T H E TORCH OF REASON, S IL V E R T O N , OREGON, JU L Y 5, E . M. 300 (1900.)
4
run it increases it, for, being false,
of
it prevents the introduction of those
truths which alone can bring the
The O nly P ap er of Its Kind.
___
mind into a true and right con-
Piiblished Weekly by the Liberal Uni- d itio n , so th a t d e a th is simply
versity C om pany, in the Intereste of
looked upon as any n atu ral phe­
C onstructive, Moral -ecuiai 1S8>.
nom ena, there being no glorious
heaven in the sky to gain or lose
J. E. H o sm e r,........................E d ito r nor an awful hell to avoid. When
P. W . G e e r,....................... M an ag er this ogre oi Tear is banished from
tin* world, a lo-aven worth a thous-
Entered at the postofflee *t Silverton,
j UlnBg as n)Uch as the little,
Torch
Reason
O regon, as second-class m ail m a tte r.
.
J g
,
evil and the u ltim ate perfecting of ask you five questions here and
hum anity based on E volution, is now? And why are books ami
hooks issuing from the press con
good, because it m akes us happy tin u ally on this very question?
workers in its accom plishm ent, hut
One point has been gained by the
labors
oi centuries of fre e th in k e rs,
from childhood our race has been
taught th a t to doubt the priests’ viz.: The idea of a god external to
.
.
..... th e u n iv e rse , w’ho
stories is a great evil, and
. so w®
have scarcely begun to have wis-
doni. But the serpent o f darkness
cannot stand the sunlight oi tru th
nor the searching light from the
torch of reason, and we can now
begin to m ake of our garden, the
earth , an Eden w ithout a s e rp e n t,
a heaven w ithout a hell, a paradise
of equality,
_ selfish, gold-streeted one in the sky
for the elite will have come to
SUBSCRIPTION RATES.
earth, and every one can then afford
$1 00 to be a happy, freethought Secu­
One year, in a d v an c e ....................
re)
‘•W here love th e a ir w ith m usic tills,,
Six m onths in a d v an c e ....................
£ larist.
Ami calm co n ten t and peace a b id e .”
T h ree m o n th s, in a d v an c e ................
Then
men
will
really
live.
They
In clubs of five or m ore, one year,
t n will be brave to overcome evil, but
in a d v a n c e ..
T H E G R E A T A L L V S . A GOD.
Money should he sent by registered
when they have done their best, in ­
le tte r or m oney order.
stead of “ resting on th e m ig h ty (?) j The
---- following - letter, with its
a rm ” of an im agination, they will ' questions, we believe we can answ er
Notice!
bravely let come what will come.) to the satisfaction of the em anci-
N othing can harm him who fears Dated; and it will certainly do no
A h n a n d a p pointing
o iu iu ig to
w y th
m is
o notice denotes
, are still
uh
i harm to those who
th a t your su b scrip tio n has e x p ire d . nejt,her men, gods n o r «devils and
i
groping
r t h a eta ?o u ‘’i . . r ^ v e . h e £ baa t h a t wonderful talism an , the | in the darkness of mntu
linuclPfl
m etaphysics.
per w ith o u t in te rru p tio n .
We have de-j a p p r o v a j o f his
ow n conscience. | K indly
set th e th in g
t
,,„,1 left
loft it
aoing
and theu went * on pr and
it,
¿xcept {or a few rajraculous inter-
ference8— th a t idea of God has been
banished from the m inds of most
intelligent persons, together with
the, ideuof ,
in V 3 K
and slam s people into hell if they
do not salaam properly to him: but
when you say th a t intelligent peo­
ple are satisfied as to the origin and
purpose of things by being told that
“eternal law s” or “ forces” “ govern
m atter,” and “ evolve” the universe
and run it, I th in k you are m is­
taken. It seems to me th at laws or
forces, th a t can do what has been
done and is doing in its heavens
' above, the earth below, and the
j w aters under the e a rth ; and in the
brain and heart of m an constitute
precisely the kind of god I am will-
i big to take
m not
<>f (h( off my h a t to. n<w I q(.
