T H E TORCH OF REASON, SIL V E R T O N , OREGON, JA N U A R Y 17, E. M. 301 (1901.) Wie das G e stirn , O hne H ast, A ber ohne R ast, D rehe sieh jeder Um die eigne L ast. LITERAL TRANSLATION. “ Im m o rtality thou h a st th en in m ind, tindP” Yes, rig h t w ell! The chief ground is ju st t h i s ; T h at we are not able to do w ith o u t it. N ought of th e T ran sito ry ^ H ap p en as it ¡ay! O urselves to unm o rtalize For th a t are we here. T h e Able, be it false, as it often m ay. W orks fiotii house to house, day by day; The Able, w ie n ¡1 is really tru e, W orks ever th e Ages through. J u s t as our P lan et S ta r, W ith o u t h aste, Yet. w ithout rest, Let each the circle Of his d u ty trace. of tra n sla to rs,” as Em erson said. Z w is c h e n g es ano . L asset fahren bin das allzu F lü c h tig e ! Ih r sucht bei ihm vergel*ens R a th ; In dem V ergangnen lebt das Tüchtige, V erew igt sich in schöner T h at. Und so g ew innt sich das L ebendige D urch Folg’ aus Folge neue K ra ft; I ’■ •-*«»■* . .: z. Next note; How are we to do it? By becoming “ the Able,” th a t is, “ the fit to survive,” the capable, the excellent, extending the “ powers of the good”— living in the whole, the true, and so in the good. Sie m acht allein den M euchen d a u e r­ h aft. So löst sich jen e grosse Frage N a ch u n s e r m z w e ite n V a te rla n d ; Denn das B eständige d er ir d ’schen Tage V erbürgt uns ewigen B estan d . I mmortality . (In te rlu d e in th e M asonic Poem .) Let pass th e T ran sito ry as it m a y ; C ounsel from th a t th o u ’t seek in vain ; W h a t is tit to Jive grows ever from the P ast, In b e a u tifu l deeds will ever rem ain . A nd so th e Living Pow ers, gaining ever, By change to change new stren g th secure. For, p u rposes which are p e rm a n en t, They alone m ake m an en d u re. D urch M enschlichkeit geheilt die Schw ersten Plagen. In th e h ig h est sense th e fu tu re to found, H u m a n ity m u st be o u r c o n sta n t aim , T hrough th e H um an is it th a t our heaviest ills are healed. Or again he says it in presenting Note finally when and where are to the Actor Krueger his Iphigenia, we to do this? On this our blessed at Tauris: “ So in H a n d eln , so in S prechen, little Mother E arth P lanet, as she Liebevoll, ver k u n d ’ es weit, revolving each day, yearly circles Alle M enschliche G ebrechen the central sun. So we each day S ü h n e t reine M enschlichkeit.” without haste, yet w ithout rest, fol­ As in w ords, so in action low the attrac tiv e power by which Full of love, proclaim it fa r: our duty holds and revolves us in All h u m an failings her circle. A pure H u m a n ity h eals.” It is shallow to talk about qu o t­ But we m ust close the poetry by ing Goethe as a “ fad.” Find some giving the end of the Masonic one else who went and “ did it.” Poems. W oo else wields M im ir's sword, or S ong at F estival of W orthy B rothers the battle ax of Odin, to set us free? (S t. J o h n ’s Day, 1830.) W hen, at the height of his p o w er,1 Goethe wrote his Masonic Poemn, only about half a dozen pages, hut in them no “ m ortal m a n ” has ever thought and felt out so much. C ar­ lyle says th at their opening c h a n t “ The Lodge .Symbol” is the greatest of “ un in sp ired ” writings; we think th a t the intellectual pathos of the closing “ Song of the W ort y B roth­ ers” is also “ in spired,” if anything ever was. In the m iddle, or the heart, of these poems lies the “ Between Song” or In terlu d e, by which he clears the way of the B rethren from old notions of im m o rtality, by g iv -, ing the new in these lines which we tran slate lineally and literally; they cannot be rendered poetically without still greater lose of m ean­ ing. Those who try to do it will discover, why Goethe is the “ despair So ! D en k t e re w ig sich ins R echte, Is er ewig schön und gross ! And when by d ay , th e Far Gt m o u n tain -b lu e d raw s me longingly. Ami by night th e over-depth of sta rs Glows in th e splen d o r o ’e r m y head. The “ Spirit W orld” is now’, T hen every day and every n ig h t, Fxtol 1 m m ’/ i » ,, if VKV W ? * * * . ' ■■ IWW. » » w in fact, o u r “ Ear nest R e a lm ” o f ' *7^*~“'*r’^*** E * i to . Mud it is ligated by the rad- These littlejew els out of m any in ­ tim ate the scientific solution clearly So solves itself th a t y reat query enough— each one being a conse­ A bout o u r second F a th e rla n d , quent step to the other. F o r th e E n d u rin g in our e a rth ly days Note how he drops all the silly E n su res th a t tim e itself we shall w ith ­ stan d . “ argum ents” for im m o rtality , and, like K ant in his P ractical Reason, Like unto this is his reflection takes its necessity as its only from H erder: ground. Then next note how he Im höch