4
T H E TORCH OF REASON, S IL V E R T O N , OREGON, AUGUST 23, E. M. 300 (1900.)
Torch of Reason
hast thou forsaken m e?” as Jesus with any degree of success help th a t this disproves the Bible ac­
did, the preachers would have a n ­ gather th a t m ental harvest which count of creation: th a t it shows the
The Only Paper of Its Kind.
o th er awful deathbed scene to is so necessary for the world’s unity uninspired character of the book,
preach about. Do you really su p ­ and progress, because this life be­ and th a t therefore it is all a m is­
Published Weekly by the Liberal Uni­ pose there is a god? Was there comes subsidiary, a vale of tears, a take about his redeem er living and
versity Company, in the Interests of
such a Jesus Chriest as the priests' preparatory school only, a desert his feeling it in his h eart, he gets
Constructive, Moral Secularism.
wrote about? Did he think God land, etc. Is it not an awful con­ very much excited and declares
had forsaken him ? Did God really dition th a t produces the u tte r th a t we can’t prove a n y th in g — not
J. E. H osm er,........................Editor
forsake his son? O ught we, the abandonm ent of this, the only life even th a t we are not in bed and
P. W. G eer,....................... M anager
most civilized people of the world, we know anything about? The poor asleep. H e is willing to tak e as
to base our great future work on victim, as good as dead, sings:
proof a feeling in his heart, but re­
Entered at the postoffice at Silverton,
such idle tales?
Oregon, as second-class mail matter.
jects without exam ination any real
Then ask me not to linger long
Amid the gay and thoughtless throng,
facts th a t m ight be used as a basis
For
I
am
only
waiting
here
SUBSCRIPTION RATES.
A lady of Silverton was surprised To hear the summons, “ Child, come of reason with which to discover
home!”
the honest tru th . W hy is this?
to
find
a
fine
string
of
trout
and
a
One year, in advance...................... $1 00
I f h um anity ever got a “ black W hy will men and women refuse to
Six months, in advance.................
50 goodly piece of venison on the hack
Three months, in advance.............. 25 porch the other day. She con­ eye” it did when this idea of future honestly investigate? W hy will
In clubs of five or more, one year,
they base their life work on faith?
in a d v a n c e ...................................................
75 cluded, however, th at a friend m ust existence entered the brains of its
Money should l>e sent by registered have wanted to give her family a leaders of thought; and now it will It is because they want to be ­
latter or money order.
treat, and she therefore cooked the take a long time to unteach what lieve in a God; they want to be ­
delicacies and they did eat thereof. they,in their unavoidable ignorance, lieve in a future life. And why
Notice!
I t is said th a t her neighbor, the scattered broadcast over the world. do they want to believe? Is it not
The living is b u t a handful com ­ th a t the eternal talk of the priests
A hand pointing to this notice denotes m inister, on being informed in re­
that your subscription has expired. gard to the m atter, seemed to dis­ pared with the billions which have and preachers have educated them ,
You are earnestly requested to re­
gone to sleep on the bosom of and through heredity they are
new so that you may receive the pa­ agree as to the source from whence
per without interruption. We have de­ the gift came. He saw an oppor­ m other earth. Are those billions n a tu ra lly credulous? Science asks
cided that it is best for all concerned tu n ity to do Jesus a good tu rn , and waiting for their friends, some in no one to believe. In fact, scien­
that we do not send papers longer than
the time paid for unless so ordered. therefore insinuated th a t he m ust bliss and some in m isery, or are tifically, we are dam ned if we take
This will prevent any loss and we will have sent the meat. It tu rn s out, they really at rest? If the P resi­ a th irg for granted because we feel
know just where we stand.
We request you to send us the names howevi r, th a t a young Secular dent of the Leland Stanford U ni­ it in our hearts. Doubt, and not
<rf Secularists who might become sub­ friend of ours was the donor, and versity is right, if Spencer, and D ar­ blind faith, Is necessary th a t tru th
scribers and we will mail sample copies.
although the “k id ” by whom it was win, and H uxley, and T yndall, and be found and preserved.
Now, the two great, m ain p illars
sent made a m istake and left the all of the greatest of modern th in k ­
T hursday , A ug . 23, E. M. 300.
dea(e)r stuff at the wrong house, ers are right, these billions are not on which C h ristian ity rests are a
George has been re-christened, and conscious. They are no more. And God and im m o rtality ; and it is the
The m an who invented the m a­ is now hailed by the high title of we need not worry or rejoice over duty of all to doubt— to honestly
chine to pare and core apples did “Jesus” by all the boys in t >wn.
meeting anyone anyw here in any test these as we would any ques­
m ore for h u m anity than the priest
other place than here on this earth. tions of life. I t is dishonest not to
who invented the father, son and
Is this not best after all? The work do so. The tru th will m ake the
H E R E VS. ‘OVER T H E R E .”
holy ghost story.
in hand, of m aking som ething out world better, and, in the long run,
of this life, needs our whole a tte n ­ any delusion, no m atter if it be a
David S tarr Jo rd a n says th at the tion. T hink of the children th a t pleasant one to m any, will enslave
The trouble with Jesus C h rist’s
mind is the function of the brain; are here and those who are to us m entally and cause much u n ­
“ absent treatm en t” is th a t his
th a t it is the sum total of the psy­ come—billions of them ! They need happiness.
