The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1893-03-02

ME the Lenten season. 1tts good sea-
Son for ministers TO forget the times
lay aside the am bition to be journalists,
ana the substitution of 'preludes' for SER
mons, that they may deal with the deeper
concerns OF the life that really is 1t is
good time for the choir-master to eXpel
the opera from the organ-loft and intro
duce The music of the spiritual life. 1t is
good time TO prepare course of Sun
DAY evening sermons that shall lead up
10, II they do not center about, the two
greatest facts of human history-the Cru
cifl8ion and the Resurrection"
The enormous gifts which rich men
are making, and the wonderful libraries,
oDserVatories, parks, gardens, museums
ana universities which are springing up to
snow how money can be translated into
institutions, are educating the imagina-
ton OF rich men and setting a fashion
which Will certainly he followed the
Chrasttd1l Register Il Mt of Boston thinks.
For purposes of ostentation the re-
sources OF wealth are easily exhausted.
I one wishes to enjoy his luXuries in pri-
vate, and passing beyond a certain limit
OF ostentatlon, one eXciteS not admiration
but envy and hatred. The rich man may
| nave Ebe most costly orchids, the fastest
| horses, the largest yachts and the most
superbly appointed residence. But he
quickly reaches the limit OF pleasure. In
the new competition which is arising the
| conditions are reversed. The rich men
who can show as the result of their labors
the best hospitals, the finest libraries, the
most successful universities, will not only
ENJOY the rivalry of the game, but Will
enter increasingly into sympathetic rela-
lions with their fellow-men and reap a
great harvest of love and praise. In tho
matter OF education directed to the pro-
duction of manhood and womanhood in
the highest forms possible we are at the
beginning OF new era. What Greece
dld Tor few TO the wonder of the world
we shall soon begin to do on great scale
for all the people. 1t is not extravagant
to say that every advantage furnished
by the best universities of the land will
within a century, by the aid of rich men
and women, be given to every boy and
girl"
The Ch1trchmGn Up. E.) of New York
holds that lit is one of the worst draw
backs from the immense benefits we have
derived from the vast DEVELOPMENT and
unexpected applications OF physical sci
ence that 1t has diverted attention from
the creative and regenerative power of
the individual will and fixed 1t far too
exclusively on environment. By all
means let everything possible be done
wnlch honestly can be done for improv-
ing the circumstances of men, That
surely Is included in the Golden Rule
But 1t is not the primary and the charac-
terlstIc Christian method, nor the method
OF Christ himself. He seems never TO
have interiered directly with peoples cir
cumstances. He dealt not with the en-
Nlronment but with the emotions and the
Will. lie took it for granted that man
or woman may be pure and noble in any
circumstances, and therefore lie took hu-
man beings as they came to Him and just
as they We're. TO account for sin and
vice by low wages or uncomfortable
dwellings is, in the judgment of most of
those whose wages are low and dwell
lngs uncomfortable, entirely to excuse
them, or even to lay the blame OF them
on the well-to-do. Assuredly our Chris
tan philanthropists do not intend this"