Omaha daily bee., 1903-01-20
RELIGION AND COMMERCIALIsM.
Lay Sermon on Trade as a Missionary
Asset,
Kansas City starl

Kansas City starr
The idea Of the church militant is in per-
feet accord with the preaching Of Christ
and Him cruciied when the object of attack
is that selfshness and greed and worldi-
hess which are arrayed against humanity.
But the church as the promoter of strife
and the instigator of worldwide bloodshed
is not assuming a role that is pleasing to
contemplate. 1t was in such a character,
though, that it was portrayed by the Rev.
DR.. David H. Moore, the resident Methodist
bishop at Shanghai, China, in an address to
the missionary conference delivered in
Kansas City last week.
More than ordinary interest attached to
what DR.. Moore said, for he ascribed the
same reason for the Boxer uprising in
China that has been advanced by the Chi
nese a~pologists. 1t was. according to him,
"a patriotic arousing in blind fury to resent
the tearing away of the fabric of a nation"
But the reverend bishop is lecturing
throughout this country to secure money
to send missionaries in China. He is called
the lighting bishop" of the Methodist
church, and no one would feel disposed to
dispute the title after reading this:
The whole history of the effort to tear
down its (China's) walls of exclusion Is
cnveloped in tales Of blood, Of plumber and
Nomination. 1t is the law Of God that
every barrier shall be broken down. In the
onrush of the tide Of we can dis
cerR the beginning Of the contamination Of
Gods plan to make all nations one and to
bring the ends Of the earth together. There
fore l plead for a deeper interest in China.
Awaken this dead mass, They must be
given a wider horizon or they will make no
response to the whir Of our machinery.
This can only be done by giving them a
taste of our Christianity"
Is it any wonder that so many ministers
have felt 1t necessary of late to deplore the
waning influence Of Christianity? Why
should 1t be a force in daily life II II is to
preach commercialism? Carnegie with his
Libraries and Rockefeller with his univer>
sity can do that better, and more money
would be made by watching the fluctuations
of stocks.
China's horison must be widened in order
TO respond to the whir of our machinery.
And to do 1t, what? The fighting bishop
says, Awaken the dead mass, arouse the
yellow peril" send more missionaries to
tear down its walls of exclusion, though TO
do so means more blood and plumber and
abomination"-give them a taste OF our
Christianity.
I'm the name Of God" says the bishop.
Whose God?" might the Chinese ask.
The missionary spirit9 when It is the
spirit Of Christ and not The commercial in
stinct, is a fine thing; it is a magnificent
afiuence Of humanity. But It does not have
to look for trouble. 1t does not need to go
far to find work and plenty Of It. It is not,
in fine, a good thing when II disturbs a civ
ilization and a religion older than itself
and transforms a myriad Of peace loving
people into a menace TO the civilization
and the peace OF the world.
When the church goes away from home
to accomplish something there is an i'm
piled assumption that its domestic field has
been satisfactorily covered and that there
is nothing left to DO in the shadow Of its
own vim and fig tree. Yet one need not
be c~aptious to suggest that there is a
greater call on Christianity to combat COM
mercialism at home than TO spread that
influence to an unwilling people.
Suppose that instead Of accepting with
thanks and praise a few thousand dollars
from John d. Rockefeller for converting
the heather, some missionary should get
Mr.. Rockefeller into a corner and talk true
Christian brotherhood TO him until he had
really appreciated what that meant. with
what joyful acclaim the seraphim and cher
ubim would greet that missionary. And
before that greeting what real Joy would
reward the churchman's labor in that long
step toward the abolition OF greed and
plumber.
When a United States senator can tell
the senate Of the wealthiest people in the
world that a poor woman died Of cold and
starvation in Warrington at the moment
when coal was being mined al $3.50 a ton
and sold at $50 a ION there is urgent work
for the disciples q Christ at home
Oh. IL was pitiful!
Near a whole city full,
Home she had none.
II was Thomas Hood who said that fifty
years ago. and 1t vas Charles Dickens who
wrote OF poor 10, Rev. Mr.. Chadbsnd's sub
ject for homilies; Dead, Right Reverends
and Wrong Revernds Of every order. and
dying thus around " every day"