4
T H E TORCH O F REASON, S IL V E R T O N , OREGON , D E C E M B E R 20, E. M. 300 (1900.)
Torch of Reason
system , and our glorious p u b lic 1 legal action taken a t the earliest
TIIE CHANGE OF IMMORTALITIES.
useful, Secular, republican, Ameri- opportunity.
Bui now, if all of the changes in
The Only Paper of Its Kind.
can education would come to its
the ( inverse, including life, m ind,
end—destroyed by a few fanatic
Haeckel's ‘•Riddle of the Universe’
soul and ego, are equivalent corre­
P ublished W eekly by th e L iberal U n i­ religious sects, who really do n o
Solved.
lates or resu ltan ts of each other
agree am ong them selves.
versity C om pany, in the In te re sts of
m atter and all of its changes or
C onstructive, M oral S ecularism .
T hat this deplorable result would
he realized is evident from the la t­
“ The best tim e to shoot bears is properties being indestructible, ev­
er con vertible, w ithout end or be­
T. B. W a k em a n ................... Editor ter part of the Rom an C atholic a r­ when you see th em .” The best time
ticle we p rin t today. T his B lack­ to read books you cannot escape ginning— how about our im m ortal­
P. W. Geer..........................M anager
I nder this law of correla­
burn opinion js there assigned at reading w ithout serious loss, is ity ?
once as a reason why C atholic P a ­ when they come flying off the tion or of “ substance,” as H aeckel
E n tered a t th e postoffice a t S ilverton, rochial schools should take the press.
H aeckel’s new book is un- names it, this venerable, selfish and
Oregon, as second-class m ail m a tte r.
place of the public schools.
The escapeable.
It is T ruth hringii g ignorant superstition gets no q u a r­
There are m any
Liberal and other objectors are the world to judgem ent. It covers ter whatever.
rig h t to the front with sim ilar as­ cosmology, biology and physiologi­ people, however, who still retain
SUBSCRIPTION RATES.
surances th a t if the public schools cal psychology—and gives us thv an interest in this “ be all and end
a ll” question, as they have an u n ­
are not kept strictly secular, they verdict of Science on them .
T his
One year, in a d v a n c e .......................... $1 00
scientific way of th in k in g of it.
Six m o n th s, in a d v an c e ....................
50 will not be used by them , hut will verdict is the all im p o rtan t affair
T hree m o n th s, in a d v an c e ................
25 be replaced by Liberal and other to m ankind.
For all of their relig­ U e shall therefore condense the
In clubs of five or m ore, one year,
schools or none.
ion, conduct of life, and future 10th, 12th and 11th, [as th a t is
75
in a d v a n c e ..........................................
For, this is a m atter of consci­ hones rest upon th a t verdict: the better order] chapters of H aeck­
M oney should he sen t by registered
ence, as well as of fairness, justice, “ Whence are we; what are we to el’s book into three articles for the
le tte r or m oney order.
In this
and pride, and no power on earth do; w hither are we to go;” are the first page of the Torch.
can compel children and parents to old religious queries; and Science num ber you have the gist of his
Notice!
use and sustain a school in which solves them by showing w hat the ch ap ter on “ Consciousness,” which
all of these four grand essentials of world really is; w hat man can and begins the story. The next will be
on the “ Law of S ubstance,” or the
A h a n d p ointing to th is notice denotes free and equal citizenship are vio­ ought to do in it; and w hat the re­
th a t your su b scrip tio n has e x p ire d . lated at once. T his word of w arn­ sults of hum an life really are; and correlation of the “ soul;’ or ego.
You are e arn estly requested to re ­
1 he last will be on Im m o rtality
new so th a t you m ay receive th e pa­ ing from the C atholics and others how they are continuous.
[Egoistic].
We hope in the Torch
per w ithout in te rru p tio n . W e have de­ m ust be heeded in time.
It is of
The
first
and
astonishing
thing
cided th a t it is best for all concerned
thereafter to present an article on
th a t we do no t send papers longer th an the utm ost im portance; for when about this scientific solution of Man
Im m ortality
[A ltru istic], which
th e tim e paid for unless so ordered. the great, common, secular, public
and
his
world
aH
presented
by
This will prev en t any loss and we will
school goes, th e foundation of the Haeckel and other com plete scien­ will close the “ Im m o rta l” series.
know ju st w here we stand.
If hum an science, thou g h t and
We request you to send us th e nam es R epublic goes with it.
Universal tists, is, th a t it is the exact reverse
of S ecularists who m ight become sub­
late are of any account, these a r ti­
sc rib e rs an d we will m ail sam ple copies. education is the only basis and of the old Bible and Theologic so­
cles will be worth a m illion tim es
condition of safe universal suffer- lution.
If one is true, the other is
age. Give us nothing but a creed- absolutely false: if the Universe is the cost of the Torch. If they have
T hursday , D ec . 20, E. M. 300.
al education, and the state and infinite and eternal, it was never in them some “ hard words,” and
views that seem dubious to you,
nation will be more than ever the created, and will never end.
If
Prayer and Bible not Secular nor
victim s of creedal, selfish, jarrin g Man grew out of the n a tu ra l pro­ th e reading of the whole book is
Republican.
and m u tu ally destructive religious toplasm on the e a rth ’s surface, he the rem edy,— and th a t we will send
to you at the publisher’s price $ 1 .5 0 .
schools, sects and factions. The was never created.
