The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-08

sainthood in our cemeteries? The principle
is clear as noon. We blame the author1-
ties when we ought to go deeper and plane
the religious citizens for their lack OF Ialtn
and singing sense OF responsibility TO COD.
Public officials are often trounced wnen We
ought TO blame the churches. III the moral
vote OF the city was not spnntereu INTO
mere national party lines. which have no
more right TO invade civic affairs than
polar bear TO push vulgarly into a summer
camp at Wawasee lake. or IL the moral
religious opinion would concentrate ana
nominate a high-minded citizen to enforce
laws then a clean administration might
come. But religious opinion Is not virile
and stalwart enough TO focus. We lack
depth and force and cohesion. We are
honeycombed with sectarianisn. We 1ol-
low parties slavishly as dogs do their gypsy
wagons.
BEsJEGED LIKE OTHERS.
Like other ministers. find myself be-
sieged with applications to turn the sermon
into cannonading against particular
grievances or sins. Each visitor believes
his scheme the ultimate solution and he
wants volIey after volley Numbered at
some special error. To a degree l ad-
mire their ardor, but their philosophy is
often skin deep, as n cosmetic. The only
final cure is a spiritual regeneration. The
Citizens League can tickle the surface
a little, but no committee can revitalize
the deeper intellectual life Of a community
which determines finally all our local cru
sades. Much time, therefore, Is wasted In
defaming our politicians who are doing the
best they can in hard circumstances, simply
because the lower vote Is unit and the
higher vote is scattered among dozen
clamorous parties or sects. Blame rather
the religious and moral people for not CEN
Trailing their influence; blame rather the
dearth of religious earnestness and the
lukewarmness Of the upper moral classes
who vote in old ruts while the devil masses
the lower votes for one ISSUE and then
perhaps g new sense OF citizenship Will be
created. Then the saloon will find its over
match. 1t means war to the death. Adj
vanced though our civilization is, the need
of heroism against sins Is as great as
when emperors of Rome flung saints to
the lions. 1t is still the age militant. Our
polished and leisure-loving classes are Ian
guild In faith and must eventually lose
their force unless new note is struck
of strenuous effort. A course of sparrlng
lessons or a winter in wild mining town
would give nerve and conviction TO many
now softening with Injuries. Waste. there
fore, no breath in scourging the politicians.
Direct rather your earnestness against the
anaemic aristocracies fiouncing at operas
while blood money changes hands and the
pious circles hymning at chapel while
primaries are manipulated by machines.
Il plead therefore for fundamental re-
construction of character and conservation
as the very condition Of more perfect de-
velopment and sanitation. OF public life.
This was the mission and the method of
Jesus. In everything He brought God to
the forefront of the stage. He was the
apostle of the universal manhood, the uni
versal conscience and heart. When crowds
teased Him with tangled questions He
stood immovaole In the broad light of His
Fathers love. When clever sophists tried
to lure Him aside TO some gossip around
the village pump He would touch a uni
versal chord and refused TO be anything
but racial and planetary in His message
and tirelessly proclaimed the reform of the
heart as the passion and the policy Of His
ministry And If our very respectable peo-
pie who are neutral and noncommittal on
religious life; if our boarding houses, with
their share of people who go to church as
they go to the theater, because of some
special attraction on the billboard; If our
often amiable. cultured agnostics dreading
the positiveness of Jesus and His ipcarna-
ton; If these classes only knew how their
negative attitude enervates the deeper life
OF the city, a sense of shame might rouse
their generous but lazy, drifting souls to
a new choice Of our one Master, whose life
was love and whose throne was a cross"