The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-08-23


| church member in these respects than
he has to interfere with the conduct OIL
a particular commercial affair. All ne
may egiumately do Is to lay down the
great, underlying principles of the
Christian life, as set forth in the Cos
pels. All he can properly teach IS tine
general ethical content of the CHRISTIAN
system. If q paMshioner honestly pc
lieves he is able to make these reci
tons consistently square with ms pro
| fession that is q matter for MIN atone
| to determine. Absolutely! Inc sallle
is true of the Sabbath question. IL
you are Christian believer, what you
may do on the Sabbath Is Wholly pc
tween yourself and your COD Inc
clergyman may, in general terms, plead
for his own Interpretation OF the MO
sale law But he goes beyond MS
province if he tells you that goi1 Is
wrong on Sunday afternoon because ne
| thinks it is. Golf may be wrong on
Sunday afternoon. l am not commit
ting myself to an opinion here All l.
saw is that when the minister descehds
To particulars he gets into deep water
at once, for the strict Sabbatarlan AT
once turns on him and says that ny
the Mosaic law you are punlshapie
with death if you pick up sticks on the
Sabbath with which to kindle the IRE
that cooks your Sunday dinner Ana
great magnate of the Standard oll
company is so strenuous on this point
that he will have no food cooked in ms
home on Sunday. At least he is perfect
ly consistent. You see the point. GEN
eralization, both In the matter of SAB
bath observation and recreation, Is the
only safe and fair position for the cler-
gyman.
On the ether hand, it is altogether
wrong for the layman to criticise his
minister for certain personal 1ndul-
gences where no law of God or man is
violated, and where opinions dlifel as
| to the prcprieties to be observed. Inc
lay element in the church often sets up
a false standard here. Is 1T wrong Tor
the minister to smoke to patronize the
reputable drama, to play a game OIL
billiards at the house of parlshloneF'
Then it is equally wrong for the par
ishioner to do these things. There Is
no variable standard Of ethics IN the
Christian life. Must the clergyman set
a good example? Truly. But he is un-
der no obligation whatever to set a
eood example where that obligation is
not Just as imperative with the Chrls-
tan 1ayman. You say, so much is eN-
pected of the clergyman. God expects
every whit as much from you, every
whit, To what extent a clergyman, as
a private citizen, shall espouse a polltl-
cal cause is a matter of taste, Church-
es lust before the war by hundreds bade
Good speed to the minister VINO de-
nounced slavery. Suppose he Is now
sincerely opposed to our governmental
DO icy in the Philippines and believes
that the whole business is most I'M
bappy and unnecessary and immoral
complication IF this bushes is to
preach morals, and our course in those
far-off Islands violates every moral
pracept on his views. he is perfectly
justified in saying so from the pulpit,
The mere fact that his policy of ex-
pansion is identified with the platform
of an existing political party has moth
ing to do with the case. That is q
mere incident in the sweep of ideas
Suppose, on the contrary, he faV0rs eN-
pansion and trusts. The strictly ethlc2l
aspects of those questions are as much
part of an ethical gospel as the God
en- rule. In fact, they turn on tie ap-
plication of the Golden rule. And the
Bryanite parishioner who should turn
: and rend him for that opinion, thus
confined to ethics. would be most un-
just.
7 hope [ succeed in making the point
perfectly clear. | mean to favor the
single not the double standard OF
) human accountability. And church
will never so on harmoniously, sue
cessfully, prosperously, until this sym
pathetic cooperation is achieved.
There are stormy and perilaus times
for the church The wedge Of socia
discomfort is driving deeper into hei
: life; the shifting phases of belief oW-
ing to march of scientific discovery
: lead men to ask, where is solid ground
7 the competitive spirit of business, car
ried over into the domain of church
+ affairs, renders commercialism undulI
predominant; the ministerial tensurt
: hangs by precarious threads. We nee(
} religious leaders to follow in the foot
f steps of Kingsley, Maurice, and Rus
: kin-men who will worship at thu
I shrine of an immanent God and not be
4 and formal churchianity. See to 1t
= then that the two parties to the institu
I ton of living church bear each witt
= the other in gracious Interpretation o
t respective attitudes on uppermOst ques
, tons while they strive for mutual sym
e pathy and toleration--I mean the clerg,
: and the laity. The ultimate form to b
= assumed by Christianity, both in re
n statement of doctrine and readjustmen
s of life to social and Industrial con
4 ditions, is q matter solely of conjeo
$ ture. But the church that makes it
:, faith and practice comfortable to tn
s high and holy teachings of Jesus, ever
y to the remotest ethical implication, i
+ the only church that vindicates he
s right to exist. That church, with bu
t, the loss Of q single word, realized tn
= dream of Akbar as portrayed by Ten
q nyson;
r | dreamed
:. That stone by stone, I reared sacre
l. fame.
a A Temple, neither Pago, Mosque,
n But loftier simpler always open
IS dCor'd