T orch x vt R eason . £ v 6HT J& ‘TRUTH BEARS THE TORCH IN THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH.”— Lucretius- VOL. 4. S IL V E R T O N , O R EG O N , T H U R S D A Y , OCTOBER 4, E. M. 300 (1900.) ‘A K K ! through th e waking earth age to look at the thing in its true , H a rk ! through th e echoing sky , light. Let us be independent mor- H erald of freedom ’s b irth , T here corues a glorious cry. alists and p h ilan th ro p ists, rath e r The trip le ch ain s th a t bind than slaves to Bibles and creeds. Fall iron» th e weary lim b, “ Every book,” savs a w riter, “ has 1'all from th e dow n-crushed m ind, As rolls th a t noble h ym n. a spirit which it breathes ip to the U nto m a n ’s w aiting h e art It sa ith , “ A rise, be strong! Bear th o u an e a rn e st p a rt A gainst all form s of wrong. “ Bid fear give place to love; Bid crim e and passion cease; Be every word of h ate For ever h u sh ed in peace.” Selected. Don’t Read Pernicious Books. BY K E R SE Y GRAV ES. I men th a t there exists an invisable being who has the right to pardon injustice, rapine, perfidy, and all the outrages they can inflict upon society? Encouraged by these fa tal ideas, we see the most perverse m inds of its readers;” and, if it men abandon them selves to the contains bad m orals or bad la n greatest crim es, and expect to re guage, the h ab itu al reading of it pair them by im ploring Divine will g radually reconcile the mind mercy; th eir conscience rests in to those im m oral lessons, and final peace when a priest assures them ly cause them to he looked upon as th a t H eaven is quieted by sincere God-given tru th s. Such is the repentance, which is very useless om nipotent force of habit. And to the world; this priest consoles we appeal to all Bible readers to them in the nam e of the Deity, if testify if lhi3 has not been their they consent in reparation of their experience. All C hristian profes faults to divide with his m inisters sors, when they first commenced the fruits of th eir plunderings, of reading the Bible, doubtless found their frauds, and of their wicked m any things in it which shocked ness. M orality united to religion, their m oral sense, did violence to becomes necessarily subordinate to their reasoning faculties, and m or it. In the m ind of a religious tified their love of decorum . But person, God m ust be preferred to a perseverance in reading it, his C reatures; “ It is better to obey through the force of h ab it and edu him th an m en!” The in terests of cation, has finally reconciled their the Celestial M onarch m ust be m inds to those im m oral lessons, above those of weak m ortals. But and blinded the ju d g m en t, so th a t the interests of H eaven are evi they are not now conscious of their dently the interests of the m inis real ch aracter and deleterious in ters of H eaven; from which it fol fluence upon the m ind. lows evidently, th a t in all religions, the priests, un d er pretext of H eav Confession, That Golden Mine for en ’s interests, or of G od’s glory, will The Priests, Has Destroyed he able to dispense with the duties The True Prihciples of of hum an m orals when they do not agiee with th e duties which God is Morality. entitled to impose. By Jean Mealier. Besides, he who has power to E who first proclaim ed to pardon crim es, has lie not the the nations th a t, when man right to order them com m itted? Common Sense. had wronged m an, he must H E Q uaker Church have a clause in th eir discipline for bidding their m em bers to read pernicious books, which are defined by one of the founders of th eC h u rch (W illiam Penn) to be “ such books and publications as contain language which appears to sanction crim e or wrong practices, or teach bad m orals.” And hun- reds of cases prove that the C hris tian Bible may be ranked with works of this character. If the advice of the H indo editor had been complied with m any years ago— to “ revise all Bi bles, and leave out their bad pre cepts and exam ples,” and change th eir obscene language,—the C hris tian Bible m ight now be a very useful and instructive book. But we are w illing to leave it to the conscience of every honest reader, r ____ tru th a nd m orality G od’s pardon, appease his who places above Bibles and creeds, to decide, w rath by presents, and offer him w hether the Bible, with all its en- sacrifices, obviously subverted the nohling precepts, does not contain true principles of m orality. Ac to strong au adm ixture of bad cording to these ideas, men im agine m orality to m ake it a safe or su it th at they can obtain from the King able book to he relied on as a of Heaven, as well as from the guide in m orals and religion. Ac kings of earth, perm ission to be u n cording to A rchbishop