The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1912-05-03


The Captain In some three or foui
of his alleged arguments asks us t
furnish something in place of his He'll
as it seems that he don't want TO trad,
off He'll, Superstition, and everlasting
punishment without something in re
turn. You tear down without build
ing up" shrieks this ignorant and zeal
GUS bigot, repeating the words of the
pious priests. am going to quote
the words of the great Agnostie Pagan
Bob, In answer to this oft-repeated
query.
I'VE can be as honest as we are
| ignorant. If we are, when asked what
is beyond the horizon of the known
we must say that we do not know. We
can tell the truth, and we can enjoy
the blessed freedom that the brave
have won. We can destroy the mon.
sters of superstition, the Kissing
snakes Of ignorance and fear We can
drive from our minds the frightful
things that tear and wound with beak
and fang. We can civilize our fellow
men, We can fill our lives with gener-
Gus deeds, with loving words, with art
and song, and all the ecstasies of love.
! We can flood our years with sunshine,
with the divine climate Of kindness,
and we can drain to the last drop the
golden cup of joy"
The Captain insists that his God
must have worship and that such wer
ship must be made in the proper spirit,
and that prayer of that sort will be
acted upon favorably by the Most
High.
OF course, such a position is only a
part of the old superstition,-the de-
sire of man by falling on his knees
and mubling meaninglyless words to
propitiate his Deity, and in some way
curry his favor A brief examination
of the question in the light of reason
will certainly prove to anyone how
foolish it would be for poor weak
puny finite being to get the Infinite
Being to change his mind If prayer
was answered, it would be convic-
tion of the Infinite It would be an
arraignment of his own wisdom, con-
fession that his knowledge from the
beginning was insufficient and that he
needed some assistance from a finite
source.
The attitude of the present day petit
toner to the throne of Grace is very
clearly illustrated in the following
story, a story that is entitled to re-
spect. on account of its age, and for
further reason that it happened in
Captain Whites native state of Arkan-
sas--near his home-that part of the
state where the soil is so poor, that
vegatiop is very spndling and dwarft-
ed, and where the people to a great ex.
tent resemble the crops, small po-
tatoes and few in HILL
1.-TWO women were driving in Il
buggy, and the horse scared and ran
away The woman that was driving
Ebraced herself, and surged and yanlS-
ed on the lines, but the horse kept on
running After awhile it came to the
top of a hill, and the woman that was
driving struck her companion with he
elbow-"Pray she exclaimed, why
don't you pray?" And the other wo-
man began to pray. loudly and urgent
ly, she laid hold on the altar as best
she could, going at the rate the nag
was running. The horse, still running.
went over the hill and started down
The woman that was praying, stopped,
and the other said: Pray, pray. what
did you stop for?" When the other
said; its no use to pray any more,
the breechin's broke"
Some good people still believe. or
rather they think they believe in the
efficacy of prayer for rain, and pres
sure was brought to bear on Governor
Cuce last summer to set apart day
for supplication for rain: but let itI
be said to his credit that he put his
foot down on the application for State
aid at the throne. There is no well
authenticated answer to any prayer.
and Tyndals assertion that the prayer
of honest earnest effort is the only
one that is ever answered, still stands
In former times, the aid of prayer
was invoked to prevent frosts, stop
cholera, keep hail from running grow
ing crops, and during the Civil War,
the Northern and Southern generals
repeatedly petitioned the throne of
Divine Grace to crown their efforts to
murder few of their fellows, with
success The records show that God
acted in a very impartial manner,
sometimes allowing one side to win
battle and then the other; but finally
allowing the force of numbers and
equipment to succeed. These old SUI