The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1888-04-18

and only deny God and say who is the
Lord ? They are comparatively free from
the open vices of the poor, they are not
tempted to them, but are restrained from
most of them by the very form of out
ward morality and decency that respec-
table society exacts of it's members. The
revelations of a Pail Mall Gazette may
occasionally make a rift in the hszy
glamour that wealth and mental culture
and refinement OF manners may throw
around their godlessness, and give the
public glimpse of what is done in Sc
cret. Or some public scandal brought
to light in our courts of justice may &C.
casionally lift the veil, but as a rule
the refinement and culture that wealth
procures, is like the whiting of the sepul-
chre. 1t blinds us to the dead mems
bones, and all uncleanness that is con.
cealed within.
1t is, however, q serious question
whether there is not as large proper
ton of practical heathenism in the higher
as in the lower class. 1t may be conceal
ed in the higher, under form of religion.
AS stranger remarked, the only place
of amusement he visited in one of our
larger cities was certain church. So
there is much church going which is only
for amusement, or because it is the fash.
ion, but which has no pretension to be for
religious ends. Take as an example the
observance of Lent by fashionable soci-
ETY.. All kinds of dissipation is crowded
into the weeks that precede it, and as
soon as the Lenten season closes the
world rushes into such whirl of dissi-
patton again as indicates its purpose to
make up for lost time by fercer witches
dance than before. 1t isnot denied, nor is it
our wish to discredit the sincere observ-
ance of this season by the truly devout
and pious, but only to point out how
much practical heathenism may be cloaked
under form of religion-the same spirit
exhibits itself only less conspicuously in
great many other ways. 1t is not con-
fined to that class that ignores the
church, nor to any particular church,
but embraces a very considerable element
of the more fashionable class in all
churches. 1t may pay its tithes and
parade its long garments and broad ply
lacteries, and even make its long prayers
at the corners of the streets and in mar.
ket places to be seen of men. But praC
tically the spirit of the world-a godle IS
self-suficient, self-indulgent spirit, the
very reverse Of the godly, humble, self
denying spirit of the gospel, largely per-
vades the higher class. Its pride of
wealth and contempt for the poor, its
domineering spirit when it has the power
to Cypress, all tend to foster an irrelgious
spirit among the poor ALSO
To denounce all of either of the classes
as irreligious would be a gross wrong.
Some OF the best examples of the highest
type Of piety, are found in both the ex-
tremep; but it Is at least questionable
whether there is not as large proportion
of the irreligious among the higher class.
es as among the lower. We write, not
to suggest methods of reaching either
class, but only to emphasize the fact that
the special efforts being made to reach
the one class, and the discussion of their
need, make an invidious distinction not
justified by the facts of the case, or by
the general teachings of Christ. The Sc
verest denunciations uttered by Christ
were directed against the strictest of all
religionists, and the special examples illus
trative of the dangers of irrehgion, are
selected not from the poor, but the
wealthy and cultivated, e. g., Dives, and
the young ruler, and the rich fool, and
the priest, and Levite. Wealth and cul.
ture may soften and obscure to human
view the pride and luxury and selfin-
diligence and dissipation that they foster,
but in the eyes of God the irreligion of
the one class is as bad as the other, and
the difference is not in the principles
upon which they act, but in the accidents
Of their position The higher classes are
less excusable in their sin, and far more
influential for evil than the lower.
Let then the question come before the
Church and the Christian world as a prac.
fiool opa HoUy 20 b~;~s. Al - 1