Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 1900)
2 T H E TORCH OF REASON, SIL V E R T O N , OREGON, OCTOBER 4, E. M. 300 (1900.) ous workers for the sam e God th a t is Solum (Not for Ourselves Alone) ports A ristotle as the first one became the d o m in an t idea of th eir for the Norm al Course; V incit qui who discovered th a t learning (find lives and consequently all opposi se V incit (H e Conquers, who H im ing out things as they are) was the tion m ust be quenched at whatever self Conquers) for the Classical highest joy—far exceeding all sen The reason is cost of life or treasure, as Bishop Course; Qui non Proficit Deficit suous pleasures. Cran*t«>n would say. W hile, on (W ho does not advance falls back) plain; it gives us ever more of the F reeth in k ers con world to control and use, and so the co n trary , for the Law Course. It sidered them selves the creatu res of They m ake an excellent basis the godlike delight of power. the n atu ra l environm ent, like all and sum m ary oi Liberal education thus also draws our attention even more to th e fuel and food which sentient creatures throughout the when read consecutively; thus:— universe, in no wise indebted to Because T ru th conquers, K now makes the higher life of hum an If God for salvation nor subject to ledge, as Bacon said, is power. If love an ever increasing glow. d am n atio n , b u t owing allegiance therefore, we would move, use or th a t glow is not thus sustained by only to the laws of b e in g ’and to enjoy the W orld or Man, we must a widening world, it soon dies their fellow creatures. C onsequent learn to know them as they really aw ay. And so the sentence stands, ly they can have no m otive in co “ A dvance or fall back.” are, th a t is truly, scientifically . ercing others to th eir views. T. B. W. But “ to learn, we m ust teach,” T his is a distinction which I and use and enjoy for and with have long been seeking to bring to To Abandon All D isguise. others, not for ourselves aloi e. public a tten tio n , and a distinction The Norm al or T eachers’ Course which m ust be fullv •» seen and felt m ust have this as its prom inent E ditor T orch of R eason : if we would m ake the progress we and business object, but it is none For long years I have en tertain ed ought. the less the great lesson to all stu I am most happy to see th a t the dents. The “ solitary stu d e n t” is the liveliest interest in Oregon, and a m yth, a fool or an incipient lu n in the Liberal work going on there. leaders in your school are keeping This atic. T he living coal only lives by T his interest has been intensified this distinction prom inent. im parting its w arm th and heat to by the move to found there a great talk of God, C hrist, Devil, hell and others. The true stu d en t always school which will be a school in heaven would soon be relegated in lives to teach; only two kinds of the true sense, where parents can to the ch ild ren ’s d ep artm en t with kinds of people does he especially send th eir children for the acquisi S an ta Clause, K ris K ringle and love, viz: those whom he can teach tion of knowledge in the full assu r the like if it were not for the enor and those from whom he can learn. ance th a t one such place exists. mous priestly influence and in te r T h at m any schools and colleges est already bound up in it and the And so th e Torch of Reason, Light, Love and L earning passes from are concerning them selves much power of old teachings and associa generation on to generation, each more about conveying knowledge tions. m aking its successor better and of this world and ignoring those It does indeed require men and things supposed h ith erto to relate happier; because blessed with more women to be born again to get out to personal existence in another is of th eir old vagaries of the ch ild and higher tru th . But to abandon all hood of H u m an ity and into the But in order to thus achieve, q u ite true. there m ust be a firm holding of the disguise, as Prof. T yndal would clear light of absolute freedom. reins of life; “ each m ust conquer say, and swing out into the clear Silverton and all those working for him self,” in order to conquer at all, light of reason, is the laurel for hum an advancem ent should have for him self or for others. T h at Silverton to place on the shield of all possible aid from those who m eans in a word the habit of at Oregon. wish “ peace and good will tow ards To call atten tio n to the real c o n tention , th a t is power to conscious m eu,” to prevail throug h o u t the ly exercise a com m and over our dition of the public m ind and to nations of the earth where now, thoughts and m ental operations, so illu stra te the necessity for real u n h ap p ily , tu m u lt and disorder as to direct them to, and to hold and direct education, I will relate reign. To this end scientific m eth them upon the objects we wish to an incident: ods m ust be brought into the In conversation with a woman schools, and old theological ideas learn about and u n d erstan d . L e t those be the higher objects and who has been for years a d o u b ter displaced as far and as fast as pos purposes of life and education, of orthodoxy, while declaring she sible. which m ake the highest fruition of could not accept the idea of in d i A reverend gentlem an, from V ir hum an life. T his power over a t viduals being delegated