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Show 270 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS. " The idea of taking from them their favorite hell was more than they could endure. One old lady, a sort of ' mother in Israel,' declared that fire was as necessary to salvation as water, and she would as soon give up baptism as hell. " It was plain that they must have a shepherd, one who could fight with the weapons of faith, and put to flight the enemies of Satan. So, in process of time, they lit upon the very man they needed. He was fresh from Missouri, and rejoiced in the annihilation of all heretics. He arrived early in the spring of 1865, and at once began to prepare for war. "He threw down his glove (buckskin, of course), and it was promptly taken up by Beelzebub, as the enemy was called, and for several months the entire community was agitated with profound discussions of original sin, total depravity, the efficacy of good works, the nature of faith and the mysteries of redemption, atonement, fore-ordination and election. " At length Satan and his ambassadors were vanquished and fled the country, leaving our Baptist friends and their preacher master of the field. A great revival and many baptisms were the result of the victory, and it became necessary to court the favor of the Church to gain or hold popularity. "The politicians all became Baptists,and for a few years the Church was omnipotent in Fremont county. But prosperity proved their ruin. Like Jeshuran, they 'waxed fat and kicked.' Having no external foes they quarreled among themselves, and their preacher, or elder, as he was called, attempting to compose their differences, as is usual in such cases, incurred the hostility of both factions, and in |