The Progress., 1893-10-28

! countess.
Yes, know" retorted the official
land my mother is queen
The countess stamped her foot, anC
without another word turned and lef
the office.
Let the counts, and the dukes, and tn,
princes, and the kings, and their lackeys
and their apes in the republics, and tn,
barons and princes of the social econom
ic world look to their privileges.
THE RABBLE IS AT THE DOOR.
At heart they believe in aristocracy.
But they claim higher orders than let
! ters patent, sword strokes, courtiers
manners or handbook.
They demand an aristocracy of brains
of heart, of character.
Their pretensions may be vain, but for
this they fight, and they threaten the
| foundations of the order that stands to-
day.
Third-The ruling political powers
have their future life involved in this
contest.
All traditions ard theories deemed
fixed by the course of centuries must
stand the supreme test of the interroga-
ton point of the scientific mind of new
age. The notions about government that
have bound us for the past hundred
years are all being shattered by the new
conditions of the strange life into which
the nation is being hurled by steam and
electricity.
As the machinery of civilization be-
comes more complex with each new in
vention the strain upon our systems of
political government becomes more and
more severe. The let alone policy pro-
mulgated in the eighteenth century as
the cure all for every political i'll has
been tried and found wanting. And the
food gates of social legislation have been
lifted high, and the pressure of the waters
of a vaster life lift them higher each
moment. Let the traditional statesman
see to it. The foundations of all he holds
dear are being threatened by this move
ment. Let traditional parties see to it.
The party cries that have held the rab-
bic of ignorant followers in the past can
not be depended upon in the future. The
people are becoming less and less docile
under traditional leadership. If they
are ignorant and misled by arrant dem
agogues, is high time they were better
informed by better men. See to it!
Fourth-The organic life of the church
is also threatened. Thirty-two millions
of people in America attend no church
at all. OF the remaining 10000. .000
not half of them are of any practical ac-
count financially or spiritually to the
church's life. They are utterly indiffer-
ent while nominally loyal to some sort
of church life. They have some sort of
religion, but it is mostly ON the surface.
1t not only does not go skin deep-it
does not get through their clothes. 1t
never reaches the pocket. An evangelist
the other day requested everybody in the
audience who had paid his debts to stand
up. They rose in mass. Then he said,
sit down, and every man here who has
not paid his debts stand up" One man
raised his arm aloft. my good man."
said the evangelist. "have you not paid
your debts?" NO" said he, II have
not paid them and cannot. | am the
editor of religious periodical, and near:
ly every member of this congregation
owes me for my paper" This is a fair
sample of the religion of one-half the
the nominal adherents of the modern
church. The modern church that is
powerful, that pays its debts and is able
to take care of itself is the church of the
rich pewholders.
THE NoNCHURCHGOERS
The 100000 of our people who do
not attend churches at all are many of
them bitter in their hostility to all
churches. They have grown to believe
that the priest and preacher are their
enemies and the churches the stronghold
of their allies and supporters. Church
after church in our rural districts die.
Church after church in our cities die as
the rich conservative classes move up
town and out into the suburbs. The
church has neglected the mass of poor
people until they have lost faith even in
its friendly pretensions. Its invitations
are regarded bait with which they are
to be swindled. Right or wrong, this is
their attitude. If 1t is a mistake. it is
high time they were taught better. The
attitude of these millions bodies no good
to cushioned pew, candled altar, solemn
arch and cleric frock. Shall we have
century Of atheism, as with France,
and then after hundred years of stag
gering in darkness grope our way back
to the point of departure and begin
again--a hundred years lost? Believe
me, the power and authority and organic
life of the church is at stake in the pres
ent threatened social revolution. The
church must ever lead or die. Is it lead
ing?
On the part of the restless and radical
masses, what are the issues for them in
volved?
Whether they are right or wrong it
matters not. The restless masses believe,
and believe with conviction deep and
sullen that will not stop to parley or to