The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1883-01-18
IN. Y. Tribune.1
The American Antichrist.


There is not clergyman of any
denomination who fills pulpit to-day
that would not be glad to hear an an
swer to the riddle why his pews are
Fl led with women rather than men.
The clergyman is apt to attribute it
to criminal carelessness; the man takes
no thought for his soul. The woman
is naturally devout. This is a mistake.
There is no subject so interesting to
any man, no matter how wicked he
may be, as his chance of salvation, the
Being he calls God, and the relation
in which he stands to Him. He will
go to hear the preacher who can tell
him the bare truth about him and his
daily life; and he will respect him.
too. He does not go to hear the ordi-
nary preacher because his sermons do
not touch himself, his temptations or
cravings, or the phases Of life known
to him in office, political club or shop.
Americans who have visited Great
Britain this year report a striking
contrast between the the subjects of
sermons preached there and here. The
rule is almost invariable that the SER
mon in England shall treat of the
subject which for the time occupies
public attention. In American church.
es. especially among those which boast
the most learning and culture in their
ministers, there is a growing dislike
to meddle with the personal spiritual
affairs of the flock. The sermons are
usually theoretic essays which, how
ever correct. have as much to do with
the actual life of street and house, as
the colored lines in map have to do
with the real water in river or the
dust in the road; or they are carefully
written literary efforts Of good pur-
port. which challenge the criticism of
the hearer but which he never could
imagine were sharp call to look to
to his own soul and its condition. The
well-bred gentleman who fills the pull
pit naturally feels gentleman's re-
luctance to grapple barehanded with
the individual dishonesty, the drunk
enness, the false rules of life of his
neighbors. Unconsciously, perhaps.
he finds some devil to fight who is not
at all likely to be daily familiar of
his friend in the pews. The Unita-
rian inveighs against the i'll done by
the doctrine of the Trinity; the Ro-
manist looks upon heresy as the in |
durable evil, the Protestant regards
the Church of Rome as Antichrist;
while all alike unite in denouncing
mortal sirs. and bad passions
of old established reputation, and in
upholding the savior for our imita-
ton.
But to bring these general truths
down to plain fact, are the people who
fill the pews in much danger Of COM
mitting any Of the great cardinal sins?
Decent church-going folk in this part
of the world as rule have their pas
sions under pretty fair control. they
are not likely to steal their neighbors'
wives or houses or to murder them
In theory, too, in an intellectual, i'm
aginative, far-off way they all pay
homage to the divine character of
Jesus. just as they recognize the Ma
donna del Sisto as supreme among
pictures. But to bring this nature
into actual contact with their own, as
the invisible life of the sun enters in
TO ii uedu DThlcu anu pTOuuCoS green
leaves and fruit-that is quite another
matter.
The vital debasing influence Tor
devil. if you choose to call it that)
which is at work with most of the
men and women seated in our church
es every Sunday morning is no mas
ter passion Of revenge, lust or hatred,
but small, pitiable, gnawing desire
to make fair appearance before the
world, to push themselves and their
children forward in some circle which
to them represents society," No mat
ter what their rank; they may long
for duchesses or washerwomen as their
companions--the ambition and the
effect are the same. A man with this
uneasy aim lives not to be honorable,
high and pure in spirit and noble in
deed, but to produce certain impress
sion on his neighbors; he learns even
to estimate himself, not by what he
has done, but by the set in which he
moves. by the house in which he lives
&ho of ,,1nna1r x.,bioh ho GUMS