The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1912-02-14
Stick to The Text.

We want the facts;
Our force, our thought, we do not spend
In vain attacks.
And we will never meanly try
To save some fair and pleasing lie."
Captain White and his preacher as
sistant, in your issue of Monday, are
endeavoring to avoid the question: rs
the Bible the foundation of all moral
ity, civilization and justice?" by be-
Jogging the issue, and, not having any
other weapons in their armory, they
have brought out the old charges
against the famous friends of man.
Rousseau, Paine and Voltaire. These
charges while false, and often so prov
ed have been repeated by the educat-
ed parrots of the church from time
to time, and on every occasion when
any one says good word for the
great thinkers.
The paid priests of superstition re-
peat the baseless charges that each of
these three great reformers died re-
nouncing the beliefs that he taught.
Rousseau wrote the Social Contract" +"
and was the fore runner of "The Back
to the Soil" movement of the present
! day He was a man that stool with
the common people as against the no.
bility, and Rousseau made it possible
for Paine to write Common Sense"
Rousseau believed in God, but per-
haps did not accept the soul-shrinking
creeds of his day. Rousseau's attitude
as to religion and the church of today
are almost identical, and yet, the
church's militant defenders tries to
bolster up its cause by torturing some
thing that Rousseau said into a re-
canting of his teachings. II Captain
White and his first assistant would
read Rousseau's works before con-
demning him, it occurs to us that they
would in the future, place him in their
pasture with the saved Here is a
paragraph from Rousseau:
Il perceive God in all His works;
| feel Him in myself; | see Him in all
around me; but as soon as | contem-
plate His nature, as soon as | try to
find out where He is, what He is, what
is His substance, He eludes my gaze
my imagination is overwhelmed. I do
not therefore reason about Him, for it
is more injurious to the Deity to think
wrongly of Him than to not think of
Him at all
Any Orthodox preacher in Vinita,
could safely give this quotation in a
sermon and not be considered a her
etic. AS matter of fact, they do give
the seeker for truth, this sort of adj
vice. They tell the investigator that
he must not question, must not at
tempt to explain, but accept it, So
much for Rousseau; now as to Vol
taire. The Captain glibly quotes the
falsehoods invented by the Catholic
church regarding his death. 1t is a
little remarkable too in this connee-
tion to note, that the Captain is will
ling to use the Catholic church as a
witness against Voltaire, but takes the
paints to say that you can't believe
that witness now. The Captain like
al good believers Of the orthodox type
the brand that have the baptismal
water-mark on their soul, believe the
Catholic church to be the Mother of
lHarlots, Has the Mark of the Beast, "
etc The different churches always
combine when nationalist is to be
attacked They combine their forces,
and of course Voltaire was pursued by
malignant devilts and his deathbed
was the scene of frightful agony.
The truth of the Voltaire canard is
THAT Voltaire died as he lived, the
friend of man and an enemy of super
lstition. He was the intimate of en-
perors and kings and was too power
lful for the church of his day. He was
1.-THE most brilliant writer the world has
lever seen. writing from the age of IS
Ito 10, and his works are on all sorts
of philosophical subjects-and so clear
that the church has never rallied from
the dagger that Voltaire planted in
her breast, Voltaire made Franklin,
Jefferson and Paine possible. If you
have any, doubts Captain as to Vol
talre's character read the accounts of
Jean Calas. and his family that were
befriehded by Voltaire and saved from
the vultures of the Catholic church.
lVoltaire fought with all the arguments,
Iwit. sarcasm, raillery, money and con
tempt, and when the finger of scorn
was pointed at priest by Voltaire, he
lshriveled into mere mummy
voltaire's death was as peaceful as