Therefore, we have
patien ts imagine them selves healed
chic CHANGES, ACTIONS a n d R E­ our attention instead of those who given C h ristian ity , an d especially
when they are really th e worst—
ACTIONS.
H e also says th a t con­ do not and never will exist. And its “ two m ain p illa rs,” an u n p reju ­
blessed and saved when really
sciousness is not an entity, but a after all, if we should meet a rela­ diced scientific test, and we find
dam ned and lost.
condition.
tive or friend in spirit form “ over th at, using the lines, rules and
If this be true, and where is a there,” we could not meet alw ays; plum m ets known to Science as the
God so loved the world th a t he real student of psychology who can
and w hat good would it do to eternal elem ents, the correlation of
said, “ Thou shalt not kill,” and deny it, our consciousness m ust go soaring about in a place forces, n a tu ra l selection, fossils,
then ordered Joshua, “ S tretch out cease when its organ, the brain, is
that is so perfect th a t no good rudim entary organs, etc., etc., no
thy spear th at is in thy hand disorganized, and the old talk a b o u t1
could be done?
The Bible is traces of a God can be found, and
toward Ai.” Twelve thousand dead the post-m ortem consciousness is
right in saying th a t the dead know th a t im m o rtality is only an unsci­
men, women and children was the untrue, m isleading and a great h in ­ not anything, neither have they entific statem en t of unscientific re­
result; and the good work still drance to the advancem ent of m an's
any more a reward (Ec. xi., 5 ). ligion-m akers.
goes on.
knowledge of his relation to the And now th a t there are no spook-
These facts are daw ning upon
great cosmos in which he lives; and spirits or live-dead people “ over the m inds of men with an ever-in­
W h a t a blessing to th e world is this knowledge, we m ust remember,
there,’’ let us tu rn our attention to creasing rap id ity , and although
such doctrines as the following: coupled with his appreciation of
this world! We have met here! this m ental revolution m ay cause
Set your affections on things above, those p a r'.8 of the universe with
T his is a good place in which to unstable conditions in some places
not on things on the earth (Col. which he comes in contact, is the
build a heaven, and we are so con­ for some tim e, yet the ultim ate re­
i n . , 2).
There is a cause for the m easure of his worth and h ap p in ess.'
stituted th a t we c a n ’t lie happy sult will be a nearer approach to
hell th a t is now burning the life
T h at we live after death is at w ithout we are building. Let us the perfectibility of our race. Sci­
out of our people. W hat is the once the most absurd and dam aging
help build a heaven for tho.-^e who ence, applied to every d epartm ent
cause? P riestcraft !
idea in the world, unless it.be the are coming, and perhaps we may of life, will solve its m ightiest
idea of an a rh itia ry , capricious ty ­ find our heaven in building.
problem s. S cience is the common
ra n t, who governs m an for his own
GROUND ON W HICH WE CAN ALL
There are two currents in the
W itchcraft
stand . I t will bring the whole
river of life; one flows forward (the ty ran t’s) glory.
T H E COMMON GROUND.
had
its
victim
s,
but
they
were
vic­
hum an fam ily together; and what
tow ard light, life and liberty, and
tim s of the accusers, while the vic­
a union! W hat a victory for H u ­
the other backward toward m ental
tim
s
of
th
e
eternal-life
craze
are
The religious devotee says, “ I m anity when all m en, from the
darkness, death and slavery. One
victim s of themselves. They carrv know th a t my redeem er lives.” cold, barren regions of A laska to
cu rren t m ight be nam ed Free-
•» And how do you know, dear friend? the war-beclouded veldts of South
thought; the other, Superstition. w ithin their own brains the destroy-
In which current is the L. U. O.? ing poison of superstition. It is as “ I feel it in here’’ (solemnly point­ Africa, from the crowded lands of
if one believed himself to be a witch ing to hie heart), says our h e a rt­ the Chinese Boxers to the peaceful
In which is orthodoxy?
and dared not put his hand to the brained philosopher. But when we Secular Home of the Golden West,
harvest for fear of bewitching the assert th a t we can give scientific can say: “ Behold, how good and
If an Infidel, when about to die, fruits. For he who believes in the proof th at the higher forms of life
how pleasant it is for brethren to
would cry, “ My God, my God, why conscious state after death can n o t' have originated from the lower; |
dwell together in u n ity !”