The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-07-09

VI
in some faint way the spirit of that lofty
sentiment uttered thousands of years ago,
men must learn the meaning of childhood,
heed its heaven-b born message, and yield
themselves willing subjects to its blessed
ministry. This ministry must manifest
itself in a firm protest and plea-a pro-
test against gross materialism and plea
for a return to the simple faith OF our
fathers
When money stands as the fruit of
toll, thrift, energy, enterprise, intellect,
it is valuable as an incentive to worthy
effort and means for the satisfaction OF
tastes that are noble and wants that are
real. But when it is sought not as a
means but an end; when in the mad
scramble for its possession, men lose sight
of the rights of others and the claims of
eternal justice, then money-getting be-
comes a crime in the sight of high heaven
and a curse to the human race There is
tendency to defy the almighty dollar and
to place on its affairs the purest, sweetest
treasures of the human heart Mere ma
terial achievement seems now more highly
priced than moral excellence Mammon,
crowned and sceptred, we see exalted as
king, while man made in his Makers inn
age breathing his Creators spirit, groyels
a helpless slave at his feet. To meet this
mammon worship we must go back To the
viewpoint of childhood aud there see
things in their proper perspective taught
by the great Teacher who proclaimed that
men must become as little children to
enter his kingdom, and that a mans life
does not consist in the abundance OF the
things that he possesseth.
1t is also a part of childhood's 5 ministry
to make an earnest plea for a return to
the faith of our fathers. The tendency
to doubt and Indifference in matters re-
lgous Is alarmingly prevalent It's effect
Is everywhere the same. 1t paralyzes eff
fort, chokes up the fountains of sympathy,
checks the glow of enthusiasm. closes the
ears to the cry of pain, renders the heart
lnsenslble to the appeal of suffering and
eliminates IN a state of indifference fatal
to all high service and noble achievement
Poetry, child of the Muses., has been
poisoned by its insidious power Fiction
has fallen prey to its baneful spell The
press panders to it's beguiling charm.
Even the pulpit whence God speaks his
message to man, has sometimes not been
immune from its seductive influence Be-
hold the results. The sanctlIy of Gods
holy day is openly disregarded. The Sab
bath is in some places no longer a day
of rest and recreation bur of revelry and
rowdyism. That peculiarly pleasing
phrase, the sacredness of the secular, has
borne melancholy fruit not in uplifting
the secular but in degrading the sacred
Saturday has not become as sacred as
Sundaysbut Sunday has become as seq
as Saturday. Another result Is seen In
growing disregard of the authority of
parents. The fifth commandment seems
to have fallen out of the decalogue or
rather to have been reversed, for we no
longer see children honoring their par
ents but parents seeking to crafty every
wish of the children regardless OF its
merit. Again. men are losing their rever
ence for the Bible and sacred things The
minister is no longer man with a call
from God set apart to his holy work, but
a member of a profession. plying his trade
and pushing his business.
The Bible is in some quarters no longer
Gcds revealed word declaring his will but |
a composite body of literature to be rank
ed with Browning and Shakespeare. The |
reading of the scriptures is becoming OBJ
sclete and the family altar a vanishing |
tradition Fatal condition For when
men have ceased to believe in the eternal
truths of God they have ceased to be
agents in achieving his beneficent pur-
poses. All heroes are heroes of faith, and
believing is being.
Again we must hearken to the voice of |
the child calling us back to the confiding |
spirit, the simple faith, the glowing en-
thusiasm, the unaffected earnestness of |
and in fulflment of the pro
phecy of old. a little child shall lead us
into nobler things and richer living.