THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, SEPTEMBER 20, E. M. 300
4
(1900.)
ters?
Because they are especially money went where needed. And
interested in tem perance reform, m any who are fam iliar with the
do they assum e therefore to have ¡crim es of preachers are not very
The Only Paper of Its Kind.
the ear of the A lm ighty to the ex­
a p t to donate at all.
T hus
the
<
clusion of all o th er religious
women who are not offended with church has alw ays usurped the
P ublished W eekly by th e L iberal U ni-
versity C om pany, in th e In te re sts of
Mr. M cK inley because he has occa­ people’s rig h ts and added in su lt to
C onstructive, Moral Secularism
sionally taken a sip of wine for in ju ry by calling everything bad
good m an n ers’ sake?
It would be unless it had the p riests’ or the
dificult to im agine a cam paign de­
J. E. Hosmer,.................. Editor
preachers’ tra d e m ark.
We wish
veloping a more ludicrous piece of
P. W. Geer,...................... Manager
th a t th e S unday school children,
folly th an this.
In the above q uotation from the th e sym pathetic, em otional women
E n tered at th e postoffice a t S ilverton,
E vening Telegram we wish to call and the virgin-m oth er men could
O regon, as second-class m ail m a tte r.
be free from these priestly robberies
atten tio n to this statem en t:
“ T he idea that prayer can effect and th at the governm ent could
S L B 5C K IP T IO N K A T E S .
an y th in g in such m atters as war learn to take care of its afflicted
. .$1 00
or politics is to a practical reason­ w ithout any aid from the agents of
One year, in a d v a n c e ..
Six m o nths in a d v an c e ....................
50
ing m ind a grotesque a b su rd ity .” a god who is supposed to have
T hree m o n th s, in a d v an c e ................
To be sure it is absurd in war caused the disaster.
In clubs of five or m ore, one year,
in a d v a n c e ..........................................
<•’
But did the C hristian god cause
and politics, but isn ’t it absurd in
Money should be se n t by registered
. .
,
..
W as this
le tte r o r m oney o rd er.
as onr work for h u m an ity is con- ev ery th in g else?
A reasoning this awful calam ity?
cerned. E ith er idea is so much m ind soon sees th at p ray er is a done for a w arning to the people
better th an the old orthodox dog­ great curse as well as a great ab­ of the U nited S tates and to the
Notice!
ma about th is life being of second- surdity. How little, narrow and Texas people in p articu lar? Is
,
. . . ...
.. , . i ary im portance,
a vale of . tears
etc., etulified are the m inds of those there a god and could he have pre­
A h a n d p ointing to th is notice denotes I -
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in dividual, i. e. I a 1 LA who th in k th a t th eir God is con- vented this if he wished? If there
th a t your su b scrip tio n has e x p ire d .
You áre e arn estly requested to re ­ very thin part of each in d iv id u al,
tro lin g things and th a t they can is one, and he knows everything,
new so th a t you m ay receive th e pa­
p er w ith o u t in te rru p tio n . We have de­ the soul, is to move cam p, some to help him by going into a fit of even to the num ber of hairs on
cided th a t it is liest for all concerned p ja „ on golden h arps and others prayer.
Do men and women need every head, should we tru st him
th a t we do n o t send p ap ers longer th a n r
®
r
,
Do their any longer? Could a devil do any
th e tim e paid for unless so o rd ered , to fig h t fire , t h a t we c a n t see a s judgem ent and reason?
T his will p rev en t any loss a n d we will eith er of our Torch philosophers’
offspring need m ental stre n g th ? worse? In the lig h t of m odern
know ju st w here we sta n d .
We request you to send us th e nam es hypotheses is had, but as there is Does the hum an race need to prog­ science the idea of a god is as fool­
of Secularists who m ig h t becom e su b ­ no way of settling the question a t
ress?
