The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1912-04-01

he never preached on baseball, horse
racing. the latest piece Of Action. bat
tie flags, on the waltz, on the glories
Of the flag and what It did in the war
on forty acres and mule. Even
though allied with the State he never
wore out his vocal chords on politics
He was not a toady. In one thing al
least he was far above and beyond the
ordinary 2Oth century parson: he
would not compromise with evil for
the sake OF salary. He never served
the Lord on the seven great princi-
ples-the five loaves and the two
fishes" He was not a mixer" the
kind demanded by the fashionable type
Of congregation of the day. Why. We
have some ministers not a hundred
miles from Vinita who affiliate with
almost anything and everything. If
they may but keep the steak on the
table" These are the fellows who
cut out of their theology everything
that would offend the fastidious taste
of their Emersonian audiences and
supporters. These are the kind from
whose "dumb-dog" lips you never hear
a word about hell. It would be quite
improper to give utterance to any
such effete expression. They have
eliminated the devil and relegated
him to the region of mythical oblivion.
No wonder an editor of secular and
prominent daily of the west made this
observation not long ago, and pro-
pounded the following questions
What has become OF the old-fash-
Toned orthodoxy? What of faith that
once to be manifested by works? What
Of Bible verses and Bible expound-
ings? What of the whole congrega-
tion joining in old-fashioned hymns,
sometimes quaint but always full of
that kind of pathos which made peo-
pie stronger and better for the sing
ing? What of the lowly meeting
houses, with wooden benches and uns
carpeted aisles? Fashion has killed
them nearly all. Infidelity has done
its work all to well, bringing to its
aid such faithful allies as agnosticism,
materialism, atheism. doubt, question
ing, ridicule, politics, the world, the
flesh and the devil
How scarcely win one hear the old
fashioned gospel preached in our fash
ionable churches. 1t has become to
be considered a species of anguish to
call Jesus Christ God manifest in the
flesh. The inspiration of the Bible
is myth that has been sent to keep
with the sea-serpent. The
whole beautiful and appealing plan of
salvation, made touching and SUI
premely lovable through the life, the
teachings, the crucifxion, and the
of an Immortal Sacrifice,
is now no more accounted of than the
bleeding and empty skin Of slaugh-
tered bullock. The road to heaven has
been made musical with resonant or
gans and choirs of singing people who
sing operate airs that boldly proclaim
the green room and ogle the can-can
or the vaudeville not little wantonly.
Anything to attract the masses. No
matter If they go to hell, only so they
go religiously. In many quarters num-
bers count; quality is a matter of sec
ondary Importance. Anything that will
bring cash in 1t used to be the power
of the Holy Spirit that was sought
after; now it is the Money God. Here
is where lnfidelity gets its leverage,
its strongest arguments An apostate
church will always bring forth seep-
tics instead of sons of God. Illigitimaey
invariably bears bastard fruitage. We
see it all about us. Perhaps the writer
of this will be accounted unbelieying
in sentiment; but he is far from that.
He has not the least particle of sym
pathy or affiliation with such broom
headed scrubs as the Estella cores
pondent, or the lngersoll scayenger
who signs his name Observer Onion. "
Nor does he for one moment take off
his hat to black or white parson, be-
cause he happens to have reverend
attached to his name-the man who
joins hands with the enemies OF Christ
and in the name of a church founded
by either Calvin or Wesley deny the
plenary inspiration Of the Scriptures,
and who try to talk learnedly of things
that they know nothing about. 1t
makes one weary in the truest sense
to read or listen to their slush, even
with a view to reviewing 1t to see
what is in it. We hope that the or.
dinary instinct of the reader will dis
cern the fallacies and false logic of
these purveyors of mbelief. and ac-
cord them their true place in the Hall