The Washington times., 1894-10-28
RELIGION nF TIE PORCH.

RELIGION OF THE PORCH.
IBy the pastor Of New Jerusalem church,
In the old Mosaic law it was ordained that
the ten commandments should be written on
the doorposts Of the houses and on the gates,
and Christ said TO the youngma who wanted
TO know what to do to be saved: III ye will
enter into life keep the commandments" 1t
would seem as if much Of the trouble nova
DAYS with our social conditions is that people
have got into a way Of overlooking this rei-
gion Of the "entering in stage. To hear peo-
pie talk one would think most OF those who
profess religion had already got safely in
instead OF being still on the outside and by
no means ready to accept this. the Masters
Sondition. to entering in 1t is very fneno
doubt to think Of oneself as being some time
magicalIy transferred within the gates by
some one else's righteousness instead Of our
own, and that all that is required of man
is to believe he is there. But one cannot for
get nevertheless that Christ's answer was not
'If We will enter into life believe that some
one else has kept the commandments in your
stead. but 'if thou wilt enter into life keep
the commandments.
And so it comes about that many think
that the simple business OF keeping the com
mandments in everyday life in ones dealing
with his neighbor has nowadays nothing to do
with a religion which has ''abrogated the
law" and that one may sit comfortably within
among the golden candlesticKs and the shew-
bread and the incense of the temple, or even
in the holy Of holes itself. without ever
thought as TO whether he has been refrain
ing from dishonesty and unfairness in his
dealings with his neighbor, inasmuch as the
righteousness OF another in keeping the law
has been accepted in place Of his own, and all
he has 10 do is to believe this and to settle
down more comfortably inside.
The Hon. Mr. Gladstone, in his recent arti-
Gle on the Atonement in the Nineteenth Cent
ury, has shown the fatal results OF this kind of
commercial Interpretation Of the doctrines Of
a v1earious atonement, and points out that a
pardon without amendment Of life would be
contrary to every true conception Of divine
mercy and justice. There is no such thing,
he says, "as an imputed cure. Unless the
evil has been rectifed there can be no effective
pardon" And so instead Of being inside by
imputation we. if Mr.. Gladstone is right, must
come back 10 the porch, whore stand written
the words Of the Saviour Of the world on the
door: "u ye viii enter in keep the com
mandments"
Who can doubt that if this idea Of salvation
were really made practical and real the
lives of Christians the world would present a
far different aspect from what we now see at
the end Of nineteen centuries Of this pro-
fessed acceptance of Christianity. Where
would be the cause Of complaints be.ween
labor and capital; where would be the strikes
and the war between the classes, where even
the wars of nations if men would simply re-
turn to the principles Of "entering in'' 10 the
keeping Of the commandments, which are all
summed up in these two: Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart and thy
neighbor as thy self
The first is required to enable one TO keep
the second, for the life Of selfshness cannot
be overcome by selfish motives in the struggle
for life. as some of the latter-day moralists
would have US believe. 1t can only be over
come by that which is higher, stronger, bet
ter than self. and that stronger and better
than himself is the "Lord and God" man
must first love before he can truly love his
neighbor. And it is by this faith in the di-
vine, or that which is above man, that man
will be given the grace to keep the command
ments, and so to ''enter into eternal life, and
not by any means TO deiude him
self that he is there without any
pains on mis- part to apply religion to his daily
life in his dealings with his fellow man. What
society wants, is not better religion, nor
better Bible, nor better Christ, but it wants
the holy commandments written on tho door
posts before mems eyes as the conditions of
their entering into heaven rather than written
behind them out Of sight as something that
has been attended to by proxy, while they sit
comfortably within. The world needs not so
much the religion OF sanctifeation or OF
prayer and praise based on the satisfaction"
done by another. II needs the ten command
ments practiced in the life OF man with man,
Of class with class. OF nation with nation
t'Thou shalt not steal! Thou shalt not lie!
Thou shalt not murderl Thou shalt not
covetr' To keep these commandments is to
love ones neighbor as oneself This is the
religion "of the porch" and of the world. or if
society would enter upon better life, its only
way is by keeping these commandments!
RFv FRAslF SEwArr