Oxford Democrat., 1905-01-24
That All Depends.

In looking over Mr.. Fields diagnosis |
of the relative goodness Of the churches
of to-day with an earlier period, We find
1t all depends upon the point from where
we start, and the essential elements
which constitute "pure and undefiled
religion" whether 1t be q devout spirit |
uality pervadipg the "heart, mind, or
SOUL" or whether 1t is gauged by the
cash value of Q contribution to the
church. finances; meaning by this that
the man outside of the church who pays
we'll often wields as much or more in
fluence In the conduct of the same than
the men who occupy the high places in
the church.
Go back to the Inquisition, and you 90
back to barbarism. Go back an hum
dred years historically, and we find
arrogance. Come down to period
within the memory of some now living,
and we find in the priesthood the same
nature in q modified form. We find ip
all mankind, the brute as we'll, an i'd
herent instinct to rule. We can't help
1t. We were created thus, and 80 the
priest, or minister, being placed in au-
thority over his church, must of neces-
sity have an oversight over his charge,
this being one of the requirements of
the church government, and this is an
outgrowth of mans desire to boss; he
very naturally becomes the autocrat.
Sixty years ago this bossism was ex-
tant, but by degrees this rule has been
gradually smothered until the minister
has become moro of subject to his
parishioners than otherwise. Great
changes have occurred in the last decade.
Some of us can remember when min
lister, no matter how illiterate, was the
real thing. If called to preach the
Almighty was supposed to fill bis mouth
with words.
Plain dress was required of the Chris
tian, and the woman dressed in silks,
decked out with jewelry, was cast.
away. People commenced to think, and
the more they thought the looser the
bands of the church became, and losing
their interest in church. affairs the men
largely dropped out, and the cry OF
empty pews goes out over the land.
The women, more susceptible to re-
ligious influences, are the main support
of the church to-day, and seemingly the
church is becoming more of an empo-
rum of fashion than otherwise.
Having been reared in community
where two evangelical churches Tapped,
and required to attend church, the
church chickering's naturally set me to
thinking quite young. / was quite a
boy when l first listened to Universal
ist clergyman, and we'll remember the
subject, of the seed that was sown,
some falling by the wayside, some on
good ground, etc. An aged couple that
attended, on their way home, it being
their natures to disagree Ito put it mild
lly), got into a heated dispute over the
merits of the address. The old man
finally, to clinch the matter, declared
she was some of the seed that fell by
the wayside. Knowing the parties we'll,
we should say that worse than the fowls
of the air gathered her up.
Again Mr.. Field counts the Grange
| far and above all, excepting the Church,
land this very faintly). We take no
exceptions to this. 1t has done more to
advance the cause of woman's rights
than all other organizations combined.
The woman's club has been great in
structor for women, but the Grange
combines all the essentials for the i'm.
provement of both sexes, agriculture
and all its accompaniments, literary in
struction, and sort of matrimonial
bureau where character may be studied
to better effect than in the giddy whirl
of high life.
The Grange has forced the lodges
composed wholly of men, very reluc.
tantly, to allow that women may have
some showing. The Odd Ladies have
shown proper resentment by ignoring
man entirely, but for those who are
willing to accept the half loaf, we have
no criticism to offer.
The clergy having lost their power to
govern, what next? The desire to boss
| is just as strong to-day as ever. Lodges
were formed, whereby few could rule
the masses, but in these desire was
created, a growing desire, to rule, and
as the lodge was too contracted for all
aspirants, other lodges were formed to
accommodate the ambitious, until the
papers are filled with reports of lodges
innumerable. Then when we consider
the hankering for official titles, "Worthy
Grand Potentate," etc., it is most shock.
ing to simple democracy. Aping old
world titles, eh?
But to sum it all up in nutshell, fol-
we must condense, are we growing bet.
ter? Statistics show us that in the last
; decade homicides have increased about
. ten to one. Suicides have largely in.
, creased, though there can be no accurate
, account, as many are suicides whose
: taking off is reported as heart failure
Of divorces there is no end, and here we
J would be the last to compel person to
dwell with an uncongenial mate, but it is
the condition of society we deplore. The
social evil is rampant, and the youth are
being badly taught.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in recent
speech, declared that there is greater
lawlessness in the United States than
anywhere else in the world; that whether
measured by murder, robbery or d.
vorce, or any other symptom, the United
States not only exceeds every European
country, but all European countries COM
bined. He cites the three years of the
Boer war, during which the British
army lost 90, 900 lives from all causes,
while during the same period the United
States lost 81 900 from homicide.
! Now, what about ethical culture9
With thousand and one organizations,
ostensibly for the improvement of man.
kind, at this rapid rate of drifting astern,
where shall we land in another decade?
J With forty banks "busted" in one west
; ern state, 10 suicides by embezzlers, and
others on the wing. and corruption in all
departments of business.
How glad we would be to join in the
!, popular cry that "The world Is growing
. BETTER" but with the picture as we view
it, we prefer to be named a pessimist, o
mugwump and crank. Why close our