2 TH E TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, DECEMBER 13, E. M. 3U0 world requires the developm ent of an atm osphere of duplicity and de- m aybe you can never learn the re- fishness; th at there is no royal intelligence, the acquisition of ceit, th a t, whenever discovered in lation of the different m embers of way by which a m an can cheat a c knowledge. Even the old doctrine m an or women, ought to insure the solar systems to each other, but o ther w ithout cheating him self of innate ideas has been rejected, in stan t expulsion from the innocent this is the way it is dem onstrated. more; th a t there is no injury m an He comes sim ply, as the w itty doc- presence of the child. In the de- If you cannot leai n it for yourself, can do his fellow man in igi orance tor called him, a m arsupial possi- velopm ent of m ind nothing is so if you cannot see it to be true, if and blindness or in wilful p la n biiity, and the teacher is necessary necessary, so im p o rtan t, so large in you cannot m ake the d em onstra ning w ithout th a t injury reacting in order th a t he m ay realize him- its returns, as absolute honesty, in tion a part of your intellectual inevitably upon him self; th a t the self. T h at is the aim of the tellectual fearlessness, m ental cour- equipm ent and assum e for yourself only sensible way to live in this 8fhoolhouse. It has to do with the age. There is more religion, more an original and individual relation world is to square oneself with th in g s of this world. Its realm is m orality, more of the uplift, that to th a t problem , then you can nev him self and his fellows as far as he in the known, with facts or hy- comes from w hat we call the spir- er know it and you dont have to can. potheses th a t are w arranted by itual influence in the stern, open believe it.” I am prepared to say th a t the facts. I t has nothing to do with eyed, unapologetic Infidel than As fast as work becomes d ru d g present state of society indicates fate, nothing to do with religion, there is in the hesitating, halting, ery, duty irksom e, toil wearing, the result of the teachings of the nothing whatever to do with the apologizing, half-baked orthodox and we rebel against it. no m atter churches. They are entitled to it; unknow n. believer. what it is or in w hat realm our we give them credit for it and hold My position is th a t in this world This work of the schoolhouse work may be, we can no longer do them responsible for its failures and where we know so little, in this confining itself to the things of the our best, we cannot do even pass m istakes. For nineteen hundred world where we stand yet only upon present world brings it into direct ing well. The aim , then, of the years the church and society have the shore of the illim itab le ocean of and everlasting antagonism with schoolhouse being to ad ju st m an ’s grappled with problem s as if newly knowledge, in this world where, as the method of religion and of the relation in this world, it follows sprung, and yet which have been far as we know, there is every church. There is not, .there can th a t w hatever progress m ankind in existence am ong men from the where and in all things absolute never be, harm ony between the in makes th a t progress will he coinci very dawn of organized society. rectitude, and the fidelity of eternal stitu tio n founded on faith and the dent and coextensive with the in- The church would change the heart laws th a t cannot be broken or sus- fluence of the schoolhouse. in stitu tio n sworn to be loyal to So far of m an; but let us change his brain pended, or evaded in tnis world of facte. T heir m ethods are essenti as the world has ascertained, no let us enlarge his intelligence, let ours, which we fancy to be the ex ally different; their aim s and their revelation from beyond has helped us persuade him th a t he was horn pression, the out-flowering of a purposes forever and forever d i any in the solution of problems to intelligence and th a t m orality is great and universal intelligence, a verge. The church needs to care that now are. So far as the theo good sense. In this world of ours man cannot find moral health u n little for this world, it is the other ries of the church go they lie d i there is room for work, happiness, less he is dow nright, upright, in world th at it is concerned about; rectly across the way of the prog and well-being for every one. I will T h a t is the ress of the moral and intellectual the schoolhouse needs to care little tellectually honest. believe th a t n atu re intended th at, And th a t is w hat the wellbeing of m ankind. Il has been for the other world; it is this first step. and is grieved, if she is capable of world th a t concerns it. The a t school aim s at. The schoolhouse is for niueteen centuries tau g h t that feeling, at our ills, our pains, and tem pt to p ut education under the itself in the a ttitu d e of a learner under a su p ern atu ral plan, exploi our injustices; th at they are all u n influence or control of the religious It does not represent an authority led by a su p ern atu ral church, necessary; th a t they are burdens principle or the religious idea has outside of itseif. It can give the there m ight he a break between acts laid upon us because we have had alw ays and m ust ever fail. There child nothing except w hat it can and their consequences. too much religion. persuade the child is true. It has can be no such th ing as religion After nineteen centuries