Then this w itchcraft of ish as the old E g y p tian bull wor­
scribers and we will m ail sam ple copies.
present perhaps the Porch should prayer m ust cease and we m ust ship. We m ust look fa rth er and
now tu rn its atten tio n to things cleave to S ecular Science and com ­ deeper for the cause of this great
nearer our tim e and more to our mon sense. The Torch of Reason disaster th an the bible. We m ust
purpose. These theories and h y ­ does not uphold the use of intoxi­ study physical geography and
W H IC H ?
potheses are certainly im p o rtan t; can ts of any kind but, although learn about the great storm belts
they furnish much food and exer­ in our estim ation, Mr. M cK inley is of the w orld; the direction these
SECULAR.
C H R ISTIA N .
I believe in an cise for thought and th u s stre n g th ­ settin g a very bad exam ple by storm s generally travel; th eir his­
I believe in God
e te rn a l,
infinite en our th in k in g ap p aratu s, but we d rin k in g poison, he is doing less tory, etc. This will give us a know l­
th e F a th e r
Al­
u
niverse,
of
w hich
m ighty, M aker of
every living c re a ­ m ust not have too much theory harm perhaps th an those who ruin edge which will help us more in
heaven and e a rth :
tu re is a p a rt; ami nor w aste all our m ental force, th eir own reason by the narcotic of selecting a home th an all the
And
in J e s u s
in
H u m a n ity ,
C h rist, his only
w
hich
was born of th u s evolved, on things too rem ote. prayer and who p u tte th the bottle prayers th a t were ever uttered.
son, o u r L ord, who
“ lowly a n ce sto rs;”
We are alive now ', and our own (o fsu p e rstitio n ) to the m ental lips
was conceived by
We came to Oregon!
D estruct­
suffered
u
n
d
e
r
the
th e Holy G host,
generation
and
our
posterity
for
of th e young and m aketh them ive storm s are unknow n in the W ill­
rule of p riests; was
born of th e V irgin
crucified,
racked ages yet to come need our best drunken also.
M ary; suffered u n ­
am ette valley. The whole history
an d b u rn ed , and thoughts. T here is great reason
d e r I’o n tiu s P ilate;
lived in a hell on
of th e Texan coast bears us out iu
was crucified, dead
e arth . In th e F ra for men of th o u g h t and men of ac­
and b u ried ; he d e­
T H E G A LV ESTO N D IS A S T E R .
saying th a t it is not a S afe place
of Man it began to tion to clear the way for a higher
scended in to h e ll;
rise above th e dead
in which to live. T he New York
th e th ird day lie
teachings of th e an d a better civilization no m atter
arose again from
Such tim es as these cause those Suu says:
dead, a n d is now w hether the world is to stan d a
th e dead; he a s­
who are left to th in k .
progressing in to an
cended into heaven
“ On W ednesday, Sept. 15, 1875,
E arth ly H eaven, few’ billion years only or forever.
and sitte th a t the
The ideas th a t come to our a storm broke over Galveston,
to enjoy th e su n ­
rig h t hand of God
m inds as we view the aw ful which subm erged h a lf of Galveston
sh in e of E te rn al
th e F a th e r
Al-
T ru th .
P R A Y IN G A G A IN S T M cK IN L E Y . disaster from a distance are in Islan d and left the city cut off from
m ig h ty ;
from
I believe in love
thence he shall
th eir order as follows: relief for the the rest of the world u n til late on
for all m a n k in d ;
come to judge th e
S unday night.
Several hundred
The E vening Telegram says:
th e m ost e arn e st,
quick an d th e d e a d .
sufferers, cause of the disaster, the
tenem ents were destroyed, ch u rch ­
conscientious rig h t
I believe in th e
“ The W om an’s C h ristian Tem ­
living; th e union perance Association is doubtless rem edy.
