Torch of reason., October 30, 1902, Image 1

(IF
R eason .
“TRUTH BEARS THE TORCH IN THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH.” —
VOL. 6.
SILVERTON, OREGON. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, E. M. 302 (1902.)
L o v e ’s Q u e s tio n .
BY WILLIAM W INTER.
E i E C A U SE lo v e’s sigh is but a sigh,
Is it th e less th e lovely rose?
B ecause
day b lack n ig h t m u s t sh ro u d th e
S h a ll th e brave su n no m ore be gay?
Because chill autumn frights the birds,
S h a ll we distrust th a t sp rin g will
Because'“ Xeet words are only words,
S h a ll love fo rev erm o re be d u m b ?
B ecause o u r bliss is fleetin g bliss.
S h a ll we who love fo rb e a r to kiss?
B ecause th o se eyes of g e n tle m irth
M u st som e tim e cease m y h e a rt to
th r ill,
B ecause th e sw eetest voice on e a rth
S o o n e r o r la te r m u s t be still,
B ecause its idol is u n su re ,
S h a ll m y stro u g love th e less e n d u re ?
Ah u o ! let lo v ers b re a th e th e ir sighs,
A nd ro ses bloom , a u d m u sic so u n d ,
A n d p assiou b u rn on lip s au d eyes,
A nd p le a su re ’s m e rry w orld go ro u n d :
L e t g o ld en su n s h in e flood th e sk y ,
A n d le t m e love, or le t m e d i e !
ABOUT THE HOLY BIBLE,*
Sixty-one Reasons for Doubting.
BY RO B ER T G. IN G E R SO LL.
D ivided in to S u n d a y B ible L esso n s fo r
s tu d y a u d reflectio n .
F IF T H SUNDAY.
T
H IR T Y -F O U R T H . Itc e rta in -
ly ought to satisfy God to tor-
merit a man for four or five
thousand years for insisting th a t it
is but a small thing for an infinite
being to vanquish an E g y p tian arm y;
th at it was rath e r a small business
to trouble people with frogs, flies
and verm in; th at it looked alm ost
m alicious to cover people with boils
and afflict cattle with disease; that
a real good God would not torture
innocent beasts on account of some-
th in g the owners had done; th a t it
„
„
,
,
i r
w as a b s u rd to do m irac les before a
king to induce , him , to act
in . a cer-
,
tain way, and , then
harden
b is h e a r t
NO. 43.
really was (Ex. xix, 12).
C ertainly fuse to believe th at God went into
S O C IO L O G Y —
it is not a crim e to say th at water p artnership with insects and grant-
cannot be m anufactured by striking ed letters of m arque and reprisal to In the Early History of Society— Social
Before Human.
a rock with a stick, and th at the hornets (E x. xxiii, 28); th a t he
° f bat«le cannot be decided by wasted forty days and nights fur-
GII)I)IN, ~ T kkssok o r sect
lifting one hand up or letting it fall nishing Moses with plans and speci-
’
OLOUY IN COLUM BIA U N IV E R S IT Y .
r
r
»
n
i
«
\
x
*
i
i
i
..
(E x . xvn, 11, 12). Must we adm it hcations for a tabernacle, an ark, a
th at God really did come down upon mercy seat and two cherubs of gold,
(F ro m “ E le m e n ts of S o cio lo g y .” )
M ounl Sinai in tbe 8'8 b t of a " lhe a ‘» ble,
r 'ng8, some dishes and
UMAN N A TU R E. — One
people; th a t he com m anded th at spoons, one candlestick, three bowls,
other faet of prim itive h u ­
“ H who should go up into the M ount eeven lam ps, a pair of tongs, some
man society we also know
or touch the border of it should be snuff’ dishes (for all of which God with certainty.
It was in th e e a r li-
put to death, and th a t even the had p attern s), ten cu rta in s with est period of hum an evolution th at
beasts th a t came near it should be fifty loops, a roof for the tabernacle hum an nature as distinguished from
killed? (E x . xix, 12, 13).
Is it of ram s’ skins dyed red, a lot of anim al nature was produced, and
wrong to laugh at this? Is it sin- boards, an a lta r with horns, ash th a t the social mind entered upon
tul to say th a t God never spoke from pans, basins, arid tiesh hooks, and its formal developm ent through the
the top of a m ountain covered with fillets of silver and pins of brass; origin of tradition.
clouds these words to Moses: “ Go th at he told Moses to speak unto all
H um an n atu re is not th a t self-
down, charge the people, lest they the wise-hearted th at he had filled
seeking individualism which has so
break through unto the Lord to gaze, with wisdom, th a t they m ight make
often been m istaken for it.
The
and m any of them perish; and let a suit of clothes for Aaron, and that
more selfish and unsocial the in d i­
the priests also, which come near to j God actually gave directions th a t
vidual is, the nearer doeR he a p ­
the Lord, sanctify them selves, lest an ephod “ shall have the two shoul-
proach to the prehum an or anim al
the Lord break forth upon th e m ? ” der-pieces thereof joined at the two
nature.
H um an nature is p re­
(E x . xix, 21, 22). Can it he th at edges thereof,” and gave all the
em inently social. Its chief tra it is
an infinite intelligence takes delight orders concerning m itres, girdles,
a consciousness of kind, wider and
in scaring savages, and th at he is and onyx stones, ouches, em eralds,
stronger than th a t found in anim al
happy only when somebody trem ­ breastplates,chains, rings,U rim and
groups; a consciousness of kind th a t
bles? Is it reasonable to suppose T.huromim, and the hole in the top
is better developed in the civilized
that God surrounded him self with of the ephod like the hole of a
man of today than it was in the
thunderings and lightnings and habergeon? (E x . x x v iia n d xxviii).
civilized man of a n tiq u ity ; th a t
thick darkness, to tell the priests
T
,
,
,
,,
.