sten rsinn d er Z u k u n ft zu be­ g ründen, drops all those “celestial m ansions” H u m a n itä t sey u n se r ewig Ziel. —ourselves to im m ortalize are we HERE. Still glow th ey , as th e m odest s ta rs ’ S o ft beneticent lig h t. So H u m a n ity to honor ever, L et us, uniting joyfully, As though we, by each o th e r w’ere, W ith o u r powers to g eth er be. Fünfzig J a h re sind vorüber, Wie g em isch te Tage Hohn ; Fünfzig J a h re sind h in ü b e r In das e rn s t V ergangne schon. Doch lebendig, ste ts a u f’s neue, T h u t sich edles W irken kund , F reu n d es Liebe, M änner T reue, U n d ein ewig sic h re r B und. A usgesät in w eiter F erne, N ah, g e tre n n t, ein ern d stes Reich, S chim m ern sie, beschnedner S terne L eis’ w ohlthätigem L ic h te gleich. So, die M enschheit fort zu e h re n , L asset, freudig ü b e re in ; Als wenn w ir beisam m en w ären, K räftig u n s zusam m en seyn ! 3 Forever as he wills the right, !, m« ¡mice of good works as by the mild Is he ever b eau tifu l and g reat! light from the starry millions! Af- T hus with the prose and poetry ter this the vast starry night may of the new Life and Im m ortality help us to realize in it our illum inat- [for the Fifth Act of F aust is filled ed Heaven, and help us to live in , with sim ilar hum an inspiration] th at w ithout longing for some other, the first great man of the new --------- scientific world closed his days So far with Goethe in poetry. The final change came in the fore- We only give a sim ilar touch, near noon of March 22, 1832. As he sat the close of his life, in prose. His in his chair the poetic memory biographer, H einem ann, says (page seemed to recall the good and the 345, vol. 2) in his later years he loved he had known, and he m u t­ advised away from the consider­ tered “ See her brow and curly ation of these questions. “ The locks’ and motioned to open the capable (tiichtiger) m an,” said he, window and said. “ More lig h t.” “ leaves the future world to rest on These were his last words, for with itself, and is active and useful in them he had joined the “Choir I n ­ this. A ctivity, unceasing activity visible.” is our magic word” (Zauberw ort), There were no clergy or death and with this came “ reverence for terrors. No thought or word about th a t above, around and below us.” “ im m ortality.” T hat had become \\ e illu stra te all this with his con- secure by the investm ent of his life ception of the C ontinuity of H u - j n ^ ,e “ perm anent which for age inanity from his letter from Dorn-1 endures.” T. B. W. berg. In the Dornberg Castle near W eim ar, he went as a refuge from the grief, and from the confusion, which attended the death of his old AND friend the Duke, and the incom ing of his successor in the sum m er and fall of 1828. His years were then S ilv e r t o n , O re draw ing to a close, but he never re­ M a in S t r e e t fers to any unearthly or unhum an CARRY A COMPLETE STOCK OF m atters or longings, but sends the “ new a d m in istratio n ” his blessing hooi aud a sermon in the high courtier Germ an of th a t day. of which this Supplies is the substance— (As it is prose a translation only will suffice) : Books and ' “ All the surrounding landscape im proving from generation to gen­ S ta tio n e ry . eration speaks out all th a t which the troubled m ind would so gladly com prehend: th a t the rational h u ­ Dealers in Fruits, Vegetables m an worid is inevitably moved for­ and Confectionery. ward, from generation to genera­ tion, so as to secure the consequent succession of its a c tiv ity .” * KINNEV PORTER Scientific W isdom “ For here a governm ent well o r­ dered and m indful has beneficently In Place of C h ris tia n ity : continued from prince to prince. I The laws stand lirm ly ; according to the need of the times come im prov- ^an ^lnH Forgiven? ments. Thus was it before, so will it he after us; and so the grand word of the Sage [Pascal] will be fulfilled.” -T h e rational hum an world la to be cooatdered as one great im m ortal individual, who un- ceasingly works the Necessary, and thereby raises him self to be the M aster over h isen v iro n m en t.” ~ Christianity or Science Promote Civil— ization? 3 Is Religion or Science More Reliable? 4 Evolution M(, of 5 D,„8 folief in Miracle8 6 Immortality or Annihilation? JU ST T H E T H IN G Fifty years have rolled away Gf th e p o e tr y of t h i s a n x io u s to hand to y o u r C h ristia n frien d s. Send As m ingled days have flow n; Dornberg period, we have only 2 cents for 6, o r 6 cen ts for 25 tra c ts, Fifty y ears are over now, to E liza M owry B liven , Brook­ room for the partin g touch, th u s:— In to th a t E a rn e st P ast so soon ! lyn, C o n n ., o r send 10 cents Y et ever living, and ever new Uus: S ilverto n, O re g o n .