labor. All the science and art, and al, of their beneficent results, have come from m an ’s love of working for his own and for his fellows’ happiness. Labor is not a curse, it is a great blessing, and when properly in d u lg ed in it brings prygress, htp p in ess, heaven. To some the word labor m eans physical drudgeiy, but this is be cause of a false education. Physical and m ental labor are divinities that e u 1 v t w t) in one,” for one can not be productive of good w ithout the other, nor the other w ithout the one, and he who is educated in the highest and truest sense has not only highly developed m ental faculties, but has also reached the much to be desired state of mind when he is w illing to work where he can do the most good. For men and women to learn to love labor, m ental and physical, they should have a proper am ount of each a t proper times. The pre sent com parative crudeness and em pirical condition of our civiliza tion is caused by the overwork of the one class and the idleness and consequent dissipation of the other class. O ur youth m ust be educated not only to labor but to love to labor . This can only be brought about with any degree of dispatch by our rapidly changing the present wrong conditions to right conditions; right conditions can only be brought about by those who love to labor for the good of H u m an ity here on earth. Now the n a tu ra l evolutionary forces have at last evolved a few on this planet who have th a t love, and if those few have also had developed in th eir brains enough common sense to get together, or at least to work together, they will do at once a work th a t the world needs right aw ay. To labor only for a “ little home and to be com fortable and h ap p y ” is idiotic. To labor to have a home in order to have a standing place from which to throw out the life lines of political, religious, ed u ca tional and social reform s— one or all is the only saue reason for b u ild ing a home at all. I f parents labor to save som ething for th eir own children only, they are no more th an hum an hogs with eyes th a t can see no fa rth er than their own pens. The thousands and m illions of children of this and coming gen erations are deserving and need our help, and from a m aterial point of view, after we have provided those, who by n atu re are very dear to us, with wholesome food, clothing and educational advantages, all any one can long enjoy, so as to extend their power of doing good, our duty to them , to ourselves and to the world is very plain. To labor for years in the financial interests of children who m ay, through the parents foolish slavery, be made foolish slaves to w ealth themselves, or, rebelling, become dissipated sp en d th rifts and m ake their wealth a curse to everybody, is sim ply de laying the great good th a t the p ar e n ts’ energv an d w ell-regulated labors m ight have given to the world. W hat our youths need is a true education— one th a t comes from exam ple as well as precept, and there is no education w orthy of the nam e th a t does not fit men and women to labor with both hand and brain, and to fill the high office of M inister of th e Gospel of H u m anity. PR A Y ER AN SW ER ED UNANSW ERED. AND The R ight Rev. W . Boyd C ar penter, D. D., Lord Bishop of R ipon, in au article with the above h ead ing, says: “ The soul which waits upon God finds out sooner or later th a t the p ray ers which seem to be unansw ered are those which may be most tru ly answ ered.” Jesus is represented as saying: “ For everyone th a t asketh receiv- eth ; and he th a t seeketh findeth; and to him th a t knocketh it shall be opened. Or w hat m an is there of you, whom if his son ask bread will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a ser pent?” The early C hristian s evidently believed thoroughly in the literal answ er to pray, for did not their savior say: “ If ye shall ask a n y thing in my nam e, I will do it.” The great masses of reading, th in k ing people of the world can not longer be m ade to have th a t simple kind of faith. W ith th e exception of a few of the faith cure elem ent and the m ost ignorant, illiterate classes, people m ust have a better explanation from the priests and preachers for unansw ered prayers than the lack of faith or wickedness of some of th eir num bers, and so this m ethod of the rig h t reverend faith carpenter is toggled up. But how puerile it is! The poor m odern devotee, if he w ants bread m ay get a stone, b u t he m u stn ’t whine. He m ust m ake up his m ind th a t a stone is much better th an d ry bread for his digestive organs, and so, after m odestly praying for a fish and receiving a serpent, he and his fam ily, after asking a blessing, pro ceed to gnaw the devil out of the stone. No m atter if it does lacerate their poor gums an d lay heavy in th eir stom achs. If there is “ wailing and gn ash in g of teeth ” am ong some of the younger m em bers of the fam ily, no m atter, God knows best; and so the weakened, waiting, tru stin g C h ristian keeps m um bling, “ nevertheless not what I will, but w hat thou w ilt,” dresses up every Sunday, and with his wife and children, who have w anted bread and fish for a long time, trudges off to church with stone pudding and snake soup in his stom ach. Of course they hear “ just the best serm on ever preach ed,” and of course each one cheer fully drops a penny into the contri bution box, for “ God loveth a cheerful giver.” D idn’t the dear pastor read it from God’s holy word? O, how silly and how easily duped have been the ape-like crea tures th a t have inhabited “G od’s footstool.” How long, O, how long m ust the sacred farce be kept up? But the divine w riter whom we have quoted says farth er on: “ And it may come to pass in later life th a t our specific petitions for this or th a t th in g m ay grow fewer. We