H oly G h o s t; th e
es were unroofed, and the streets
of all good people
H oly C a t h o l i c
The sufferers should at once be were littered deep with debris.
in every good work; composed alm ost altogether of very
C hurch ; th e Com ­
Every one should Some score of lives were lost in the
th e forgiveness of excellent and w ell-m eaning women. fully relieved.
m union of S a in ts ;
each o th e r’s w eak­ The general objects of th eir o rg an ­ be given proper food, clothing, shel­ city and its environs in this gale,
th e forgiveness of
nesses; th e im m o r­ ization and work are praisew orthy,
sin s; the resu rrec­
ter and rem u n erativ e work to and the dam age done reached
ta lity of good deeds
tio n of th e body;
nearly a q u a rte r of a million dol­
and in re st e v e r­ an d deserve encouragem ent and pay for them and th eir co n tin u ­
an d life e v erlast­
lars. The shipping in the harbor
aid. But, if they will pardon plain,
lasting.
ing.
ance.
But
it
seems
a
very
sad
suffered severely, one schooner be­
blunt speech, when some of them
s ta rt an “ endless c h a in ” of prayer th in g to us th a t the religious so­ ing hurled foity feet inland. In
th a t Mr. M cK inley may not be re­ cieties are allowed to alm ost m o­ the S trand M arket the water d riv ­
IT M A T T E R S NOT.
-----------
elected, they do quite as siily a nopolize this function which pro­ en in from th e Gulf by the gale
No railroad
The old theological philosophers l h ing aH arjy pagan m ind could perly belongs to our governm ent was three feet deep.
tra in s were run and the telegraph
used to discuss the question of how that prayer can
an y t,ljllg ¡„ (the people), and th a t, too, m ostly wires were down for three days.
m any spirits could dance on the such m atters as war or politics is for th e purpose of advertising the O ther towns on th e Texas coast
In this
point of a needle, and the argu- | to a practical reasoning m ind a gro- churches and th eir wonderful good­ suffered in proportion.
rnent on the n eb ular hypothesis in t©8que a b su rd ity ; but, granted th a t ness.
H ere is a good work th a t gale the town of In d ian o la, in C al­
the Torch m ight, by some, be con-
m.a y ’ cannot th©8e g o o d but all ought to have a hand in, and houn county, with a population of
1,150, was entirely swallowed up
.,
,
illogical and em otional women per-
sidered som ethiog of the sam e or- ceive th a t their «endle88 chaHin „ while thousands of dollars are be­ by th e sea.
Two hundred lives
^ e r-
will s ta rt hundreds of thousands ing collected from the poor but were lost and the dam age done to
If Mr. W ettstein is right and th e of R epublican women to praying sym pathetic people, Infidels as well property reached a m illion dollars.
earth is to retu rn to a n eb u lar f° r M cK inley’s success? And are as C h ristian s, the church gets all Bodies were sVewn along the beach
state, the right thing for us to do is i P ,e8e
• C. T. L. women so super- the credit and the m oney collected for tw enty miles after the gale.
latively egotistical as to suppose
In October, 1886, S abine Pass,
to th in k of present conditions. As
God will hear and answer th eir is d istrib u ted w ithout any official Texas, was practically destroyed
individuals we all know we m ust prayers, and tu rn a deaf ear to record, thus not even giving the j bv a storm on the G ulf in which
die, b ut Secularism teaches th a t those of th eir equally faithful sis­ doners the assurance th at t h e * 1 247 lives were lost. The L ouisiana
Torch of Reason
A. *
1_ — —
this life is very im p o rtan t and as
it is w ithout doubt the on ly chance
we will have to do any good it
behooves us to work while it is yet
d ay , for, even according, to the ne-
b u lar hypothesis the ea rth is apt
to be fit lor in h a b ita n ts a long
tim e yet— so long th a t for all
practical purposes it is an etern ity
and by the tim e th a t tim e is up
m an m ay have become so en lig h t­
ened th a t he can take a few bottles
of liquid air and a m achine for
m an u factu rin g food from the ele­
m ents and ju m p aboard his “ v rill”
ship and move to M ars. Or, if the
gojar 8yHtem is to rem ain in ta c t, as
_
...
. . .
,,
Prof. W akem an th in k s reasonable,
why, the sam e thing results as far
t