, he
..
. . . . if « you will
«ti only
i give
•
¡thing
itself,
notice each question arid ,ne the right kind of a god; and
each answer, for they lie at the whoever or w hatever does w hat is
the time paid for unless so ordered. vvlj[ h a v e n o n e of it in th e w alls ot | verv door of tru th and the solution being done, and is what is, suits me
1
« i_
verv well, lum ping all the “ evil
This will prevent any loss and we will |
glorious Temple ofj of • the greate-t . 1 problem
s of hum an
- speak , of £ into
. . the
, , bargain,
know ju st w here we sta n d .
our
r
OI m r gicniv
E
We request you to send us th e nam es , H u m a n i t y .
affairs. H ere is the letter:
j
H ugh O. P entecost .
of Secularists who m ight become su ,
S e c u la rists h a v e h o p e, b u t it
Hcri»»ers and we will m ail sam ple copies, t
W e S e c u la r is ts n a v e j
,
E ditor T orch of R eason :
76, Elm Street, New York C ity .
'
j is a reasonable hope. We have a
In your issue of May 3, 1900, 11 j Mr. Pentecost knows th a t there
, . , .
,
“ future hope,” but it is the unsel- rp:id an editorial entitled “ l h e |
T hursday , J uly 5, E. M. 300. ■ fish, future hope for our race. It T ro th vs. Old T heories,” in which 11*re laws of n a iu re ’ b u t •>« <ioes not
you say: “Science teaches us th a t'k n o w th a t there is a god. Laws
is a hope (hat gives us im m ortality,
F E A R , H O P E A N D DOUBT.
space is occupied by m atter, and need no room. They are neither
i hut it is the possible and, to those th a t one of the general properties in a terial nor im m aterial things,
Quo V adis, the popular novel, who try , the very probable im m or- or
m atter
is
imPen«‘rabj lily- They are not th in g s a t all. They
W
here,
then,
is
there
room for a
repreeenta V iu itlu r. a Rom an e o n -, *«1»? of good works. The hum an
are “ uniform occurrences of n a­
vert to C h ristianity, when speaking f a m ily m ust he adjusted to tru th god? If he(?) is im m aterial, he is
nothing, and if m aterial, he m ust tu ral phenom ena,” and it is as ab-
of Lygia, his betrothed, who was io B ut some ask, “ W h at harm does it
v, ___ ... in organic
_____ form, ; like men surd to ask where is there room for
be either
he cast to the lions by the order o f , do for one to believe in the mimor- and women, or in inorganic form, these law s as it would be to ask
Nero, as saying: “ I will believe in j tality oi the soul; if one is goo like an invisible gas, as oxygen.
lour friend Pentecost where is there
Then
vou
sav:
“
The
great,
eternal
- the
, uniform occurrence of t
H is (C h rist’s) loving kindness even and honest ill Ills belief, w ly e-
ln e u y o u
v
s
room for
if I see her in the jaws of the lion.” ; stroy Ids hope?” The people who laws which govern m atter have
evolved the universe as it is and the e a rth ’s tu rn in g on its axis. A
Tiie au th o r says th a t V initius ask such questions need to become the life forms th erein .”
stone needs room to fall, but it
feared, not to hope; he feared only broader. '1 he little circle of the in ­
Then further on: “ The idea of need ? no room for the law (th e uni-
doubt. We who claim th at belief dividual man or woman is not the the eternal forces is as easy to rest form occurrence) llia t it falls six-
-
, «
o
in gods and their SODS is very in- great question, and saying nothing th e m ind on as the idea ot an eter-
„a l god, and much more so when *eeu feet the first second and gams
jurious to the individual and to the about the fact th a t no good man
we consider th a t it solves the whole a velocity of thirty-tw o. A god, it
world, can see in tins the key to exists who m ight not be m ade bet-
question.”
