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About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 1900)
TO K CI I R eason . B o u g h t • üvi ••TRUTH BEARS TH E TORCH IN TH E SEARCH FOR TR U TH .” —¿ u c r e / l M * ’. VOL. 4. SILVERTON, OREGON. THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, E. M. 300(1900.) NO. 30. ■ F ound B ut Once in a W h ile. m otions and ap- would have been filled up with pearance of the heavenly bodies, characters rising superior in BY J . F . COOPER. afforded additional m eans for knowledge to each other; an d those ascertaining the true stru c tu re of ancients we now so m uch adm ire, t is easy enough to be p leasant W hen life flies by in a song, the universe. Instead of being would have appeared respectably But th e m an w orth while is th e one esteemed for these discoveries, he in th e background of the scene. who will sm ile The scientific principles th a t was sentenced to renounce them , But the C h ristian system laid all W hen every tiling goes w rong. m an employe to obtain the fore or the opinions resulting from them , waste; an d if we take our s ta n d F o r th e te st of th e h e a rt is tro u b le, And it alw ays com es w ith th e years, knowledge of an eclipse, or of a n y as a dam nable heresy. about the beginning of the sixteenth And th e sm ile th a t is w orth th e praise thing else relating to the motion of of e a rth cen tu ry , we look back through th a t Is th e sm ile th a t shines th ro u g h tears. the heavenly bodies, are contained If the belief of errors not m orally long chasm , to the times of the It is easy enough to he p ru d e n t chiefly in th a t p a rt of Science bad did no mischief, it would m ake ancients, as over a vast s a n d y W hen n o th in g te m p ts you to stra y , which is called trigonom etry, or no p art of the m oral d u ty of m an desert in which not a sh ru b a p W hen w ith o u t or w ithin no voice of sin the properties of a triangle, which, to oppose and'rem ove them . There pears to intercept the vision to the Is lu rin g your m ind aw ay. B ut i t ’s only a negative v irtu e, when applied to the study of the was no m oral ill in believing the fertile hills beyond. U n til it is tried by fire, And th e life th a t is w orth th e honor of heavenly bodies, is called a stro n earth was flat like a trencher, any e arth omy; when applied to direct the more than there was m oral virtue Though it is not a direct article Is th e one th a t resists desire. course of a ship on the ocean, it is in believing th a t it was round like of the C hristian system , th a t th is By th e cynics, th e sail, th e fallen, called navigation; when applied to a globe; neither was there any W ho had no stre n g th for th e strife, world th a t wc in h a b it, is the whole The w orld’s highw ay is cum bered to the construction of figures draw n moral ill in believing th a t the of the habitable creation, yet it is d ay — by rule and com pass, it is called C reator m ade no other world than They m ake up th e item s of life. so worked up therew ith, from w hat geom etry; when applied to the con this, any more than there was B ut th e v irtu e th a t conquers passion, And th e sorrow th a t hides in a struction of plans of edifices, it is m oral virtue in believing th a t he is called th e Mosaic account of the sm ile— C reation, the story of Eve an d the It is these th a t a re w orth th e hom age of called architecture; when applied made m illions, ahd th a t the infinity apple, an d th e co u n terp art of th a t e a rth , to the m easurem ent of any portion of space is filled with worlds. But For we find them b u t once in a w hile. story, th e d eath of th e Son of God, of the surface of the earth , it is when a system of religion is m ade th a t to believe otherw ise, th a t is, T h o m as P ain e, th e S cientific, called laud-surveying. In Sue, it to grow out of a supposed system to believe th a t God created a is the soul of Science; it is an of creation th a t is not true, and to C o n stru c tiv e L iberal. p lu rality of worlds, a t least as eternal tru th ; it contains the m a th unite itself therew ith in a m an n er num erous as what we call stars, “ We talk of R eligion. L et us talk of em atical dem onstration of which alm ost inseparable therefrom , the renders the C hristian system of T r u th ; for th a t w hich is not T ru th is case assum es an entirely different not w orthy of th e nam e of R eligion.” — m an speaks, and the extent of its faith a t once little and ridiculous, Vol. 4, p. 251. P a in e ’s W orks. uses is unknown. I t m ay be said ground. I t is then th a t errors, not and scatters it in the m ind like P aine, who coined th e phrase, “ The m orally bad, become fraught with th a t m an can make or draw a tri Religion of H u m a n ity ,” [The C risis 7, feathers in the air. The two be 1778], did but logically defend it in the angle, and therefore a trian g le is a the same m ischiefs as if they were. liefs can not be held together in “ A geof R easo n .” —Conw ay, vol. 1, p. 6. It is then th a t the tru th , though hum an invention. It