The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-10-12

pictured. There are real bells IN
every great city, which are the bells
to be feared. There are bells where
virtue is slain, where manhood is de-
bauched, where honor is de- troyed,-
bells of vice of drunkenness, OF
gambling. There are bells where
domestic life is crushed, where HUI
man nature is outraged, where wo-
manhood is debased, where little
children are bent double under Atlas
burdens,-hells of the tenelnents and
sweat shops. There are Aeils OF I'M
merited poverty, of enforced idleness,
of compulsory crime, of inevitable
ignorance,-hells in the slums where
paupers breed and criminals multi
ply. "This," says Mr.. Fleurer, sis
the real inferno. No need to wander
into other worlds for bells of Gods
creating. Man has made an under
world before which the most daring
imagination of poet or seer staggers.
Over it's portals might we'll be bla-
zoned the soul-freezing inscription
which Dante beheld as he entered
the underworld, 'LeaUe hope be-
hind"
3. But, no; Christianity says: at
is mig business to 90 do,cn into these
bells and carry hope to the suffering
denizens."
And now, if we should be exhorted:
"Preach Christ, preach the Gospel"
what should we answer? You bid me
preach Christ; you bid me tell the
story of Jesus. What is that storys
To my mind it means something like
this:-This supreme man in human
history, whom we call Jesus, stands
in his lofty place today, because he
brought to men and exemplified in
his own life the message, "Ihou shalt
lore thy neighbor as myself" How
can you and l better carry out his
Gospel today than by trying to res
cue our fellowmen, our neighbors,
our brothers, from those bells of
which l have spoken; by putting out
the lurid flames which paint the story
of earth's sin and wretchedness and
woe upon the shining parchments OF
the sky?
a. We find that this man Jesus
seldom INDUCED in miracles; but
when he did, the blighting thunder
bolts fell upon the heads of those
who oppressed their brethren and
thought to gain heaven through exter
nal forms of religion. "Woe unto you,
Scribes, and Phorisees, hypocrites!
for ne pay 1.-THE of mint and dntse
and cun,nins and hare left undone
the aceightier matters of the loac, judg-
ment, mercy, and faithl" In modern
terms, woe to the priest or minister
who pays more attention to his forms
and his ceremonies and his rituals,
than to the inculcation of justice and
mercy in mans methods OF dealing
with his fellows. The Bishop of Rip
on tells of small young curate who
rebuked lady conspicuous for her
good deeds among the poor outcast,
with the words: "You're good wo-
man, but why don't you do some
really religious work, such as embroid-
ering an altar-cloth?"
Hes true to God. who's true to man.
Wherever wrong is done
To the humblest and the weakest
Meath the all-beholdlng sun.
The wrong is done to US; and they are slaves
most base.
Whose love of right is for themselves and not
for all the race"
(2) Here is another of Christ's
blistering denunciations: WOE unto
you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypo-
critics. For ye deuoar acidoacs' houses,
euen aUhile for pretence ye make long
prayers" What are the modern
equivalentsl We shall find the
counterparts of these particular
Pharisees, in the man who sells
houses to working men in the sub
urbs of our cities and forecloses the
mortgage when the working man is
out of employment; in the man who
organizes trust company for the ex-
press purpose of devouring the saw
ings of widows and orphans, of SER
want girls and laborers; in the large
stock holders of a corporation who
squeeze ont the smaller holders, buy
ing up their shares at ruinous rates
and thanking God that they have
gotten through with very painful
business; in the employer who cuts
his workingmen's wages and builds
churches and theological seminaries
with the saving. Such as these are
the lineal descendants of the Phari-
sees of old who devoured widows
houses and then made long prayers
to God, - thanking him, no doubt,