The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-06-02
Pastor scudder and his sneaks.


be except its check in restitution.
Pastor Scudder and His Sneaks.
Pastor Scudder's sermon on Sunday re-
garding his corps of picked sneaks was
nothing but vulgar bluff, He said the
criticisms of himself and his perverts
was merely the utterance of notorious
sinners. who are breaking the law them
selves and doing all they can to turn the
Sabbath into a day of drunkenness and
debauchery.' This was, of course, a mere
you're another sort of argument, and
nobody will pay any attention to it.
methods are the Lutheran ministers. who
have spoken out, and most Of the more
conservative churches, whose conservat-
ism has kept them from speaking in
criticism of him but who abhor the cor
ruption which he is promoting. We are
glad ourselves TO be of the number of
his critics and opponents, and We are
perfectly Indifferent to pulpit billings
gate in the discharge of our duty to the
public.
There are two questions involved in
this matter. First, there is the broad
one of Sabbath observance. Second, there
is that of the method by which the OBJ
servance is to be enforced. We differ
from Mr.. Scudder on both, but in far
different ways.
We respect Mr.. Scudder's right to hold
any opinion his conscience dictates as to
the way in which the Sabbath should
be kept holy. We nave ours, which we
hope to keep on e~xpounding in the hope
that it may ultimately prevail as a mat
ter of pure reason. We should not
dream, however, of censurlng Mr.. Scud-
promoted them in decent and orderly
ways, however much We might deprecate
aggressiveness, we should feel bound to
regard him more with sorrow than with
anger"
But upon the issue of methods, we can
hold no terms with any man who seeks
to overthrow the whole structure of So
ciety by ~elevating the sneak and cur to
the level of respect and credit. We
can entertain no feeling but one of
amazed disgust at a man or set of men
whose ideal of the .virile nature of
twentieth century religion is to go out
into the world to tempt their brethern
to acts which they, the tempters, con-
slider vicious, and then hand those who
succumb to the temptation over to the
and ultimate ruin. 1t is contrary to all
proper notions of law and morals that
even professional police officers hould
be allowed to do this, and the depths
of falsehood and deception to which it
dsags men are Illustrated in the New
York police courts every Monday. But,
whatever excuse there may be for police
officers doing it, there can be none for
private citizens. None but a degraded
nature would resort to such a practice
of its own volition, and no man can be
brought to it by outside influence with
out having his sense of manly rectitude
Slapped away. his self-respect destroyed,
his love of truth dried up. his charity for
mis- fellow man converted into a lust of
persecution.
One paragranh of Mr.. Scldder,s tfrade
calls for some special notice. 1t is this
There is only one way to get the
evidence, and that Is to order up the
Nguor. This was a severe cross for
many Christian men to bear, and many
refused when spoken to on the subject,
for entering saloons is essentially dis
tasteful to Christian Endeavorers; but
they realize that Christianity involves
oross-bearing and fghting disagreeabie
battles for righteousness sake.
Boiled Town to a sentence, all these
words signify, ''The end justihes the
means" II not, what do they meane
DR. Scudder yepudiates the authority of
his critics as interpreters of morals and
theology. Perhaps he win be good enough
TO tal US, in his next sermon. who his
authority Is for taking the above doc
trine as a shibboleth OF up-to-date. "twen-
tieth century ''virile' Christianity.
THE annual absurdity known as the
vacation of the New Jersey life saving
crews began yesterday,
go CHERTEE MATHEW &c dafarv,o;,eed f1,a Z