The Lubbock avalanche. (Lubbock, Tex.) 1909-1922, 1922-07-21


Glove darkness rather than light be.
cause their deeds are evil" and now
that Is the trouble with Slaton.
There are many men and women
among us without the gospel Of
Jesus Christ. There isn't anything
wrong with the religion Of Jesus
Christ. The trouble Is that there IS
something wrong with the men VINO
love darkness rather than Light.
Men love darkness because. Y en-
ables them 10 hide their evil deeds.
And whenever the searchlight OF the
gospel of truth Is turned upon mems
lives il naturally reveals their crook
ed deeds; and, therefore, they hate
the light which thus brings TO the
notice Of men the deeds Of evil they
practice.
There is a question in the mind
of each of you; there is the same
question in the minds Of hundreds
Of thousands Of others who have
read the account of the anonymous
letter that | received a few days
ago. as to the author or authors OF
this letter. As 10 the individual or
the group of individuals, ! want 10
say this, since number have sug-
gested TO me that a certain religious
denomination in this country IS re
sponsible for it. | do not believe
that the Catholics are the authors
Of this anonymous letter; ! do not
believe that a Catholic in this coun-
try or any group Of Catholics wrote
il | would not say whether II gives
them any comfort; that is a matter
for tbom To decide; but il is my
candid opinion that the Catholics did
not inspire the letter; that no Cath-
Ollie wrote IL. That is my candid,
sincere belief.
/ do know that one Catholic man
approached me on yesterday and
( said 10 me: Il have a 5000, as fine
gun as a man ever brought TO his
shoulder and as straight a barrel as
he ever looked down, and II you
need any assistance from me the
only thing YOU have to do is 10
blow your whistle and ! will be
right there" ! know there IS one
! 100 per cent American Catholic IN
this community, whether there are
anv more or not. | do not say that
/ there are not any more, but / be-
lieve | can vouch for this one.
The question naturally came into
| the minds Of some of you because
Of one statement contained IN the
anonymous letter, which | shall re-
peat: "You talk too much about
/ other denominations
During the revival meeting which
was held in the Methodist church,
and which was c0-operated in by
! the Methodists, Presbyterians, the
/ Christians and some Catholics, the
only denomination that ! mentioned
adversely was the Catholics.
said in one Of my sermons dur
/ ing the recent revival that theie
were men in this community VINO
7 would pick me of in the dark, on
the Methodist pastor in this town,
If they thought they could DO u
and get away with %. You believe
now that was somewhere within
| reach Of the solemn truth about
/ that matter. told you that men
/ were bad In this town; thai tney
were openly defiant Of The laws Of
our country and were blatant ana
bold I'm their ncfarious deeds in this
/ community. Many Of YOU, t1c most
of Won believed &C. Perhaps some
+ of YOU had "a question 200 your mind
ae I'd whether on not that was true.
I You do not have any question mark
rs to that statement now, ! am sure.
Would this letter have been WRIT
ton II the pastor Of this church had
not taken public, definite Hand
against evil in this town. II he had
not committed the good people OF
this town and community 70 a pro-
gram Of righteousness as against
certain well known in the commun-
I ity who are living by gambling,
! bootIeggeing, etc? Against certain
characters who are parasites on the
business and social life OF this com
munity? Against rapists, flappers,
\ ielly-beans, Migrants, burglars, auto
\ mobile thieves, etc.g
The answer to this question is
/ easy. MO- II would not have been
written or mailed to me; Neitnet,
on the other hand, would all this
wickedness been slowed up. II would
have continued 70 go on IN the same
old way.
But. when man clears up a
piece Of new ground, or piece OF
ground infected with weeds and toul
underground he has also 20 clean
out the rats, snakes and skunks that
infest such a place. The gutter
must be cleaned out in the interest
| of the public health of the commun-
| itv So of the moral health OF a
community. And our attitude to-
ward the moral skunk should be the
same as that for the material ami
NAL; the same as toward mad dog,
or any other animal that would
harm his children and his home.
| do not consider this personal
matter. IL Is thrust at the good
citizenship of this community VINO
gave their enthusiastic and unani-
nous endorsement TO my stand Tor
clean, righteous town IN which to
live and rear and educate our fam