The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-01-09
H0N0RED AT HOME
CONTINUED From Fifth Page1

Ell 10 Ine WORD Cnan the matches re
hgbon OF Christ. Whether saint or sin
ner Christian or inffdel, orthodox OF
outside the pale of the church. the
teachings of Christ appeal to every
heart, mix with every. sentiment, with
every judgment we form, every e5ti-
mate we render, and has produced a
social force unknown to the ancients
that bids us live up to our ideals, gives
US a fuller comprehension Of the words,
Our Father" and binds us without
regard to barriers of race or boundaries
OF nations with the holy ties Of broth
er'hood- Under this higher standard
OF right We are enabled TO probe error,
strip hypocrisy OF its shams, and real
lie that we are living a gigantic lie.
We are enabled 10 see that we too Of
ten profess THE Christianity of Christ
and yet practice the violence of Caesar.
I'VE are Christians in creed but not
IN deed. We pray, Our Father who
art in Heaven forgetting that if God
be our Father, all men are brothers.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on
earth as it is in Heaven yet through
prejudice and apathy we vote for the
reign of individual selfishness and bru-
tally, while We pray for the Kingdom
of Christ Give us this day, our daily
bread we pray, while we corner the
Triton, raise prices, snatch the crust
from the pallid lips of hunger, and deny
to our fellowmen the bread that God
SO bourtifully supplies. The steward
ship OF wealth although a forgotten
doctrine ts yet an awful verify. For
give us our treSpasSes as We forgive
those who 1respass against US yet if
we are strong enough we dispose of
those Who trespass against US by load
Ing cannon to the lip and VINE tting the
knife Of murder on the broken tablet
Of the DecalOgue. Lead us not into
temptation yet we pay out one tl1ous-
and million dollars annually for in
toxicants Ignoring the ravages of wills
ky and tobacco upon the civilization of
tomorrow. And in our own fair state
the enforcement of tthe prohflottory law
has become a synonym for hypocrisy.
eve pray, Thine be the power and
The glory forever and ever" obliVious
that all-powerful though God be, He
yet must work Through human instru-
mentalities. And in our ignorance we
have practically disfranchised the two
most important and intelligent factors
Of our civilization, the school and the
church. The balIot-box that should be
fine altar of American liberty has Deen
turned over to political pirates We
have engraved the cross of Christ on
the black flag Of tyranny, and legalized
plutocracy
I've build costly churches where the
light falls softly through stained glass
windows upon veivet carpeted aisles
and richly cushioned pews, yet were
the Son Of God, the tramp Christ ITO
come CARRIED as he came 1900 years ago,
longIhaired and barefoJted, denounc-
ing the rich and hypocritical, preach
ing the strange doctrine that 1T is cas-
les for a camel to pass through the
eye Of a needle than for a rich man to
enter the Kingdom of God, think YOU
he would be invited to the front seat or
the best pew generally occupied by the
bond-holder or the usurer? The spires
Of costly cathedrals greet the stars,
while within the shadow Of their mas
sive walls, OutcaEst hungry humanity
swaTTn like Egyptian ver1nin on the
blankets of our nineteenth century civil
Ezation. 'Ye have builded your costly
temples then, on the bodies of souls of
living men With gates Of silver and
bars of gold. We have fenced my sheep
from their Fathers field.
1--WE celebrate every year the coming
Of the Christ-child, born dn a manager at
Bethlehem. vet We see not the children
emong us whom the childhood of Christ
minded children of the slums; the child
workers in our sweat shops and mines
telling for less than a brute's pittance,
the lSttle girl tfpItoeing all day at the
loom, robbed of childhood's sunshine
and childhood joy. Our eyes have
been focused upon the historic person
elity of Jesus rather than upon the in
dwelling, intrinsic Christ who is God,
with and in us, personfied in the hu-
manify which Christ represents
In conclusion, Mrs. Lease said that
she regretted that in a country where
the ballot+boX was the altar of It's lib
critics, that THAT class who compose
three-fourths OF our two most import
ant and Intelligent factors of national
affairs the school and the church. |
should be disfranchised. She gave a
vigorous and eloquent protest against
war, and predicted that in the case of
actual hostilfties, the lip-patriots who |
are trying TO incite the people to war, |
would do their fighting ten miles in the |
real with a telescope.
AS Mrs. Lease had administered a Sc
very scoring to the scribes and Prari- !
sees in the early part of her lecture she |
thought it but just TO pay to the earn |
est Christians an eloquent tribute. And |
among other things said Let us |
honor the churches for what they have |
accomplished Whatever mystery there |
may be in their NOV ements there is |
none in their principles. The church |
carried the lamp of religion through /
medieval darkness and oppressive !
feudalism- When barbara hordes had !
trampled civilizati under foot and /
wellnigh extipguishing the torch of |
liberty, THE church preserved and kept |
alive the vital spark of the ethics of |
Christ through centuries of sorrow and /
oppression.
1T was the Old Scoth Covenanters
who bore the torch of liberty across
the ocean ITO America and kindled on
every hill and dale the fires of religious
freedom which please God shall never
be quenched.
1.-The church may be hoary with aga
and abuse, but wipe the seCtarian mud
from the coin and you will find the
rnintage reliable. It's doctrines may
stand TO many as the exploded tenetS
OF Orthodoxy but were Il not for our
churches the temples and palaces on
square and eSplauade would not be
worth a future insurance. Tripods and /
mitr,es may find a place with rusty
swords and old china in the museums
and antiquarian boxes Of the country,
but the churches have given humanity
FITS hospitals, its homes, its refugees and
refOrma tories. its Sisters Of Mercy, and
Its Order of the Red Cross.
Yet in the amicable solution Of the |
Struggle between labor and capital 1t
Is confronted with the crucial test OF
ITS existence. The church stands to
DAY between the atheistic reckless an
archy that would destroy law and prop