The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1909-09-04

II has become the way In these mod.
ern times to infer that this is day
Of the antichrist, that there IL some
thing wrong with the moral and spirit.
ual conditions Of the American people.
One Of the latest instances Of this in.
eiination 10 found In the writings ~
the brilliant Kate Kurr, who has rails.
ed this point In the Buffalo Times
Miss Burr contends that this nation il
In need ~ n baptism Of real old fash.
ioned piety, and that "this country
needs a better tariff, II needs good
navy and more ships, hut il needs one
thing more than II needs all those.
We need n revival of religious princip
les I'm not talking about any creed.
sect, religion, remember. We need
little old fashioned Christianty-the
kind that sent our fathers and mothers
to their knees. and the boys and girls,
too, for family prayers. We need the
kind Of Christianity that made our an
cestors revere the Sabbath day--go 80
some church service, then walk out in
the Sabbath stiffness afterward. 7
wonder IL you take my meaning. II
doesn' I make any difference whether
you are Seventh Day Baptist, n Bap.
tist, a Presbyterian, Hewbrew,
Catholic (in the restricted sense), a
High Church Episcopalian, a Univer.
salist, IL you believe in some gospel
with all your heart and soul aud live
up to that belief with all your might. "
Miss Burr IN well within the orth.
odox lines, even NO far as her uncall.
ed for and unjust reflection upon the
seems TO us that she has missed the real
poin, Of the whole matter that she is
arguing for. There can he no ques.
tion Of the wholesomeness Of the real
old time religion, and that the world
always needs II, but IL needs more the
actual living Of the religion we have.
There In u plenty Of religion in the
United States, not as much as there
should be may be granted, but amply
sufhcient to revolutioniye social and
governmental conditions II il were
placed In daily use, under the appli
cation Of the Golden Rule. We do not
need more Christians as much IA we
need better ones, the kind that are not
ashamed to show by their daily lives
that the principle means something.
This In a godly country. II the state.
ments Of the various denominations are
correct, and they can scarcely be ques.
toned, all Of the seets are growing
steadily the Catholics who are slurred
by Miss Burr fastest Of all. Civi,izn.
tion is steadily tending upward. All
Of the influences that tend toward de. |
eency and the clean life, toward edu |
cation and health, toward the same
standard Of morality, have n stronger |
hold upon the people than ever before.
The church has had n powerful hand in
this. II could not have had unless the
masses deferred to the principle for
which Miss Burr contends, only doing |
Il in a different way. The only fault,
and il must be confessed n very grave
one, In that the Christians do not |
live their faith, and the good Is left to
progress by its own momentum We
are speaking now in n wholly general
sense, for the real and sincere Christ
ian, the old time Christian, IL the writer
will permit us, are many, though few
In proportion TO the multitude. II Is
this scarcity that has impelled a great
and n popular feeling that the church
In n theoretical force, having nothing |
In common with the problems Of the
government and Of the every day. We
need the application Of religious prin'
eiples more than anything else, a proof
20 the millions that Christ loved the
poor and the rich alike. that the Golden
Rule applies 10 them all. without this
a great and general revival would be
useless. We need IL far mo . than
we do that sort OF oldtime religion
which was inclined to be wholly intol'
Grant and narrow.
The Houston Chronicle in comment.
ing upon Mis- Burr's articles says;
"Her's is plain talk, but uncalled
FOR. All over the United States and
here In Texas, and In Houston, too,
there In an evil tendency TO put wealth
before worth. A nation OF community |
that rears It's civaiization on this found
alton is building upon the sand. The
great lesson Of History and Righteous
ness. Righteousness Is a rock. II we
build upon any other foundation, II
we train mp our children to permit our
selves to think more Of display than
duty, more Of luxury than Of labor, more
Of pleasure than Of patriotism and
purity, our cities will be 'one with Min.
eveh and Tyrej' our country will fall
like 'Insolent Greece and naughty
Rome and the tidal wave Of revolu.
tion will submerRe us as II did in the
eighteenth century France. The old.
fashioned virtues constitute the sea.
wall. They are Of good granite. Let
us build II high and broad and strong, !
for, AZ Lowell wrote, III the devil take