with power ginia, lately said in a public ad tention, we learn to realize by as to fix th eir fu tu re states by th eir dress th a t “ the Bible is responsi sociation; by directing it to things, conduct here, she nevertheless ble for th e wars and contentions of persons and modes of life, which could not rid herself of the idea of today; th a t the sword C hrist was will suggest, and finally create and a creative cause and of an in telli to bring is seen in the gleam of the inspire in us the asp iratio n s and gent supervision of the universe. b attalio n s around Pekin. But th e joys of an ever advancing culture And furtherm ore, if we Liberals, so power of C h rist,” he added, “ would called, could get the power, we and progress. be sufficient to lift a fallen world T hus we are brought up to the law would in tu rn become as in to leran t to its pivotal place am ong the stars of laws: the law of persistence, th a t and oppressive to others as any of God.” is of correlation; “ he who does not religious organizations in the past I t m ay be th a t you, on the P a advance falls back,” and loses the or present. It was with the greatest difficulty cific Coast, can have th e pleasure ground he has already made. Ad vance or die! is the law of life and I could get her to see th a t the God ot 8eei"g w i,h y ° u r 8 r(*a t telescope, evolution. Blessed are those who and salvation idea was th e real ,h is “ fallen w orld” when C hrist have learned to make th is n atu ra l cause of intolerance and religious succeeds in resto rin g it to its piv- otal place am ong the stars of God. law of progress, th eir second n atu re persecution in the past and present At all events you should set your Rem em ber—The L atin M ottoes in bo th a t they can grow in the higher and necessarily bound to co n tin young m ath em atician s to desig m ental life as they do in the life ue so u n til discarded as unw orthy L. V. O. Catalogue. nate this pivotal place. Oh! T al physical, easily and even uncon of hum an th o u g h t; th at the m o mage, where a rt th o u ? R a th e r se T he L atin M ottoes of the higher sciously. Only there is this differ ment men and women become rious business th a t God should let courses in th e L. U. O. Catalogue ence, the grow th of the higher life possessed with the idea th a t they such things as worlds fall around were au Inspiration of the Presi never ceases and is ever attended know the wishes of an all-pow so, but then if we get this one con dent, and are singularly ap p ro I with the highest satisfaction and erful God, who could and would verted to th e theological idea of joy ever known to hum an beings. save or dam n them , unless p riate; they are:- salv atio n it will he all right. V eritas V incit, (T ru th Couquers) Prof. Lester F. W ard in his in v al they do all in their power to m ake J as . H. C rain M. D. for the Scientific Course; Non Nob- uable “ O utlines of Sociology” re converts like them selves and zeal-1 an idiot— an idiot from hi? b irth upw ard— one who could not, even if he would, th in k and act as other m en. A little child is there play ing on th e bank, and the idiot, having large destructive propens ities, has th ru st the child into the water, and he stan d s there jab b er ing and gesticulating while the lit tle child is drow ning in the river. And see how half-vacantly, half triu m p h a n tly , he points to the helpless child. A N ew foundland dog has come to the bank; it jum ps in and brings the child out and saves its life. Y et theologians tell me th a t the idiot has a soul, and th a t the N ew foundland dog has not one. I cannot understand these nice distinctions, which m ake the man so superior to the beast in m atters in which he is positively inferior. Man has doubtless an organization on the whole far superior in tellect ually to th a t of an y other anim al, but he is only superior by virtue of his superior organization and its consequent susceptibility for devel opm ent or education. M any brutes can see more clearly th an m an; b u t thev possess not the capability for the m an u factu re of telescopes to aid th eir vision. M any brutes can run more sw iftly, but they m ani fest no capacity for the subjugation o f a steam power which far o u t strip s th eir speed. B ut m an him self, a w ell-organ ized, th o u g h tfu l, intelligent, well- educated m an by fall from a horse, by a tile from a roof, m ay receive an in ju ry to his nervous encephalic a p p a ra tu s, an d m ay be, even while a m an in shape, as low as t.he brute in th e im becility of his reason, and inferior to th e b ru te in physical stren g th . There is much difference ^between different races of men, rthere is, in fact, more difference be tw e e n a pure C aucasian and a Sa- ,h a ra negro, th a n between the S ah a ra negro and the in fan t chim pan zee. W h a t we teach is not th a t m an has a soul a p a rt and independent of the body, but th a t he has an ab ility , an intelligence, an a ttrib u te of his body, capable of develop m ent, im provable, m ore useful, ac- - cording as he elevates him self and his fellows. Give up blind adhe- .eion to creeds and priests; strive to 4 h in k a n d c a rry o u t in action the resu lt of y o u r thoughts. Each m en tal struggle is an enlargem ent /)f your m ind, an addition to your ¡brain power, an increase of your .soul— the only &oul you have.