The Labor enquirer., 1888-03-03
what your right hand does = the
gospel of sincere beneyolence.

what your right hand does the
gospel of sincere benevolence
The church says, Get your large
givers to head the subscription
list. and publish their names with
the amount they give" the ,gos-
pei of phariseeism. Jesus said,
f"Do unto others as you would
thaye others do unto you" the gos-
fpeI ef transparent rightness. The
commercial laity of the church
Say. IF you do. you will fail in
business" -the gospel of getting
on il the world. Jesus said, "Re-
sist npt syilrthe gospel, of nom
resist teace The majority opinion
of tie church shows contempt for
its teaching 81 upholding wars,
murder m defense Of person or
property, a punitive prison sys-
tenn, and, capital punishment. I
know of but one Christian news
paper that did not laud the hang
ing Of the Chicago communists
the gospel Of Violence and re-
venge. Jesus said, IF a man
smite you on one cheek, turn to
him the other also'-the gospel
of courageous self-control. The
church, by majority opinion,
smiles superiority at the precept.
Jesus said, Lend, hoping not to
receive again the gospel of
persons. Christians say, Lend
at the highest rate of interest,
upon gilt-dged security'-the
gospel of property. Jesus said,
ut is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to get into the
kingdom of heaven" The simple
truth when we consider that no
man gets rich except by defraud-
ing, legally or illegally, some one
else. The church opens wide
door for the entrance of the rich,
and makes it harder for the poor
man to enter than for a camel to
go through needles eye.
The practical precepts of Jesus,
some of which | have cited, and
which mark his moral greatness
to the spiritual mind, are rarely
taken for texts and when they
are it is generally to explain them
away. There is not one Christian
in hundred that believes them
workable or makes any attempt
to practice them. But much is
made of the command to "baptize
all men" and the institution of the
eucharist; and more is made of
the opinion of the author of the
gospel Of John concerning the
extra-natural character of Christ.
We have the curious anomaly
of Christianity which insists upon
worshiping him as divine being
whose doctrinal teaching it repu-
dates, and whose practical pre-
cepts it declares impracticable
and makes no attempt to follow.
l may not trespass on your
space too freely, and must very
briefly mention what seem to me
three well-nigh. if not quite, in
curable defects in the church.
She does not live to do good in
the world, but to strengthen and
perpetual e herself. She ought to
be purely and solely mis- sionary.
But expensive ministers and
mortgaged buildings compel her
to seek for money more than
souls. She itches for respecta-
bility with the restless desire of a
parvenu- Socially approved and
well-to-do people who will in
crease herrevenues and raise her
prestige she struggles to catch,
but her fishing for those to whom
she can only give, and from whom
she can nothing get, is languid.
Witness the complaisance with
which the minister names the
notables in his congregation.
Witness the speed with which the
churches abandon the poor down
town many and follow the rich up
town few. Instead of using her
self for the betterment of this
world, the church SCENE to me
more than willing to use this world
for her own aggrandizement- Her
aim. that for which she works