Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-10-29
OUTSIDE POINT OF VIEW


Applied Christianity Then and Now.
Once upon time there was pro-
lessor OF applied Christianity at Grin
nell. Hts name was Heron. He fur
nished much copy" for the daily pa
pers and his name spread far and
wide. A, first /, was his words that
caused the newspapers 10 give him
much free advertising. end finally his
acts got him into the news depart
ment. All this Is now Gas the world
goes) ancient history. But his words
live after him. We al. remember his
statement that no man could accuinu
late In a lifetime a fortune Of $780,
600 and do it honestly. Some OF us
know that at the time Of the utterance
of these words he was enjoying an
allowance of $4,000 year made by a
rich widow whose inherited fortune Of
several hundred thousand was accu-
INFLATED during the lifetime OF her
husband. And the court records of
kossuth county show that $4,000 of
somebody's money was paid his first
wife at the time he was granted di-
vorce Again, while the professor was
so hard on rich men. muking them all
dishonest while on earth, he also posi-
lively allowed no privileges for the
next world. No rich man could enter
heaven, and he quoted the needles eye
paragraph In the Good Book to prove
his assertions. Heron always con-
tended that that needle and that eye.
even stretching things to the utterlnost,
was darnfng needle. And altho it took
the trustees of Iowa College quite
while 10 see the damaging effects o.
Professor Herron's teachings, both In
4 financial way and in Point of attend
ance OF students, pressure was finally
brought to bear and Professor Heron
was divorced from his college chair
before his divorce from his wife.
All this is necessary to mention to
bring out the point of what follows.
For Iowa College still has the chair OF
applied Christianity. 1t is now filled
by Professor Steiner. This professor
has lately been supplying the pulpit In
the Congregational church at Mar
shalltown. This scribe has frequently
been in the audience Sunday morn
ings. And on a recent Sabbath this
professor used that needles eye bust
ress as a partial text. This professor
is going TO let some OF US rich men go
to heaven In his sermon he said:
some of US may become rich and
even that mundane disaster will not
necessarily prevent future heavenly
happiness. The idea was that II rich
even inherited riches. did not change
the former poor but honest Christian
to the typical rich man, ST. Peter
would still open the door. That this
professor is not altogether an admirei
of the modern Millionaire can be as
sumed from a remark to the effect that
wealth accumulated by the sale of ne
cessities al "cornered" or trust prices
and then a percentage OF such gath
cred wealth given out to build colleges
necessarily does not enlarge THE
needles eye. And that the reported
utterance of one of our Sunday schoo
class multi millionaires. that he fell
like standing up ard telling the world
how much the Chris tan religion haC
done for him. seemed to him (Profes-
sor Steiner) as watered stock and ar
emotional statement. And here has the
writer been all Of this time trying tt
mention the unusual part of this mem
toned sermon. Strange to relate, this
professor after paying his respects te
the rich men actually scored the pool
man. Socialist OF the better type as
he undoubtedly Is. he told us poor meT
that our chance of heaven was on 6
par with Herron's rich men unless we
got rid of our envy. our uncharitable'
ness and our unhealthy and morhit
lstyle of thinking of wealth and riches
| While the rich man was talking anf
| praying about his mansions In tht
skies. and at the same time renting ms
| earthly itenemenis at Zig prices foi
| questionable uses. the poor man wa:
| in a condition. frequently not willing
| IA accent heaven even If the street:
we're paved with gold. To sum up
| Iowa College today has professor o
| applied Christianity who has common
sense. One who breaches doctrine
that we all need to listen to. One tina
our children if sent to college In Grin
nell can be under the Influence of tn
teaching OF this kind of applied chas
| ;ianity and conn, home and repeat ever
| for the benefit of their parents. Thi
man breaches an application of Chris
! \ ~.
.ianity that is practical ana Jew o
Gentle. we all Will be hetter men an
women If we practice what he preach
/ es. Apologies are due for this fnper
feet report of his needles eye sermon
| MyraLzz9