New-York tribune., 1920-04-12

NOW Chat the sermons OF DR.. John
Roach Straton have been incorporated
in book, "The Menace Of immoral
1ty" (Doran), we find upon reading
them that we have much to answer for
In refusing to take everything that the
good doctor has said with sufficient rev.
erence. 1t was bad enough to attempt
to poke fun at tho pastor of Calvary
Baptist Church. but we find that we
have sinned more deeply than we
knew. "These messages" writes DR..
[Stratcn in his preface, "were steno-
graphically reported, and they arc given
here just as God gave them to the
messenger-hot from the heart"
We can only plead that we did not
recognize the hand Of the real author.
There have been, we find, certain
changes in style since the days when
Genesis was written.
AS matter Of fact, we are seri-
ously disposed to dispute DR.. Straton's
assertion that his blazing hatred Of the
modern theater. moving pictures, dane
ing and most Of the things which tend
to make life in any way more beauti-
full is directly inspired by God. In his
chapter entitled "A Real He'll for Sin
ners," In which DR.. Straton argues for
beliaf In place Of endless torment,
he writes: "a moments clear thinking
will convince any reasonable mind that
it is rational and necessary truth
which Jesus Christ proclaimed in his
teaching about hell. You believe that
crime ought to be punished and that
there ought to be jails and penitenti-
aries In this world. Will you be SO
foolish, then, to think that God AL
mighty ought to be less firm, less wise
and less just than earthly rulers?"
1t seems to us that we have jails and
penitentiaries just because we are too
chuckleheaded to devise some better
system. They are the last feature in
modern civilization about which we
should ever think Of boasting. God
ought to be able to think up something
better. And notwithstanding the dog
matte DR.. Straton we believe He has.
However. the thing which seems to
impress DR.. Straton most about God is
His fearful capacity for wrath. He
takes pains to warn the world that it
must give up "a mushy idea Of God"
He Is impatient at the conception Of the
Supreme Ruler as "good nature !"
"God," says DR.. Straton. sis no molly
coddle!" But, for that matter. is the
devil, who seems just as real person
to DR.. Straton as Cod? And to toll the
truth, tho two great powers Of the uni
verse, as conceived by DR.. Straton, have
so many attributes in common that q
layman cannot fail to be . little puzzled
at times TO distinguish between them.
For our own part DR.. Straton's
Devil is as cnconvincing and as fiction
al as any Of the heroes Of the Western
melodramas which seem to be absorb
Ing the attention Of the largest school
of American fiction writers. The cow
boy novel leads all tho others in point
Of numbers this spring. The most read
able which we have como across re-
Gently is "Trailin'," by Max Brand,
which is published by Putnam's. This
time the hero is a tenderfoot, but he
seems to have acquired all the arts Of
the West before the story begins. In
the very first chapter the reader fnds
him jumping from n box In Madison
Square Garden in ordcr to ride wild
stallion which terrified al the en-
pioyees Of Buffalo Bill. Naturally, one is
. little bit sorry for Sandy Ferguson,
the bad man, few chapters later on
when ho takes our hero for easy game.
To be sure, tho action Of Anthony Bard
was provocative. Of trouble. He walked