’
it were possible for one to exist,
the tru th s of Secularism and the ter by receiving and giving out
Let us adm it th a t there is no god woujd be a thing, not a process nor a
overthrow of all su p ern atu ral re- more tru th , we m ust remember th a t and no place for one in the universe. jaw an(j would need room. Laws
’
ligions. The word fear is often tru th is the only creed on which all After th at adm ission would you
1 • n answer
. • ,t,
M m
ic tio n s? r .—
of nature need no room, and there
kindly
these
questions
—
used to express th a t which is not can finally unite and th a t CMOS is
1 “ The great, eternal law s.” If is no room for a god anywhere.
real fear. We should fear, a b h o r ! necessaky for the establishm ent of
......................”
’ ~
‘ "
.................... stuff
and fight deatli and love light and kioht conditions , which alone can
life, and yet we should not super- firing out the higOest and best in
If they are im m aterial
die
stitiously fear death or a n y th in g , mao.
nothing, and if m aterial they m ust m an-like power, which govern-
else. The n atu ral fear of death
The fear to doubt is the most j
have form. Is n ’t there as m uch m atter. All m atter follows the
has been a great factor in civiliza- dam nable thing in the C h ristia n ' room for God as there is for a law ljne o{ th e least resistance, because
lion. It makes us th in k l I t urges creed. No mind can conceive the or laws, in a universe of im pene- ¡t ca n q h t jp ¡t These laws of na-
us to take care of our bodies. It evil th a t has come from it, because | traole m atter?
ture are sim ply w hat uniformly
2.
How
do
these
laws,
necessarily
has m ade us study the laws of na- no m ind can form a correct idea of
(on your theory) neither m aterial takes place under uniform con-
ture, prolonged our lives and given what we “ m ight have been if this
nor im m aterial, acquire the wisdom ditions.
us aid and comfort in m any ways, subtle serpent had not crawled into
and power to “ govern m atter?”
3. Not being things, they did not
and will, with the n atu ral fear of the garden of hum an thought,
3. From w hat did they evolve evolve the universe in the sen-®
pain, finally give hum an beings a But in order to secure the uudi- the “ universe as it is and the life th a t t ,
slowly crealed it The
A nd w hat were
-
,
longevity which will he worth much vided services of their Hocks, the lorms therein?
they doi, g before they evolved it? universe has alw ays existed as t.ir
more than the C h ristian s’ old- priests propagated, cultivated and
4 “ The idea of the eternal forces as we know, for the m atter •*
fashioned idea of the im m ortality nourished it; aud today, every- is as easy to rest the m ind on as the which it is composed is indestru
of a soul p art of m an. But super- where we tu rn , we are either met idea of an eternal G o d .’ Perhaps.
an(j e^e rn a l. The universe “its
stitious fear is very bad, and by its glaring eyes and hissing But isn’t ihe reverse of th a t prop»-
,g„
haa ,)een evo,Ted by
he
should be banished from the tongue or behold the cow ardly sition true, also? It you cannot
im agine a god without a god-m aker, these laws, or, perhaps, it would
m inds of men, women and children thing craw ling away into the dark
how can vou im agine force w ithout better understood to ray th a t m a­
as soon as possible. But belief in su- holes which it has dug beneath the
rt force-maker?
ter is changing all the time, ai
p ern atu ral religions, the stories of tree of life.
5. You say th a t the idea of the ^ a t it has reached the condition in
C h ristian s to the contrary notw ith-
D oubt— not the fear of a god is eternal forcis . . . solves the which „ e find Ut ao d the laws, t. e,
H ow so? If t h e ----------------------- ------------------------------
standing, does not lessen this super- the beginning of wisdom. A reas- w hole q u estio n .
whole
question
is
solved why do I
Continued on (Uh page.
htitious fear of death. In the long onabie faith in our trium ph over
litV w cdo n o t ^ n d ^ J 1
! Away w ith superstitious fearl
We