The Labor enquirer., 1888-01-21
or London asked y Preach :
Truthful Sermon y His
Keepers.
But HB WOULDN'T DO II.
He Loves Tee Wsll the Rieh Robbers
and Prostitutes Whe Psy His
$4,000 : Year.
TEXT.

shall come upon you. Behold,
the hire of the laborers who
have reaped down your fields.
which is of you kept back by
fraud, crieth; and the cries of
them which have reaped are en-
tered into the ears of the Lord
of the Sabaoth. Ye have lived
in pleasure on the earth and
been wanton: ye have nourished
your hearts, as in day of
slaughter. Yehave condemned
and killed the just; and he doth
not resist you" James a., 10,
FELLOW CITIzENs:-T The text
which | have just read to you, and
from which shall preach the last
sermon as a bishop that shall
ever deliver from this pulpit, is
Que which is probably as unfamil-
lar to all those who. since it was
originally penned, have toiled and
suffered for humanity. Although
it is read sometimes in the ordi-
nary course of our church service,
yet. judging by your conduct,
your ears have been deaf to its
terrible denunciations. From the
days when was a humble curate
to now, l have had a large and va
ried experience of cathedrals,
churches, preachers and sermons,
but | have never yet heard a dis
course based on these words, and
| cannot learn from any of my
brother bishops or priests that
they have ever thus, used them. or
heard them so used lean see by
your uneasy deme4nor that you
are asking yourselves why, on this
hsispas day, when, in accord
ance with custom, l should be
preaching smooth things to you,
! should be mad enough to offend
your susceptibilities by quoting
the sayings of one of the common
people-words written, eighteen
centuries ago-which might have
been very well then, but which
cannot possibly be applied to you
or to your class to-day; you who
come here clad in purple and fine
linen, who, some of you, live in
kings houses, who fare delicately
every day, and who consider that
you have fulfilled every moral OBJ
legation when you have dropped
coin into the collection box, be-
fore you step into your carriages
to be driven to your luxurious
homes.
1t is because | believe that not
only James, but Jesus Christ him
self, if he could stand in my place
to-day, would hurl these words at
you with a force and a passion
of which we, in this nineteenth
century, have but little concep-
ton. Not as a bishop, but as a
man ! repeat them to you, hardly
hoping that they may touch your
hearts, but more as justification
for my new and strange position.
For years l have been -one of
you. My home has been, not
where Christ's home was, with the
masses, but with the classes. |
have an abundance of this worlds
goods. l have lived with the
fashionable and the wealthy, and
l have been a dlgnitary of
church which is the church of the
rich and not the church of the
poor Without a protest have
mixed in society with men and
women whom Christ would have
denounced as bitterly as he de-
nounced the Scribes and Phari-
sees; in the house of lords l have
silently sat side by side with
whorewongers and adulterers, and
as silently ] have welcomed as nv
personal friends highborn women.
some of whom see before me
to-day, with whom no decent
workman would allow his wife or
daughter to associate. / have
seen among you. spreading like 1 ]
canker, the lust of the flesh and
the pride oflife. and instead of 8.
lcOaanssd.en fsurth pass.j
N 4