The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1886-03-11

4
rested ny the pastor, and the leading
people IN the church, aetting their faces
faaoiUtely against " hecnming sol and
then sometimes there Ia failure. There
| is no church that ! have ever heard or
that has had tho affrOntery to set the
legend up over ita door, "No poor need
apply" but tho legend Ia VIII ten on The
whole aspect of thiogl, 30 that no who
runs may read. II may be said Ia reply,
and II Ia, that the rich need 10 be, saved
as we'll az the poor, and - they do, but
they cannot be saved while they dellber
ately drive away from Gods house the
poor.
And yet the problem IN not no aimple
no sOme Of our glib critics would inti'
mate. The artificial III itlnctiOna which
these same critics help 10 foster In 90
| clal life, aud would DO the last 10 diare
gard for others sake; the false estimates
| OF char cter and Individual worth, which
prevail outside the church; the fact that
the men aud women who are converted
from the world aud make up the mem
| berahip OF our churches, ARE not no
thoroughly imbled with the spirit OF
Christ, ~ 10 be perfect exrmplafa, IN
their life aud conduct, OF the principles
OF the gospel; all these things make the
task imposed upon the church hard aud
complicated one. Like the Pnaraeea,
these cTilica lay burdens upon the church
they Nv | ( not touch with the end Of Que
o. their little llngere," aud because the
church dOes not HiiOfd perfect example
OF the solving the problem OF the agea,
| the mingling OF oil aud water, the lux
lug into one homogeneous compound
| the rich aud the poor, the proud ana the
| humble, the great and the small, they
begin like Shim6i, ito curse, and to
throw stones, and 10 cast up dust NJ
| the LOrd'a anOinted.
Social differences In life exlst, and are
TO be allowed. A perfect equality isthe
dream of q visionary, God haa not made
all men Equal, has not endowed them
equally, God maketh rich and maReth
puOr. He himself sane 1ns differences
Of rank and station In life. IL IL only
when In the name OF Christ, and In the
house OF Con this difference Is deyel0 ed
iat0 an impossible gulf that II IN mia
representing the spirit OF Hin who was
| himself sOn OF toll and child OF
poverty, having not whore To lay his
weary head. Wherever the church Of
Christ IL not no ordered that the brother
OF low degree, and the brother OF high
degree, can meet on u perfect equality
before the Lord who IN the maker OF
them both; Whsre the adVenliti0u4 clt-
cumstances Of wealth or social dlatlhc
ton, are ma 10 the ground Of unChrist
Ike determination; that there IN In 80
Ira departure from the spirit and teach
l gsOf Obrlst
WITH reference 10 the cusition, that
the church does not 90 inlo the atticl
and the cellars. 20 sptk TO save those no
palpably In need Of salvation, " Ia also
partly true ard partly false We make
| the criticism ourselves against the
clurcn, that only small proportion Of
those In the church have any idea OF
saving any soul besIdAs their own, ard
many seem TO be content IL they can sue
GO In d Dag that by "Ihe skin Of their
teeth" But II can DO truly said that
that conception OF the Christian life
winch looks upon II as a life Of activity
and service for Christ In Others b'half,
IN becoming more prevalent, ald that
our churches Ore more ~ d more develop
log q wOrkil & spirit, which leads 1 d.
yd lala out iutO the streets aud The lanes
OF cities 70 sesE and TO saye men,
Ga the other hand We m ~ Justly turn
on our critics ard Challeugb them TO
show us their gOl d wort II behalf OF
the poor, 0ne would be led TO think
from the tone OF thelb critlcl That they
low Il the poor. What great agencll for
alleyating The aulf rings ard hardship
Ot the plOr ar0 there, b'adN those
which christian charity have set on
foot. II they are belAO0rlng Christianity
because 1, has done nothing, we cry,
lilo d, for shamel' Christianity has done
about all that has been d)ue. II they
arc belabOring II IL because II hDs not
all that Ia 10 be done, or has not done
much more than " has d0le, We reply,
"FYrst cast out the beam that la In thine
own eye, and then thou canst SEQ clearly
TO cast out the mote out OF thy brothers
eye, Criticism would come with better
grace from those dti lug something them
selves IN behalf OF the p.0r The church
eau point with pride TO the thOusal di Of
men III d women In our elites who do 90
out into callars, aud gatreis, ~ novels,
TO seek and N save TO carry little OF
the light, a. d the sunehile, and he Joy
OF the love ( Christ, TO weary aud over
burdened hearts. There Ia not enough
Of this done, we freely admit Would
God there we're more Of II. The church
IL not making adequate Effort we know
to bring 10 Chri,t all the Chrlstlebs
multitude.
But that II Ia doing nothing, or that
II does not care for them, IN both false
hood and gratui,ous Insult.
On the other hand, may not the second
cause OF alienation be working more tx.
tenslyely than we dream, viz. That false
and argarOus teaching, which lend men
TO refer real or faucled hardshlps grow
Ing out OF our social and Industrial
eystem, 10 the influence OF the teach
ings Of religion The economic phil
0sophy OF the suffering classes, resolves
itself into three kinds, viz. Communism,
Socialism aud Anarchlsm. The two
latter Of these are utterly subverslve OF
the Christian faith, and the ilrst IL ust-
ally antagonistlc to II. In 80 far ~
these philosophers prevail among the
multitutes, and they do prevail TO n
mu h greater extent than we have any
idea Of, they are responsible for allena.
tlon from. and hatred of tho church,
Lead u man to believe that The hard
ships Of his lot In life can DO traced even
remotely TO the teachings Of religion,
that the church 10 In league with his oD.
pressOrs, and you do not need anything
else 10 account for his turning the cold
shoulder TO the church.
II Ia a most unfortunate fact TINT the
literature Of these PHILOSOPHERS TO which
have referred, has been eown broad
cast among the working classes, and In
that fact Is 20 be found In large measure
whatever Of hatred they may have toward
the church, rather than In The euggeeted
theory, that they nave been made TO feel
by the church that they are not wanted
In II.
a. a.