New-York tribune., 1876-02-05
UORTH CONSIDERING.

A Chicago ministers meeting has recently
debated the question, Are the churches max
"ing men conscientious in moral conduct
The inquiry is certainly pertinent to the times
in which we live. The people of our country
are lust now much occupied with the obliga-
tons of personal religion. They flock to the
churches and hear cdifying discourses Evan
celists abound. who fill opera-houses, skating
rinks, and whatever structures can be had
capable of containing large multitGdes. Song
is not wanting to work its spells, ana move 10
tears. The religious impulse is not limited to
the small minority who keep to the quiet by
paths Of life, nor TO women nor children; IL
reaches the busiest workers OF our cities, VINO
set up prayer-meetings within ear-shot OF the
market and the exchange. They have d'illed
devotion till it has assumed the exactness of
business method they sing and pray by the
minute, and in addressing the Almighty make
sure of being" up to time
If there are in the outworking Of the preva-
lent religious feeling here and there slight
eccentrcities, therp can be no question OF It's
entire sincerity. No art, no artifce could pro-
duce the results which spontaneously appear,
east and west north and south. But it can
not be denied that there appear at the same
time exhibitions of American life which are In
sharp contrast with these manifestations of pious
emotion. Reverend forgcrs and lay defanlters,
spectators who by II transition as slight as the
lapse of letter become pecuatorS, betrayers
of trusts bribers and takers of bribes, are so
many that large part of the ample space OF
TIE TRIBUNE is needed to detail their expo
sire and the mischief they have wrought.
Which of these appearances Is supericlal IL
might for moment puzzle an observer to de-
termine. 1t may be said that the dishonesty
is but n surface disease. not Incompatible with
a healthy condition of the social body it may
be nothing more, and yet it il alarmingly prev
alent. There are not lacking despOnding crit
les who maintain that the show OF religious
zeal now so common ia deceptive, and that
American society ia corrupt through ana
through This harsh judgment is. however
contradlcted by the ordinary facts of our daily
life. A well-ordered community of rogues is
an iinpossibllty, and the fact that American
society holds well together is evidence that
honesty-the cement that binds part to part
has not disappeared.
Be all this as it may. the question OF the
Chicago ministers il, in one sense, deserving
Of Consideration. 10 lHc Si''
cent attention to making men conscientious IN
moral conduct especially business conduct
That the churches must hold up before the
people lofty ideal Of morality is inevitable !;
the standards to which they III common appeal
require no less. But 1t ia the office of the
churches 10 warn men Of the dangers to which
they are most exposed, to trace prevalent evils
To their sources IN human nature and To point
ont the importance of resisting the beginnings
Of wrong. At least this seems To the lay mind
to be the Office of the Church, and the lay
mind il extremely puzzled to determine why it
is that, AT the present time, religion and dis
honesty iostle so often against each other.
There il one solution of the problem which
NAV he the correct one. Widespread vices will,
in a healthy community, evoke an antagonistic
force bent on their suppression. An era Of
paper money, ii is well known, IL usually nm
era of extravaganza and fraud. The wave of
religious feeling now sweeping over the
country may be the reaction which, judging
from former experience of the world, we are
entitled to expect. Can, however. this force
bring tho nation back to better OBJ
servance OF the obligations OF CONNER
cial integrity, without frequent and exact
teaching from those whose Office it In to give
lessons in morals2 The suspicious bred OF 80
much fraud have taken all the life ont of
business Can the revival" be made a revival
of old fashioned business integrityf Can 1t
be brought to reach that chief of sinners, the
United States Government, and so lead 1t 10
nav down in solid cash in place of deprecated
paper 2 1t is not impossible and once done
would be worth as much to the country as a
session of Congress.
TIE JUUOR4LITIES OF ILLUNIN1IION.