The Labor enquirer., 1888-03-03
THE CHURCH.
Corrupt, Venal, Powsr-Lov-
ing, Gold -Worshiping-- d
Lei Her Rot ~
SALTpETER CAN'T SAYB HRR
A Sesthing Arrangement ef saf
Modern Bsoodleizsl
Christianity.

/ s& @~SSe.~AsoR rl. *.
Christianity.
Hnsh o. Penteaost in the Christian pplou.p
To formulate ,critiSFmR tpon
the church is an ungraciods 8usi-
ness; and, too. it is difficult because
"church" is not easy TO define, and
there are many things which one
may be perfectly well satisfied are
difficult to put into words without
overstating the truth. Neverthe-
less, Think / may say, without
exagerating, what is clear to me
at least, that the defect of the
church which is most serious and
apparent is that she does not
teach nor practice the religion OF
Jesus Christ.
Christianity is, to my mind, in
its teachings and practice, judged
by its creeds or the opinions of
the majority, and by its acts and
policy as an organized institution,
no more, essentially, the religion
of Jesus Christ than Buddhism.
There are more doctrines and
practices in Christianity which
slightly ally themselves to what
Jesus said and did than in Bud
dhim. But in being essentially
unlike the religion of Jesus, Chris
tianity must take her place with
other religions. Do organized
Roman Catholicism, or Episco-
palianism, or Methodism, or even
the simpler politics of Protestant
ism, bear more than the slightest
resemblance to the religion of
Jesus1 But for certain catch
words am sures the gospels
might be studied by dne who
knew nothing of them, until
he was familiar with the life and
sayings of Jesus, and -afterward
the creeds, books of discipline,
canons and institutes of organized
Christianity examined by him in
the same manner, without his rec
ognizing the supposed relation
ship between them. So marked
is the difference between Christi
anity and the religion of Jesus
that one must practically make
choice whether he will be a fol-
lower of Jesus ora Christian. He
cannot be both. A minister or
priest who becomes a follower of
Jesus, as | understand him. can
neither get nor keep pulpit of
organized Christianity.
To particularize: AS to doctrine:
When a lawyer asked Jesus the
pivotal question, What must |
do to have eternal life2' Jesus told
him he must love God andhis
neighbor; and to another, who de-
clared he was accustomed to do
this, he added, "Sell all thou hast
and give to the poor" This, then, is
the gospel of Jesus. But the gos-
pei of the church is not only this,
but it is the open denial of it. 1t
declares that in order to have
eternal life something must be
believed. If the church should
admit that Jesus taught the truth
on this point, orthodoxy, "old"
and new" alike, would be de-
stroyed. / have heard more than
one good man declare from the
pulpit that the gospel was not
preached until after the death of
Christ, because there was no gos-
pei to preach till then. The gos-
pei was preached by himself, but,
true it is, the gospel of the church
was not preached till later. They
are so unlike that one cannot be-
lieve them both.
Jesus said, Take no anxious
thought for the morrow the
gospel OF trust. The church,
from every pulpit, says accumulate
money "for rainy day"-the
gospel of economy. Jesus said,
"When you pray. go into your
inner chamber the gospel of
modesty in our relations with
God. The minister prays openly
in the synagogue for fifteen min
utes, more or less, at each public
service-the gospel of spiritual
parade. Jesus said, "When you
give, let not your left hand know