The record-union., 1891-06-22
4 SOCIAL PROBLEMS. /"
They Are Discussed at Length by
Rev. Mr.. SiIcox.
He Holds that There is Something
WronG-Rights and Condition
Of the Labor Classes.

Following is the full text Of sermon
preached yesterday by Rev. J. B. Silcox,
pastor of the Congregational Church, in
the presence of an unusually large con-
gregation:
Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him
1P."-Mark tx, 27. We are supposed to be
Our civilization is called Christian civiliza-
ton. Society is ostensiby based on Christian
principles 1t is possible that we are Chris
tian in name and not in fact. 1t is possible
that our business is not conducted on Chris
tian principles. Christ says "Thou shalt love
thy nelghbor"; business says, Thou shalt
compete with thy neighbour The competi-
tive system is not the system that Christ
taught. 1t is possible we are confessing Christ
IN our creeds and denying Him In our deeds.
practice. To call Him Lord, Lord and do not
the things that he says is to disown Him, and
be disowned by Him.
l select this text-"Jesus took him by the
hand and lifted him up''-as the basis of some
remarks want to make on social problems
on mans relation to his fellow men. Social
problems are sacred problems. Every politi-
cal question is social question, and every
social question is q religious question. II
Christian socialism is the application OF
Christ's teachings TO the life OF to-day then
we are all socialists or should be,
When our Savior came down from the
Mount of fTranstiguration he saw this poor
and taking him by the hand he lifted him up,
so that ne STOOD a man among men. Jesus
made him free from the devil that degraded
him. He made q man Of him. The whole
copeland mission of Christ is in that act.
Jesus was always taking men by the hand
and lifting them up. He did not stand aloof
from men. He came close to them. He took
them by the hand as brother grasps the hand
of brother. He showed personal sympathy
with and took q personal interest in individ-
uals. II was the mission of Christ and ii is
the mission of the Church OF Christ to uplift
men,, The cry that comes from thousands all
around us is "lift me up" The ignorant cry
be lifted up to liberty, the sinful to be lifted
up to holiness and heaven. 1t is the mission
of ofChristianity to lift men up, TO elevate men,
TO give them their true and complete man
hood.
All Christians are familiar with the trans
f1guration scene in the life of Christ. Are we
equally familiar with the scene at the foot OF
the mount? To-day we will leave the mount
and descend to the valley. Like the disciples
many of us might prefer to abide on the
mount and muse on the glories of heaven,
make tabernacles there and sit and sing our
selves away to everlasting bliss. 1t is wise
and well TO climb the mount at times and fill
our souls with heavens purity and peace. 1t
is well to give our minds and hearts the high
est culture. But culture must not be selfish
We must carry our Christian culture down
into the grimy alleys of ignorance and vice.
knowledge unused for the good of others is
more vain than unused gold"
would like to have seen Christ on the
Him. But, He claims and compels my high
est worship because, like a brother, he took
the deyil-possessed lad by the hand and lifted
MIN up TO His own high level OF divine man
hood. Christ proves His divinity by His hu-
manity. ] know He is Divine because He
was so humane. The great masterpiece OF
Raphael was painted to show the contrast be-
tween the glory OF the mount and the gloom
of the plain. On the mount were the Joy and
peace of heaven. On the plain the turmoil
and demonic rage of hell On the mount the
disciples saw Jesus transfgured, clothed with
celestial light attended by heavenly visitants
On the plain below they saw young man
wrtthing under the demons power, Life to-
day is full of just such contrasts. It Is made
up OF sunshine and shade. Of glory and gloom
AS heaven was at thetop of the mount and he'll
at the base, so similar social Inequalities exist
allaround us. Under the shadow OF our church
spires may be found denS of iniQuity, where
Ieprous-souled men and women hold a per
petual carnival of vice.