IHIRTY-SEVENTH.
Is
the re a was better developed in him than
they should not m ake a lta rs of
. .
. .
,
,
1 C hristian m issionary who could nelp in the barbarian, and better devel-
hewn »tones, nor with stairs? (E x.
laughing, if in any country he had oped in the barbarian th an in the
xix, 25, 26). And th a t this God, at
seen the following com m and of God savage. Next to the better devel-
the sam e time he gave the Ten Com­
carried out ? “ And thou sh alt take oped consciousness of kind, the chief
m andm ents, ordered the Jews to
the other ram ; and Aaron and his trait of hum an nature is a volume
break the most of them ? Accord­
sons shall put their hands upon the of desire, strong, expansive and
ing to the Bible, these infam ous
head of the ram. I hen sh alt thou modifiable to a degree unknow n in
words came from the m outh o f G od
kill the ram and take of bis blood any other species,
while he was wrapped and clothed
ami put it upon the tip of the right
Both of these traits of hum an na-
‘larkness and clouds upon the
ear of Aaron, ami upon the tip of (lHe were m ade possible by speech,
M ount of Sinai:
the right ear of his sons, and upon gp^ech sh arp ly marked off’ the spe-
“ If th o u buy an H ebrew s e rv a n t six
the thum b of their right h an d , ami cjeg th a t had discovered it. It en-
y e a rs he sh a ll serv e; a n d in the se v en th
he shall go out free for nothing. If he upon „ the great
. toe of their right a bled th a t species to become Belf-
cam e in by h im self he s h a ll go o u t by t ° ° t . ( Ex. xxix, l J, «'Q. tzoes one conscious and to com prehend its
-
-
r
h im se lf; if he w ere m a rrie d , th e n his have to be born again to appreciate superiority to all other creatures
wife sh a ll go o u t w ith h im . If his mas- t h e b e a u t y a n d s o l e m n i t y o f such a
i j ke m a ( ln e r t h e d iffe re n c e s of
te r have given him a wife a n d sh e have p e r f o r m a n c e ? la not the faith of “
£ th” t grew up
H
so th a t he would refuse; an d th a t b orne him so n s o r d a u g h te rs , th e wife 1
.
. .
to kill all the firstborn of a nation a u d h e r c h ild re n sh a ll be h e r m a s te r’s, t h e mO8t zealoU S C hristian some-
w a e ih o a rin fa h o a rtlo B a fia m l
a u d he sh a ll go out by h im se lf. A nd if w hat shaken while reading the
th e s e rv a n t sh a ll p la in ly sa y , I love my recipes for cooking m utton, veal,
T hirty - fifth .
C ertainly one m a s te r, m y wife a n d m y c h ild re n ; I beef, birds and unleavened dough,
ought to be perm itted to doubt th a t w.lllI1n" t go ° ut freeJ then hl9 master found in the cook book th a t God
. ,
. i,
,
m • . sh a ll b rin g him u n to th e ju d g e s ; he
, t
.
_
twelve wells of water were sufficient ghaU a i8O b riu g him to th e d o o r o r u n to ma(le for Aaron and his sons.
for th re e m illio n s of people, to g e th e r th e d o o rp o s t; an d his m a s te r sh a ll bore
with their flocks and herds (E x. xv, his e a r th ro u g h w ith a n aw l; au d he
27), and to inquire a little into the sh a ll serve him fo re v e r ( Ex. xxi, 2-6).
by
b a k in g
.
an<
,
.
see Ding, and j e t
would m elt in the sun ( Ex. xvi, 23),
and th a t would swell or shrink so
as to make an exact omer, no m at-
te r how mu< h or how little there
(To be C o n tin u e d .)
-----------------------
Tfae world hftH advanced
P c lh at gr w UP
lvv eu 8ePA
rate com m unities, until it was im-
possible for one to u n derstand an-
other, became the basis of a very
a ia rked developm ent of the con­
sciousness of kind
Sneech more-
s c io u s n e s s oi Kind, speech, more-
over, waH tbe cbjef factor in the d e -
velopment of curiosity, as i t is to
this day in the m ental evolution of
The the child. W hen the child begins
m aid , w ith a ro d , a n d h e d ie u n d e r hi» B ib le b a s rem ained the sam e. We
b a u d j , e 8h all be surely punished. Not- m ust go back to the book— it can-
w ith sta n d in g , if he c o n tin u e a day or not come to u s—or we m ust leave it
tw o, he shall not lie punished; for he is forever< I n order to rem ain ortho-
to learn and to apply nam es, hie
curiosity about tilings, aud his de-
sire to investigate them by every
means in his power, becomes most
his mon^y” (Ex. xxi, 20,21).
(]ox
mugt forget the discoVHrie8> intenpe<
We cannot doubt th a t
Do you really think th a t a man the inventions, the in tellectu al ef- this was true also of prim itive m an.
e te rn a lly dam ned for en- forts of m any centuries; we m ust
o f'u ie ’i'irfifien K.ii’til'.b?**’ fhey
V r'uTn in
deavoring to wipe from the record gO back until our know ledge—or
wi*iiSpni)tfthem^n1? ^
°f God tb ose barbaric words?
ra th e r our ignorance— will har-
^mancipatwi^from
'hurciiTthe‘prot-
T hirty - sixth . I s it because of monize with the barbaric creeds,
ai^thereH^uohopvf.irthi» w.trid'-Em ioki ' h ? total d epravity th a t some people re- — [Ingersoll.
•These 61 I^ so n s from inger«<yU are now to be
w il1
be
The developm ent of curiosity, in
its turn, is the chief factor in the
developm ent of desire. Desire has
its original source in the physio-
logical processes. Rut our purely