New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-04-02
Nnr FASHIONABLE SERMON.


There is one lesson Of this religious season
that generally escapes attention IN the churches'
The marvellous development OF ChrlS'lahi,S
from the dark hour when the veil OF the tempe
was rent and the carly morning hour when
tbe faithful women visited the garden to ma
an empty tomb, is generally explained from the
pulpit as a fuflmcnt OF the prophecy anu
/ If | be lifted up, will draw all men unto
mep The preachers d. well to emphasize the
arcumcnt. for the survival and expansion cent
ury after century of faith in the lowly Jew
who taught humility by washing MS disc'prH
feet and forecastng for himself most humlli-
ating death, yet was always conscious OF MS
ovcrmasterng power of influencing future ages
il one OF the strongest evidences thar ne WIS
neither n fanatic nor an impostor. But no"
few of tho preachers, who trumphanfly ring
the changes IN their Easter sermons upon inc
progress Of Christianity since the CruclhXloh
and tho Resurrection scenes. pause 10 coH'luer
VIII and what was the first convert to be drawn
unto that sublime figure lifted up IN shame :
IL was thief. possibly murderer whose iai'h
and penitencc won for him the promise Oh com
panonship IN Paradise.
version of the cross for the churhes on this
dov of swelling anthems and fragrant lines.
Are not the great majority Of them open to the
criticism Of being fashionable religious clubs
from which the poor and lowly oil the world
are Systematically excluded? i not every
thing done in them t. assify worshippcrs apd
I, make religion gospel for respectable
PEOPLE? Downtown churches are abandoned
for more available sites in quarters where
larger financial support can lac secured. Pews
are rented and the preacher always knows
where are the seats OF the rich and where are
those occupied by people who are not so rich.
But can the poor get in at all Or, II they
venture 10 enter the door. are they not made
uncomfortable and restless by tn" conscious
nc.s that the religion of the day is not, a. IT
was in Palestine nineteen hundred years ago a
gospel for them, buy a dSppSaton for a more
hiehly ilvClcd clasH There was room for the
pcntent thief on a companion cross and IN
Paradise In how many Of the churches would
he he welcomed on this Easter morning?
That pcnitcnt thief, if he could return to
earth to-day, would find 4 better world than the
one he then knew The inhuman laws by which
men were once put 10 death for theft have
been abolished. slavery has ceased The
reformation Of evil doors has become the hui
name motive of criminal punishment. There
are free schools and free Libraries for the poor
in all civilized lands the hours of labor have
been reduced wOrlmcn are protected against
The greed of employers there are hospitals for
the sick, and public charities are conducted on
a magnificent scale. Civilization has wrought
a bencicent change in the face of the poor
mans world The preachers will assent to
this, and then assume that it is Christianity that
has lcavcncd the whole lump of modern prog
rcss. He who was lifted up, they will say, has
drawn unto Him all the moral forces and
remedial agencies Of law, custom and social
evolution and it has como about that the
Christianity of the eros, has caSed the burdens
and promoted the welfare CT the poor and I'M
fortunate.
That would be hard saying for the pcnitent
thief to understand as he wat he'd the fashion
able thrOngs at the Easter services. lie might
regard it as more than passing strange that
the churches themselves had fallen so far be-
low the level Of the worlds social progress, il
all these reforms were the fruits of the Chris
tian element in civilization. For how can the
preachers Of the day Justly and consistently
claim for Christianity all the merit of making
the world better place for the poor man. if
they are ont of touch with him themselves E?
The churches can never afford to have the
reputation of being religious clubs for tho we'll
to-do classes They need always to remember
that their founder began His mission by de-
claring that the poor had the gospel preached
unto them and ended it by converting thief