is the stru c P a in e ’s W orks. the same m ind; and he who th in k s The “ Age of R eason” was founded ture of the universe th a t has tau g h t outherw ise indifferent itself, be th a t he believes both, has th o u g h t upon Science, as th e following e x tra c ts comes an essential, by becoming this knowledge to m an. T hat from its P a rt I plainly show : but little of either. stru ctu re is an ever-existing exhi criterion, th a t either confirm s by T IS a fraud of the C hristian bition of every principle upon corresponding evidence,or denies Though the belief of a p lu rality system to Cull the sciences which every p art of m athem atical by contradictory evidence, the hum an invention; it is only science is founded. The offspring reality of the religion itself. In of worlds was fam iliar to the the application of them th a t is of this science is m echanics; for this view of the case, it is the moral ancients, it is only w ithin th e last hum an. Every science has for its mechanics is no other than the d u ty of m an to obtain every possible three centuries th a t the ex ten t an d basis a system of principles as fixed principles of Science applied p ra c evidence th a t the -structure of the dim ensions of this globe th a t we and u n alterab le as those by which tically. heavens, or any other p art of in h ab it h a v e been ascertained. the universe is regulated and gov creation affords, with respect to Several vessels, following the tra c t The selters-up, therefore, and the system s of religion. erned. Man cannot m ake p rin B ut this, the of the ocean, have sailed en tirely ciples; he can only discover them . advocates of the C hristian system supporters or partisans of th e round the world, as a man m ay For exam ple: E very person who of faith, could not but foresee th a t C hristian system , as if dreading th e m arch in a circle, and come round looks at an alm anac sees an ac- the continually progressive knowl- result, incessantly opposed, and not by the c o n tra ry side of the circle to count when an eclipse will take edge that man would gain, by the ony rejected the sciences, b u t the spot he set out from. The place, and he sees also th a t it never aid of Science, of the power and persecuted the professors. H a d circu lar dim ensions of our world, fails to take place according to the wisdom of God, m anifested in the Newton or Descartes lived three or in the widest p art, as a m an would account there given. This shows structure of the universe, and in all four hundred years ago,and pursued m easure the widest round of an th a t m an is acquainted with the the works of Creation, would mili- their studies as they did, it is most apple, or a ball, is only tw enty-five laws by which the heavenly bodies late against, and call into question, probable they would not have lived thousand an d tw enty E nglish miles, move. B ut it would be som ething the tru th of their system of faith; l0 finiHhed them ; and had F ra n k lin reckoning six ty -n in e miles and a worse th an ignorance were any and therefore it became necessary draw n lig h tn in g from the clouds at h a lf to an equatorial degree, an d the sam e tim e, it would have m ay be sailed round in the space church on earth to say th a t those to their purpose to cut learning laws are a hum an invention. It down to a size less dangerous to been a t the hazard of expiring for of about three years. (W ritte n in 1794. A world of this ex ten t m ay , would also he ignorance, or some- their project, and this they effected it in flames. at first thought, appear to us to be thing worse, to say th a t the scien- by restricting tlie idea of learning tific principles, by the aid of which to the dead languages. 1 tiey not It is owing to th is long in great; but if we com pare it w ith m an is enabled to calculate and only rejected the study of science terregnum of science, and to no the im m ensity of space in w hich it foreknow when an eclipse will take out of tne C hristian schools, but other cause, th a t we have now to is suspended, like a bubble or place, are a hum an invention, they persecuted it; and it is only look through a vast, chasm of m any balloon in the air, it is infin itely Man cannot invent a thing th a t is w ithin the last two centuries th at hundred years to the respectable less, in proportion, th an the eternal and im m utable; and the the study has been revived. So characters we call the ancients. sm allest grain of sand is to th e scientific principles he employs for late as 1610, Galileo, a F lorentine, H ad the progression of knowledge size of the world, or the finest this purpose m ust, and are, of ne- discovered and introduced the use gone on proportiouably with th a t p article of dew to the whole ocean, ceesity, as etern al and im m utable of telescopes, and by applying them stock th a t before existed, th a t chasm and is therefore but sm all; an d as • I I Í a** th e laws by which th e heavenly bodies move, or they could not be used as they are to ascertain the tim e when, an d the m anner how, an eclipse will take place. to observe •• -«-v — . the FÏ&