T illotson, a n ^ wicked, or at least pardon Bibles shape the morals and relig- ^ >r ev’^ which they m ight corn- ion of the people in all religious mi1, countries,— they are derived from M orality is founded upon the re- the exam ples and precepts of these lations, the needs, and the constant “ Holy Books.” If this he true, we interests of the in h ab itan ts of the most solemly and seriously put the ea rth ; the relations which subsist question to every Bible reader, between men and God are either W hat m ust he the effect upon the entirely unknown or im aginary, m orals and religion of C hristian The religion associating God with countries of such m oral exam ples men has visibly weakened or de- as A braham , Moses, Noah, Isaac, stroyed the ties which unite men. Jacob, David, Solomon, and nearly M ortals im agine th a t they can, all the prophets, with their long with im punity, injure each other strin g of crimes. Let ns not be by m aking a suitable reparation to guilty of the folly of suffering our the Alm ighty Being, who is sup- inherited, stereotyped predilections, posed to have the right to remit all an exalted veneration for “ the Ho- injuries done to h’s creatures, ly Book,” to rule our moral pense, I® there an y th in g more liable to and control our ju d g m ent in this encourage wickedness and to em- m atter, hut m uster the moral cour- bolder) to crim es th an to persuade T Has’Man a Soul? BY C H A R L SE S BRA I)L A U G II. NO. 39. conditions? I have endeavored to exam ine this subject, an d , up to the present time, I have not found one iota of proof in support of the positions thus p u t forward. I have no idea of any existence except th a t of which I am a p a rt. I am . Of my own existence I am certain . I th in k . 1 am . But w hat is it th a t th in k s? Is it my soul? Is it “ m e,” and y et distin ct from me? I am hut a mode of existence. I am only p a rt of the great universe. The elem ents of whch I am com posed are indissolubly connected with th a t great existence which is around me and w ithin me, an d which I help to m ake up. If men tell me I am a com pound, and not a com pound— a m ix tu re an d not a m ixture— a jo in in g together and not a joining together— of two en tirely different existences, which they call “ m a tte r” and “ s p irit'” I am compelled to doubt those men. The ability to th in k is hut an a ttr i bute of a certain m odification of existence. Intelligence is a word by which we express the sum of certain abilities, alw ays atten d in g a certain mode of existence. I find intelligence m anifested so far as o r ganization is developed. I never find intelligence w ithout anim al o r ganization. I find intelligence m anifested in degree, ouly so far as I find a higher or lower type of or g an iza tio n —th a t is, I find m an’s intellectual faculties lim ited by his organization. But th e orthodox tell me th a t my soul has an im m a te rial e x is t ence, independent of all o rg a n iz a tio n — independent of all clim atic conditions— independent of all ed ucation. Is th a t so? W hen does the soul come into m an ? W hen does it go out of m an? If the soul is im m ortal, why is it th a t stan d in g here, in the prim e of health a n d strength, if p art of th a t roof should fall fra ctu rin g my skull, and press ing upon my b ra in — how is it, if my soul is not subject to m aterial conditions, th a t it then ceases to act? Is the plaster roof more pow erful th an my im m ortal soul? Or is it th a t intelligence is the necessa ry condition of existence, and th a t th e m om ent you destroy th a t co n d itio n — the m om ent you d estro y th a t organization— the result ceas es to he realizable? H A T do you mean by soul? W hat is the soul? Is it I? Is it the body? Is it a p a rt from the body? Is it an a ttrib u te of the body? Has it a separate and distinct existence from the body? W hat is the soul? If I ask one of those who claim to be orthodox m en, they will tell me th a t the soul is a sp irit— th a t the soul lives after th e body is dead. They will tell m e th a t thesoul is im m ortal and th a t the body is m ortal; th a t the soul has nothing w hatever in common with the body; th a t it has an existence entirely in dependent of the body. They will tell me th a t after the body has de By the course of reasoning you cayed— after the body has become adopt (says the orthodox objector) re-absorbed in the universe, of you reduce m an to the sam e level which it is but a p art, th a t the as the beasts. And why not? I soul exists. Is there any proof of stand on the riv er’s hank, I see the existence of the same in d iv id there a m an full grown, possessed ual soul a p a rt from all m aterial I of the physical figure of a m an, hut W