The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-06-22
e1SUNDAY THOUGHTSb
AOfTt
MORALSE MANNERS
BY A CLERGYMAN.

clatter in church circles about reaching
the masses" IT'S spoken of as though il
were the most difficult of undertakings.
The ecclesiastical guild nuncs shake their
heads over it, cry 'ahem," and look as
wise as they are foolish.
All the same it is the easiest thing in
the world 70 reach the masses. How?
Just by making them perceive that you
want 70 reach them. They are being
reached every hour of every day in one
interest or another. The butcher reaches
the masses. The baker reaches the
masses. The grocer reaches the masses.
The saloon reaches the masses. The
theater reaches the masses. Ofthe founder
of Christianity it is recorded that "the
common peopls heard him gladly" And
the apostles, too, got the ear and touched
the heart of the people. So did John
Wesley so did SpurgeOn; go do Talmage
and Moody and ten thousand more. Ger
tain churches do not reach the masses.
Why? They do not wish to. They live
in seclusion and exclusion. AS in politics
certain men esteem themselves too good to
belong 70 either party. so in religion the
same types attend the church of the holy
mugwump. They get up corners" In
saints and other corners" in sinners.
They cultivate the classes and send the
masses TO the mission chapel in Pauper's
alley.
OF course class churches do not reach
the masses. The people know when and
where they are wanted. Hence we say
that the difficulty about reaching the
masses is self-created. The lamentation
ever it is a Pecksnittian SWIVEL.
-, al
of every human soul and realize that
Christ loves all. died for all, rose for all.
lives for ali and makes provision for all,
then the difficulty referred to in the
above paragraph will vanish like q night
mare at daydawn. Our human distinc-
tons are an imperceptible wrinkle on the
surface OF the earth from the attitude of
genuine Christianity. Viewed from that
serene hight the classes are lost In the
masses and the humblest looms like Mt.
Blanc.
A colored preacher bungled over the
line in Cowper's famous hymn, Judge
not the Lord by feeble sense" and made
il read, Judge not the Lord by feeble
saints" Christianity is not to be Judged
by feeble saints. We have a right to
choose our type; and we prefer TO be
judged by stalwsrt saints rather than by
the forcible, feeble worshipers in the
church of ST. Sinner la mode.
A celebrated judge in an eastern city of
100000 inhabitants told the local grand
jury day or two ago that 80 per cent of
the persons charged with petty larceny,
highway robbery and offenses of this char
y acter, were under eighteen years of age
60 per cent. were betwixt eighteen and
twenty-three, and only 10 per cent. were
over twenty-three. IT'S probable the
came proportion holds in all large towns
What an amazing fact! Here, then, is
the field which the church should cult
Vate. Save the young and tomorrow Is
saved. The denizens of the crime-in-
tested sections are TO be snatched from
peril the board of health quarantines q
quarter whore plague RACES. Children
ought to be saved from the effects OF
heredity and environments-and can be
If taken IN time. But, as the late Mr..
Beecher used to say, you cant make
saints at the adult end Of life as fast as the
devil can breed sinners at the childhood
end. Well, then, breed saints at the
childhood end
One most effective way of saving the
young from crime is by careful supervis-
ion of the literature on which they are
educated. Wholesome reading makes
honorable men and women. Pernici Gus
books make thieves and harlots. We are
persuaded that a chief cause of the preva-
lenee of crime among the young is the
dime novel. Parents, teachers and magis-
trates should watch this pest day without
night and exterminate it.
Is crime weakness OF wickedness? Are
criminals to be petted or punished?
If. a. some thinkers contend, crime is
mere weakness, and not sin; if criminal.
are unfortunate and irresponsible victims
of hereditary tendency and bad environ
ment, and not wilful and wicked trans
gressors: if Gods law and mans law are
alike at fault in pronOuncng crime
70 be Gin, and criminals to be sin
ners; IL bad is only unripe
day undressed-why, then We should
abolish the decalogue. revolutionize the
statute book, burn up the dictionary. call
old cat pussy, say our prayers backward
put sane folks in the insane asylum, and
turn loose the lunatics and entrust them
with the task of reconstructing society on
the new basis OF moral and civil chaos.
On the other hand IL the decslogue and
the statute book and the dictionary and
kno bhue pcOplo nave TIC Tlknt OF IL, crime
should be sternly repressed and criminals
should be severely dealt with.
There are two accredited and recoR-
nized tests of criminal responsibility.
What are they? First, a knowledge of
right and wrong. If an offender lacks
this knowledge he may be shut up for
the protection OF society. but he il not
Intentionally guilty. Ills incarceration
would be disciplinary, not retributive.
The second test is the power to resist a
morbid and unlawful impulse. Though
We know the difference between right and
wrong and yet had no ability TO resist a
wrong inclination he would not be Grim
inal in his transgrsssiOn. He, too, should
be shut up-but in an insane retreat
rather than in Jail. Where the knowl-
edge and the power to resist co-exist in the
law -breaker we find the criminal. And
ne deserves to drink the bitter but whole
some medicine Of the penalty in such case
made and provided to the dregs.
symptoms of affection are as various as