The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-09-06

| for moment that such preachers are
preaching Christ. living his spirit, and
representing his doctrines to the world?
Christ's doctrines, principles and spirit
would change all these things and
would bring about an era of well being
to mankind. The trouble with our age
is that Christ is not being preached in
our great churches by our great
preachers.
''Great churches in whose .pulpits
stand men sending forth peels of inn
passioned oratory for the pleasure of
a few rich and favored, and never a
word for the thousands of poor, hungry
and cold of humanity, who have been
brought to this distress by the very
men who are sitting enraptured by such
eloquence, is about as far from being
the true spirit of Christ as heaven is
from hell. Some women and children
picking up coal in the great rich city
of Denver to keep from freezing, while
other women and children in the same
city are worshipping (?) God
| in a two.hundred-and-ff fifty thou
sand dollar Methodist church only
a few blocks away, with the
added luxury of soul-enravish-
ing music from thirty-thousand
dollar organ. Does any sane man, saint
or sinner, believe for moment that
either of these pictures-the one on the
river, or the other on Capitol Hill-are
the products of Christianity If the
people in the bottoms were not so poor,
the people on the hill;would not be so
rich. If the people on the hill were not
so rich, the people on the bottoms
would not be SO poor Yet we have D.
Ds. and schools Of theology that are
teaching that both these conditions are
the results of christianity.
| IA large'portion of the men who sit
in the pews of our great churches, and
hang on the words'of our bishops and
popular. preachers, are the men who are
corrupting our politics, expressing the
poor, debauching womanhood-are the
men who do not listen to great preach
ers but pay them high salaries. and
build the fine churches. Our bishops
and great preachers are living in such
style OF. opulence and affiuence. and
moving in circles of such. magnificent
| splendor,s that the poor cannot pay the
bills, aud cannot, therefore, hope for
their sympathy The ministry. should
live such plain, simple life as to be
able to breath the air of full freedom
and perfect independence, which would
enable them as am mbassadors of God to
be faithful and true. to all classes OF
men.
"Our great ministers in this state
with Chancellor Mcdowell, last
fall and also last April, joined
hands with the corrupt politicians,
gambl saloon men and fallen wom-
en- of Market. street to redeem the
state and city. They succeeded, and
as one of the results of the 'redeeming,
Denver was never so nearly turned
over to the criminal elements, and
Milling and prostitution were never
so fourishing as now. A fine lot OF
'redee mersr' Preachers, chsncellors.
university professors, saloon men and
ga m blers and scarlet women. A fine
lot of 'redeemers'-sucha lot as re-
deemed Babylon, Tyre, and Rome just
before those great powers fell. fine
set of reforming preachers, preaching
a little about Christ in the pupiit and
flirting with gamblers and scarlet
women at the ballot box.
This fact is that bishops and leading
ministers have gone away from the
true work Of watchmen and shepherds.
it is today as DIR. Hamilton said in an
address before the Colorado confer.
ence at Boulder last summer, that
'hireling ministry perpetuated slav-
cry
"See what the bishops, editors, elders
and old preachers now on deck have
bequeathed to us. They have left to
us a desecrated Sabbath, about three
millions of drunkards an annual death |
harvest for perdition of about one hun
dred and Fifty thousand drunkards,
two hundred and fifty thousand sa-
looms. patriotism almost dead, expiring,
four million trsmps, the rich are grow
ing richer, aud the poor growing poor