of the — When we have spent nine no divine au th o rity . It does not’ and science, there car. only be the old teaching the world has settled teen hundred years looking to the threaten nor coerce nor repress or religion of science. Any garb, or alm ost nothing. Society is yet school room, we shall have a new bully the in tellect of toe child. robe, or gown th at proclaim s and chaotic, governm ent is yet in the order of things, a nenw civilization, The church does all of those things proffers any religion is out of place experim ental stage. There are new liberties, new justice, new h a p The church says we c a n ’t know upon a teacher. Any hook th a t by men who believe th at no society piness, new well-being for all m an an y th in g about w hat is tru e be prejudgem ent is above the reach of upon the earth is securely e sta b kind. If the Infinite had been o rd cause we are carn ally m inded. criticism , investigation and exam lished, but th a t there is com ing a aining an y th in g (and I w ant you There is nothing for you to do but ination, has no place in the school. time of cataclysm , of disaster, of to u n derstand th a t I do not hold just to believe, it does not make I t is to the glory of our freethink destruction, and of an entirely new God responsible for the church, or any difference th a t you cannot see ing men, it is to the everlasting readjustm ent of the elem ents th a t theology, or any of the plans, devi that it is true. Doubt is of the renown of the founders of this gov have been throw n into confusion. ces, or ceremonies, or rites w hatso devil, and all such questionings, ernm ent, th a t at the very outset W herever the church has been s u ev er), but if God had been o rd a in reasonings, replies, and a desire they left religion to the wisdom preme, in w hatever land it has held ing any th in g nineteen hundred or evidence and proof are hut the and the folly of the individual, and sp iritu al or tem poral power, th a t years ago, I will believe th a t it said as between the church and evidence of your lost and undone tim e of chaos has come. W herever would not have been an a lta r, nor the state there shall never be a condition. “ Accept w hat we say; it has been suprem e, people have a shaven priest, nor a divinely union. The men who today wish we are here divinely a u th o n z -d been reduced to abject servitude called preacher; it would have been to put God into the C onstitution, and w ant to m ake known these and helpless poverty. A m an is some kind-hearted m an or woman and the men who today would, if »leased tru th s th a t were forever be charged for being born, charged for with a book, and a large patience they could, determ ine w hat we yond the attain m en t of hum an being christened, taxed again for and a generous love for the race, should and should not do one day reason in order th a t you m ight not being baptized; toll is levied upon who should have gone out to p er in seven are the men th a t belong ne eternally lost.” him for being m arried, and at last suade men, not of the efficacy of Any man th a t can for the sake of for being buried, and long, long to the age when the church wan su C h rist’s blood, but of the saving prem e and the schoolhouse did not salvation in this or any world, be years after be is dead, in some power of intelligence. W hen we lieve or profess to believe what bis c o u trb s, suprem ely religious, tax is exist. shall have had nineteen hundred It may be fairly questioned reason scorns, why, if heaven is collected from his living friends in whether a man who is an orthodox made up of th a t kind of in tellectu order th a t as they say, the poor years of the school-house, w hat m ay not be? I believe in the com believer is qualified to teach school al m aterial and m ental caliber, dead man may be assisted to swim If a man believes in the Bible, give me hell every time. The a tti out of purgatory. J Progress has ing of the time when every school- house shall he a tem ple, and every reads the story of the creation as it tude which the school teacher as been m ade, hut in spite of religion, priest a teacher, knowledge the way appears in Genesis, and swears he sum es to the child is one of equal- not because of it. There are relig of salvation, and reason the only believe- it, bow can he teach a ity, absolute equality. No author- ious and even orthodox believers guide.—[T ru th Seeker, class in physical geography? If he ity, no spirit of intellectual domi who are kindly and noble men, hut believes the record as given in the nation. The teacher says or ini- they are kindly and noble not be Bihle he cannot believe the text- plies w hat the Bible says and the cause of th eir faith, hut in spite books of physical geography and church has never found out. “ Come of it. geology. If he does not believe now, let us reason to g eth er,” saitb T his work of the school will VCt T b eab lest publication of the kind in the World j i i i « ' Sixty-four pages Illustrated. Published Monthly, the recoid of the Bible, but says be the Lord. The teacher says: persuade the world th a t the only Price »i.ooa year. For twenty - five cents it will be mailed to any address THREE flONTMS. does and act- as :f he did, he car- ‘‘Come now, let us reason together; decent rational way to live is to Address FREE THOUGHT MAGAZINE. ries with him and cannot escape it, m aybe you cannot learn this thing, j live rig h t; th at ignorance is sei- 2x3 E. Indiana St., Chicago, 111 Free Thought Magazine