St. Paul daily globe., 1891-09-07

iHttle else than bestow aims Social condi-
sons have changed; apart from bodily in
frnfty and accidents, each human being
may now be made to stand on his feet aud
With,hi own arms obtain sufficency for
bis livelihood There is room Oh Gods
earth for all Gods children; ii is charity gen
ifipe and divine TO tit each one for his place
and guard for him his place against inroads
of unjust oppression oil the part of his fell
low beings. In the social work prescribed
by the papal encyclicaI. the church bat ap-
: Plies in its more effective forms the charity
which was breathed into her by the founder,
and is her very soul.
Justice and Righteousness.
The church is the guardian aud the teacher
Of the principles of justice and righteous
ness. These principles observed and ap-
piled, social questions are easily solved. The
lack of them in ones own private conduct
begets bodily ailment. incapacitates for the
struggle of life, leads To poverty Purity
sobriety, legitimate self-deniai are moral
virtues which il is the duty of the church to
incEleate; they are social virtues, the practice
OF which will sweep away a thousand aud
one of the ills of life Respect for the man
hood Of fellow beings, justice in one s deal
ings with them, the repression of oyerween-
ing greed in self, are, also, duties which the
churcn must proclaim before the nations of
the eartn and those duties observed. The
grinding miseries imposed upon humaui "
by the pride of power and the covetousness
of ayarice will disappear. Upon those social
virtues let Catholics lay to-day pecial stress;
they are virtues most timely. Each age has
its needs and its woIK; the church. as hidden
by the Master, takes fro.n her treasury things
old and things new as circumstances de-
Eland, and puts forth into bOlder relief nov
one element of her teaching, now another
social matters compel our attention; let the
social power of religion go forth over the
land. Let the social virtues be proclaimed
with force from the pulpit ana the rostrum:
let the social practices be commended in
ar.ae ~ nf In
than teaching; be there action and co-opera-
ton. The church OF Christ is not merely
voice; she is living, active power. Let her
speak: let her put her words into practice;
let her enforce her teachings; let her teach
with effect not merely repeating sky-high,
abstract theories and principles but step
piu5 into the ARENA graspiug the full sitna-
zion, let her make application of her prnci-
pes, declaring what is to be done in
daily life, and what is TO be avoided. These
duties done. the social work which we de-
mand from the church shall be done Loyal
to her q OF given mission, the church must e
no >tran GER in the hovel of the beggar, who
needs comfort and counsel in his battlings
with poverty, nor in the palace of the mill
iOnafre, who needs warning lest he forget
his lowly brethren. Shemust speak TO labor
lest il become obllrious of just laws, and TO
capital lest il oppress aud crush labor. She
must lend her hand to legitimate reform and
tJ all legitimate meth DDS for the advance of
intelligence, liberty and the material we'll
settings where willing ears are listening. and
let her words be thuuder-ioud when souls are
obdurate. Nought that is human can be
alien to her; nought that is in the world
should escape her influence. This, some will
say, is not the church we have known-the
EeutA, quiet, uncbtrusige church of sacTa-
mens and ascetic devotious. keeping jeal-
ouslY within the lines of the spiritual. leay-
ing secular matters 10 whomsoever may covet
thenE the dead burying the dead Well, let
me say to you. you have never known the
ChuIch of Christ
Social Salvation the Basis of Spiri-
tual Salvation.
The business of the church is to save souls.
This first and before all else. Therefore must
she take most active interest IN social mat
ters. The body is too intimately unitcu with
The soul to permit US to care for the one
WITHOUT caring for the other The Christian
who is to be saved lives in the world and
cannot escape the influence of his surround
lngs; II we would gain him over to grace,
those surroundings must be made favorable
to the conquest. Something more is needed
thansto preach truth from pulpit and proffer
sacramental fayors to those who willingly
throng around our altars. We must follow
them optover the dusty highways of life,
and avert the foes that are lying in wait to
pluck out from hearts the seeds we are plant
ing in them. We must remember the thou
sands who do not come near us, and, so far
as our ability goes strike down the fetters
conditions of legions of souls constrain them
to live away from church and from God and it
is utterly futile to talk to them of higher
lie until those conditions are altered.
ssThe Submerged Tensh.n
In his book on Darkest England William
Booth tells of the submerged tenth" of the
population OF London. They are the lost"
the 'outcast" the ''disinherited of the
world, who have gone under, who have
lost their foothold in society, TO whom the
prayer of sOur Heavenly Father, Give us this
day our daily bread, y is either unfulfiIed or
only filled by the oevils agency, by the earn
ings of vice, the proceeds or crime or the
contribution enforced by threat of law" In
every city of the world there are the 'siost"
the ~disinherited, in numbers greater or
smaller. Is there use in preaching the gospel
TO those victims OF misery until they have
been socially lifted up TO the plane of normal
humanity, where men are masters of mind
and heart? Preaching the gospel to them
in their degradation and misery is heating
idly the air. Calm first the cravings of
hunger; an empty stomach is an impatient
hearer. Let into the garret sunlight and
wholesome air before you strive 10 dispel
spiritual gloom, and give freshness to the
soul. LOOK up those kennels of vice. of
drunkenness and of moral corruption into
whose yawning gateways the young man and
the young woman are being swept as by
fierce torrent without knowledge or strength
on their part to offer resistance; this done.
you may offer TO them the invitation to be
sober and pure. and TO turn their eyes toward
the sky There are thousands of human be-
ings damned from their very birth because
of the fetid atmosphere they are made to
breathe, and the atrocious temptations from
which they cannot wrest themselves. Very
little many of US know of the fearful strug-
glings ana the dismal sorrows of tens of thou
sands of fellow beings. Lounging in cosy
parlors, we sigh over the depravity of the
lost" kneeiing in cushioned pews we
thank God that we are among the
saved, or we offer a prayer for
the conversion of the sinner. and we
deem our saving work over. Our charity.
our zeal, am afraid, is a mockery. Our
vaunted civiliZation-our Christianity such
as it too frequently comes to the surfaee-is
seltshness. drape IL as we may in robes of
culture and religion. True zeal for the spir-
itual good of the masses will bring us out
side our homes and our churches into the
broad social world, where. with all our
might we shall labor for healthy legislation,
bearing upon the Ills OF the vicious and the
poor, for the stirring up of consciences In
the high and the lowlv. for the protection of
the weak. the humaniZing of the 'disinher-
ited, and the social salvation of the fallen
and the falling. Then may we believe that
our work for spiritual regeneration shall be
fruitful
The Action and Preaching OF Christ
Was Social.
The historic action of the church was al.
ways eminently social. 1t illustrates and
confirms what we are saying Its manifesta-
Nuons vary in times and places, as necessities
and opportunities arise j refer you to our
blessed Lord Himself. His miracles. designed
in last analysis to establish His divinity and
.sdraw souls to Him, were always ostensibly
wrought to alleviate bodily suffering. He Ie-
stored sight to the blind, heafing to the deaf:
fHe fed the hungry; He cheered desolale
households by ordering back loved ones from
the jaws of death. u have pity Of the multi
tIde,'' He said, as His eyes fell upon the
thousands ip the desert WHO were unable to
fild wherewith to appease their hunger He
based His religion upon social works. and
made social charity the test of ones love for
Himself, and the standard measure of ones
hopes In the future life. .sWhosoeyer shall