The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-09-04

snip In Christian church,? In the
name of heaven | would ask such a
one if Jesus of Nazareth ever made
such Distinction Jesus Christ in
all the things he ever did or said
never defined Christian brotherhood.
If those who call themselves Chris
tians would do away with all that
part of their creed defining Christian
ity the Christian church would be
today one united universal unit for
God. Christ never intended that
the spirit of his teachings should be
hemmed in by metes and bounds of
a credal definition.
The danger to the Christian broth
erhood of today is not in stepping
over dead definitions. The danger
is that in following the boundaries SO
closely we kill the spirit. 1t is this
very thing that kills the progress of
Confucianism, of Buddhism, of Mo-
hammedanism. Their followers
worship the forln and not the spirit.
Theirs is not religion of progress, of
investigation, of enlightenment. And
their religion has such an influence
on the people that theirs are not
countries of progress. Witness In
dia, Turkey, and China.
The danger is not in getting too
broad. We are far too apt to squeeze
ourselves into our own little domicile
of selfishness. 1t requires divine eff
fort to live in the broad world of
generosity, to practice Christian
brotherhood.
This brotherhood is to have it's in
fuence in all the everyday affairs of
Christian citizenship. 1t is to inhu-
ence the merchant at the counter, the
statesman at the capitol, the lawyer
at the bar, the editor at the desk, and
the preacher in the pulpit. 1t is 10
revolutionize the methods of over
coming wrong. 1t is to put crime
and the criminal in a new light. 1t
is to show the relation between God
and all his children, erriDg though
they be. 1t is to show that God is
good and good must at last overtop
all things. 1t is to bring our states
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are brothers, God is their common
Father, who wounds to heal his chill
dren and bring all to final holiness.
A large part of our unhappiness re-
| suits from a misunderstanding of
crime and the criminal. At one time
our wisest law givers laid the crime
upon Adam and Eve. Later, crime
was explained by a dual of spirits
each striving for the mastery. Then
came the theory that the result of the
crime-the punishment could be laid
on Jesus Christ We of today are
beginning to see that every man is
responsible to God for his own acts.
He must bear the guilt of his own
crime, he alone must receive the Just
recompense.
And these thoughts lead us as
brothers of that criminal to inquire
what are the best methods for his
reformation. What are the best
plans for the prevention of crimes
Should we make our laws simply
instruments of retaliation or rather
should they not be for the education,
the enlightenment, the complete re-
formation of the erring brothers?
Shall we retain the old Jewish law of
an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth,
blood for blood, or rather shall we
not extend the hand of sympathy
and encouragement? Shall we help
the one whose fingers cling to the
rocky cliff, or shall we with iron heel
crush those fingers and push him to
destruction and death? Should not
our punishment rather be severe
lesson to the faltering brother,
yet lesson full of the spirit of
Christi Is it right that By law he
should be shut in prison with moth
ing to do? 1t is reasonable that the
criminal should be turned out at the
end of his term without money when
the odium of the stripes are still on
his back? Is it not the duty of the
state to educate him physically, men,
tally, and spiritually while in prison?
Have we right as Christians to take
the life of any fallen brother? Did
not God give that life and is it not his
alone to demand9 Is it not our duty
to try to reform that brother, heal
his diseased nature, and make a man
OF him9 The murderer, the thief, the
drunkard, and the depraved are sick.
Shall we take their lives to escape the
responsibility of brothers keeper?
They need careful treatment. They
need thorough discipline. They need
wise instruction. They need such a
careful training as will prepare them
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