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 .
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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