The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-05-03
FALLACY OF SOCIALISM
ELOQUENT SERMON BY REV. LEYI
 GTLBERT.

Reforms Not to Come by Legislation Christ the Great Social Reformer-The Church as Force in Society.
 At Trinity M. E. church last evening the pastor, Rev. Levi Gilbert, effective ly disposed of some of the arguments of would-be reformers of the day. He took as his text Mark 2:15, When Jesus saw their faith He said unto the sick of the palsy, thy sins be forgiven thee" The pastor said, in part;
 "The church is being called to ac- count to-day by some of the leaders or the labor movement They say that its teachings are mostly theoretical ana that the church and the pastor or the church have no care for the sulterlhSs of humanity outside
 AS we stand face to face with the great institutional work of the cnurch to-day such diatribes as this ought to fall flat.
 Such thoughts as would discount the great spiritual work of the church' aside from the great philanthroplc e1- forts, should be discouraged, say that Jesus Christ was the greatest so- cial reformer the world has ever seen' do not say socialist a term which is apt to be misconstrued. Instead or De- ing an impractical dreamer He was the most practical man the world has ever seen. He was a practical reformef Ill His methods. He did not have the methods of the socialists Of to-day They depend upon legislation to make over society.
 q do not deny that there is need or certain kinds of legislation, but the world will never be made over by legls- 1atures."
 The pastor attacked the slavery ana the vice of his time-not by revolution ary means, however, but indirectly and said: "All reforms must begin with men themselves. The beginning, not only of all religious life, but ot all so- cial reconstruction, Is in the individual Give us better men and women, and we shall have better society. It is great men and women that make the state that make the great commonwealth.
 "The fault with the socialistic lead CTS is that they depend on Legislation, and not on character, to improve socl- ety. They take no thought of sin; they want you to say nothing about it, to do nothing about it, but to look to leglsla- ton for all reforms.
 "The new epoch which MT. Bellamy in his book seeks to bring in is not to be brought in by abolishing sin, but by getting everything done by the state.
 T say that such a dream as that is of all things the most impracticable. say eradicate selfishness from man and get him to recognize the paternity Of Cod and in that way only can we get happiness. We can show that the doc- trines of Christianity have a direct bearing upon all social problems.
 "We are to be saved not alone from hell, but from ourselves, and to greater service. Under the force of faith in immortality men realize that they must live with eternity in view, and society reaps the benefit of their lives. Chris tianity lies back of all reforms
 II have very deep sympathy with the laborers who say they will have nothing to do with the church or Chris tianity for I know that they can never succeed on any other basis.
 q venture to say that there is not a philanthropy which is not based on Christianity and which does not depend upon it for support. And there is that large philanthropy in missions across the sea- They say there are not very many poor people in the church, and this is so because when a man comes into the church he feels that he must do better and gives up his vices. The church helps man to get upon his feet, and that is better that if you should feed him every day at your back door. "They say that there are not many Christians in the slums. That is so. When a man becomes a Christian he gives up what has kept him in the slums ..-.
 ''Is rot the arbitration treaty the re- suit also of Christian influence?
 Christianity has furnished a great educational system. Secularlsm are a remedy for the evils of the times will never do On the other hand, the de- mand for a simple gospel will not do. The simple gospel thus demanded is not the gospel of Jesus Christ, but the church must adapt itself to the condi- tions of the century. Unless it does this is might as we'll not exist. But the church is here to stay"