If he began in
In the last Torch we presented great balance wheel of the Repub
It is the true Book of Genesis.
It
and evoluted from a lowly and sav­
th e very able plea of our Hebrew lie will be gone; and with it all
entirely reverses and and takes the
age state, he was never perfect en ­
fellow citizens ag ain st the opinion real governm ent of, for, and by the
place of the old Bible in th a t
ough to fall out of any Eden.
If regard.
of A ttorney-G eneral B lackburn al­ people.
Despotism s and Theo­ he never fell he cannot be restored
lowing the L ord’s P rayer and the cracies will rule in th e ir place. A
by any vicarious atonem ent, and Nebular H ypothesis Shattered.
Bible to be used and read in our word tot the wise is said to be suf­
public schools. On another page ficient; and never, as it seems to the C hrist story is a m yth. If the
BY DANIEL K. TENNEY.
you will find an equally able plea,' us, should it be more decidedly so earth rotates daily on its axis, and
to the same purport, from our R om ­ th an on this subject, and in this an n u ally around the sun, and if
Not long ago the au th o rities in
the sun moves with all its planets
an Catholic fellow-citizens. These em ergency.
T h at word is: “ The 300 m illions of miles per year charge of the Lick O bservatory, by
articles, together with the leading Republic m ust be a Secular gov­
m eans of a reflecting telescope, p h o ­
one from the Oregonian, in the ern m en t. resting upon an im p ar­ through space, all of which m odern tographed the celestial orbs, or
Torch before the last, are so per­ tial Secular, common school educa- Astronom y proves,— th a t is the tried to. It is claim ed, by some
fectly conclusive th a t we cannot cation or it will be no R epublic total and absolute end of C hristi­ nebuloti3 think« rs, th a t the pictures
anity; and of all of the religions,
believe th a t th is perversion of our a t a ll!”
except the Religion of Liberty, thus obtained confirm the tru th of
Secular school system can be per­
Now a word as to the way out.
the nebular hypothesis. T he result
Science
and
H
u
m
an
ity
,
which
m
ust
sisted in, for they show conclusive­ T his opinion having been given by
soon take their place.
For, how of this astronom ic endeavor is thus
ly :— •
th e attorney-general, who is the
stated:
can
there
be
a
heaven
or
a
personal
1. T h at the said P ray er and legal adviser of the state officers,
And esp ecially am ong th o se m o su eri-
Bible are “ sectarian ,” and th a t it will rem ain the law until it is ov­ God to live in it, w ithout a statio n ­ ous an d w onderful clouds of fain tly glow ­
would be not only unfair, unjust, erruled by the courts. It is, there­ ary earth and “ firm am ent,” as the ing gasses, called n ebulae h as th is tele­
unlaw ful and a misuse of public fore, necessary th a t a case shold be Bible said. How did E lijah and scope proved its ex cep tio n al power. Vast
How sp ira ls, im m en se gulfs of b lack n ess s u r ­
money to impose them upon the found, where a pupil is com pelled C hrist ascend to heaven.
ro u n d ed by lum inous w alls, in tric a te
sects who rep u d iate them , as do de­ to take part in, or better, is suspen­ will they and th e “ New Je ru sa le m ”
W here is the hell in p a tte rn s of n eb u lo u s trac eries, as d e li­
cidedly the Hebrews, Rom an C ath ­ ded from the school by reason of descend?
cate in s tru c tu re as th e finest lacew oik,
which
Satan
and
his
devils
aw
ait
olics, Liberal C hristians, and the non-com pliance with these exer-
beaded w ith sta rs, in te rlin k e d rings of
“
the
dam
ned?”
The
old
religious
light, g leam in g like th e phosphoresence
F reethought Liberals who do not ercises.
Such a case should be
believe in the old churches a t all. brought before our courts, so th at Heaven, Hell, Gods, Devils and of th e sea, b u t each so stu p en d o u s in
circ u it th a t th e w hole solar system and
2. T h at the im m ediate effect a controlling legal decision may be Spooks become too silly to pursue
further. The first daw n— the first m any so lar system s to g eth er, m ight be
would be th a t all those sects, and obtained.
As soon as this opinion
em braced by i t ; o rb s of pale fire, whose
large portions of our people, would is acted upon, such a case must blush of Science scatters them all gigantic w h irlin g m otion and w hose g ra ­
w ithdraw th eir children from the arise, and legal proceedings should ir.to the real nothingness of m yths dual co m p actio n into new suns, tinder
schools, which would thus become be taken. It m ust not be said that and allegories. They are not. They th e p ressu re of g rav itatio n , are all hut
Orthodox P ro testan t schools only. this opinion was assented to by ac- never were “ Coelum non esse” : visible. Such are som e of th e m arvelous
sh ap es an d ap p earan ces th a t th e se p h o ­
But such schools could and would quiesence.
Those who sleep upon Heaven is not,—said B runo, and to g rap h s show.
not long be supported by public, th eir rights lose them ; and that with heaven all of its belongings
In other w >rd.s they have been
moneys, and so the public school [danger can only be obviated by disappear.
¡photographing the clouds in far off