People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1893-06-02
THE MOHAMMEDAN MISSIONARY.
The Good Which the Preachers Have
Left For Him to DO.

The Good Which the Preachers Have
Left For Him to DO.
Washington Post.
Mohammed Webb is welcome. We
need a great deal of missionary work
in this country. The philosophy of the
Koran is unimpeachable. That great
compilation of moral and religious
maxims is rich in precepts of So
briefly, virtue and loving kindness.
If Mohammed Webb will introduce
it into the slums and purlieus of
our great cities and so elevate and
purity the victims of Christian neg
lect he will place us under undying
obligations of gratitude. We do not
know that such is his purwose. We
only hope so,
So far as mere theology is con-
cerned, we have an abundance al
ready. Our cities abound in churches
where able and Jealous discussions of
doctrine can be heard once week,
or oftener. The Bible is within
reach Of the poorest, and instructive
and elevating tracts can be had by
simply asking for them. The citizen
may choose from a dozen or more
varieties of faith, each differing from
all the others II more or less impor-
tant respects, and, having once made
his choice, he may receive hebdom-
adal confirmation therein by minis
tiers of great eloquence and power.
In all the controversial and theo-
retlcal aspects of religion, indeed, we
are handsomely, not to say sumptu-
ously, equipped. Mohammed Webb
can hardly give US anything new in
the way Of impressive architecture,
luxurious furnishings, interior decora-
ton and polished rhetoric. A great
deal of really excellent parish work
is done. There are Sunday. schools,
where nice little children are taught
the catechism, and where they learn
beautiful stories of precious signif-
canoe from Scripture. There are
also many asylums and charitable in
stitutions of various kinds, where a
limited number Of persons can be
sheltered, and in all of these, no
doubt, much good is done within the
bounds of their capacity. Upon the
whole, we do not see that Moham-
med Webb can improve upon Chris
tianity inside the lines that CHRIS
tianity has pursued.
But there is vast and fallow field
awaiting him, nevertheless. In our
great commercial cities and manu-
featuring towns thousands of igno-
rant, destitute and unhappy people
dwell amid conditions that are
vicious and degrading beyond words.
II they have ever heard of a better
life they do not show it in their con-
duct. If they know the meaning of
morality, cleanliness, decency, civil
zation; if they have any conception
of hope, ambition, self-respect; if
they possess instincts higher than
those common to the animal king
dom, the fact is not expressed in any
word or act of their miserable lives.
They grovel and tester there within
hearing of the Ze Doupa chanted by
artistic choirs. They look from their
squalid lairs at the alluring stained
glass allegories in our cathedral win
dows, they catch the musical in
tonings, and wonder at the incense
floating across the foul atmosphere
in which they droop and wither. But
for all they know Of grace and
beauty, health and pride, light and
warmth, honesty and confluence,
they might as we'll be in FIJI or
Dahomey. Here is the theater for
Mohammed Webb. If he wants to
show US that Mohammedanism is
better, more useful, more potent
than Christianity, let him make one
flower grow upon that reeking heap.
If motif he comes to us merely as
a doctrinaire, with a sermon, a
theory, and a booklet him avaunt
We have enough of them and to
spare already.