Under the shadow of our University towers
Stolid, hopeless ignorance thrives In one
block stands the mansion Of the millionaire
in theadioining alley, huddled together like
hogs, are the gaunt children of poverty and
toll. The rich are increasing in wealth and
the poor increasing in poverty. The gulf be-
tween Dives and Lazarus widens day Dy day
and year by year. This is not fancy: it is
hard fact. On good authority I am assured
that poverty has increased here in our own
land as rapidly as wealth. We have com.
pleted one hundred years In the life of our re.
public. What does review OF this hundred
years show? 1t shows that we have more
stone fronts, but more novels, more mansions
but more tenements. The New York Herald
thinks there is a screw loose somewhere ,
when we have ariStocrats with countless
millions at one end of society, and rank riot
GUS, violent and pestiferous anarchists at the
other end; men who only know that some
thing has gone wrong and want to blow the
world up with dynamite, thinking any change
would be change for the better. There is some
thing wrong somewhere. Our industrial sys
tenn enricheS the few and leaves the many
poor. Our civilization allows multitudes tc
sink into dark, hopeless barbarism No CITY
IN the world crowds so many people into a
square mile OF territory the city of New
York -21 900 houses, each Shetering ten
families The conditions of decency in home
life cannot exist where men and women and
children are housed together like cattle. We
need not be surprised to be told that
paupers and criminals are increasing
in our land faster in proportion than the
population. 1t is "a question of debate whether
the churches or the prisons are filling most
rapidly. The army of unemployed men anC
women IS growing larger every year. The
chasm between rich and poor grows wider
and deeper, more difficult to fill apparently
impossible to bridge. Labor organizes TO main
tain its rights and capital combines TO defend
itself TO keep down wages and to keep uI
prices. These social inequalities exist in oui
midst. 1t is not wise for us ostrichlike to hide
ourselves irom the facts. We cannot be
Christians and ignore these facts. ChrIstianity
compels us TO study social problems II we
refuse to study the social problems OF our day
il we refuse or neglect to look into the condi
tion OF the under class of society If we turn
away seltshly and say ii is no concern OF
mine how people live and work and die then
we prove ourselves not only devoid of human.
lty, but utterly destitute of Christianity
would not give ten cents on the dollar for the
religion OF that man or woman who takes no
interest IN the welfare OF those who, unfortu.
nately, are at the bottom OF society The
word OF God is explicit enough, for 1t declares
who so stoppeth his ears at the cry of the
poor, he shall cry himself but shall NOT be
heard am persuaded that II the church is
10 do Christs work in this world il will have
10 study social problems more and more
There is no genuine service to God where there
IS not q real service 10 man. Sociology should
be studied as well as theology.
The Christianity that Christ taught is hui
name as well as divine. / believe it is divine
because II Is humane. II looks to man as well
as 10 God While IL teaches us TO reverence
God, 1t also insists that we respcct man I will
judge mans Christianity by his attitude to-
ward man, as much as by his attitude toward
God. Atheism shows itself in contempt of man
as truly as in denial of God II is as neces-
sary TO be orthodox manward as TO be ortho-
COX Godward. 1t Is as necessary 10 think
right Of man as 10 think right of God have
the highest authority for affirming that ''if q
man say, love God, and hateth his brother.
he is a liar"
The most damnable form of heresy I know
OF Is 10 coolly stand aloof from the great social
problems that touch the life and happiness OF
Ihe toillng multitudes of earth. What's your
Drthodoxy worth IL il does not take men by
The hand and lift them up? / would rather be
n pagan. suckled in a creed outworn, with a
itile warm blood of human sympathy in my
heart, than be full-hedged orthodox theolo-
gan, destitute of humanity, / would rather
pe mongrel, halfbreed Samaritan with sym.
pathy Tor the unfortunate man on Jericho's
Ioooer road, than be q blue-blOoded priest or
LeNile VINO could pass by on the other side and
leave the wounded TO die. Better be n Prone
bheus stealing divine fire from heaven for the
coihloFt OF mortals, than be fuli-winged an
gel loahhg around the throne" unmindful OF
the suffering children OF want on earth
80, Drother man, fold TO thy heart thy brother;
w here pity dwells the love of God is there:
To worship rightly is to love each other