Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1874-11-05
Fashionable Religion.

part of the article is worth transfer
ring to our columns and we do it
A well-dressed sinner is decidedly
more pleasing object han a sinner
n fustian or beggar in rags. But
as that c7unterblass against modern
Christianity recently published by
the author of "Dame Europa's
School, says, if we are to act up to
the religion we profess, from our
pulpits and our prayer-boCks, there
is need for more humble imitation
of the Savior's life and self.denial.
We need not remind the religious
world that true democracy has de-
parted from the Christian Church.
In the days of the Covenanters these
men met upon the hillside beneath
the canopy of heaven, and the song
# praise assembled from the throats
of peer and peasant. and the beggar
came and knelt beside his Weather
brother. What is the atate of affairs
Today ? Beautiful and costly church
as deck our streets, while the bias
phemous oath is waited on the
breeze, and poverty creeps skivering
oy their sculptured buttresses. The
tashionable church has come t. be
Iothing moro nor less than a world
ly speculation. 1t is religious
heater wherein the actor who can
iraw the best houses commands the
highest price Were Mr. Beecher TO
cave Plymouth Church the grass
woull grow upon the street, pew
rents would return to their normal
figure, and religious spectators
seek another fold within the orbit
# some rising star. If we are to be
religious, we must certainly be con-
sstent, and if we cannot carry out
the doctrine of equality in social life
we shall certainly be compelled to
larry it out 10 death. Christ told
the rich man to sell all tha6 he had
md give to the poor. What would
he have thought OF the millions OF
dollars placed in stone and lime, the
handsomely gilded pulpiLs, the
warmly cushioned pews, the costly
organs, the hundred and one things
for which fairs and entertainments
and begging petitions are gotten up
to-day, while gaunt women are sell
ing their souls for bread. strong men
yielding to the promptings OF the
devil, and children closing their eyes
upon a pittiless world which bids
them die. 1T the protestant religion
is to hold its own against the logic
of modern science, or the steady
march of unbelief, the sooner it casts
off the gided mockery of prayer the
better. Better a barn, with few
deal boards. where the seats are free,
and the fac sinner must kneel be-
side his unkempt brother, than the
soulptured roof, with the parapher-
MALTA of a sham humility and the
stage effects of theatrical intellectual
ity. Why do we hear of noble con-
verts going over TO the Church OF
Rome, and so seldom of poor Catho
lies coming to the Protestant fold !?
Simply because the Catholic Church,
wise mother as she is, appears to
throw open her arms to poor as we'll
as rich. That she presses the rich
to her bosom with greater and more
fiattering JUNCTION, is unknown TO the
poor, and even if it were known,
their affections are too closely en-
twined around the Holy Mother
Church TO bid them pause. 1t is
easy to preach, "Come unto me all
ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and | will give you rest )" let the
poor man, however, with his shabby
coat, present himself at the gates of
him whom wealth has elected to
tickle its Christian vanity, and mark
how he will be received. The man
who appears at her Majesty's opera
10 London in morning dress alone
can appreciate his feelings, Above
the portals he may read in letters
If gold "This is the Church of
Lazarus-no beggar can enter here. "
Fashion is hollow enough in the
realities of life. When it comes to
offer up its gilded pr ayers before the
alter of Divine Grace, to bend it's
knee at the footstool of Him it pro-
tesses to love and worship, it simply
utters lie, and compromises with
guilty conscience for the sins and
sh ,rtcomings of the week. Let the
church open wide her doors to all
who seek her counsel; let her wor-
ship be in the temples Of the meek
and lowly Let her sell all and give
to the poor; let her return to the
primitive simplicity of the early faith
ers let her learn meekness from the
poor and charity from her Divine
Savior. Then ray the world yet
turn from it's wlckedness and live,
and they who come to scott at the
teachings of an earnest clsrgy-re-
main to pray.