The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-03-27

- into church membership of wine
merchant and the other because social
circle of the church had accepted the hos
pitality of the wife of saloon keeper, her-
self an esteemed member of that churen,
had the right ring and the right aim, YET
so important to society and TO the church
as such is the real question involved that
ask permission TO supplement the edi-
torial with a few suggestions. First, L wish
to emphasize the fact that the immediate
cause of the troubles was sympathetic, not
organic. or rather was merely the occd,
sion not the cause OF the troubles, ana
therefore the more To be regretted. On It's
face il appears that the cause or these
troubles was such hostility OF the chClch
10 tTaffic in intOxicantS that no one IN
either the wholesale or the retail Depart
ment of il could be member OF churcn,
but the real cause is relic of the bigotry
which in all ages has assumed tnat L,
the holy one, am authorized TO pass upon
the moral and religious character OF thee
the reprobate, and to judge by any stand
ard | choose to erect" In the bygones
these standards were various, involv-
ing a score of such self-erected stand
ards reaching the more sweeping
conclusion that nobody could be reaHy
religious, If even decently moral, outside
church. Time and culture and better
understanding OF the teachings OF the
Christ has, with intelligent Christians. so
eliminated all these tests of discipleshlp
that only a few but very self-confident
people in the several churches now insist
on their competency to pronounce, eX
cathedra, upon the religious character oI
Others while there yet remains In by 1ar
too many members of the several churcnes
the thought that no one can be renglouS
outside of some church organization, IN
spite of the recognized fact that some or
the most beautiful Christian characters are
found i'll the ranks OF nonchurch MEM
bers.
In this statement l must not be misrep-
L
as minifying the Importance OF church rel
lowship. and therefore of church organiza-
ton, but as no such organization or fellow
ship is absolutely necessary to the supreme
and only Bible standard of pure and unde-
filed religion. Visiting the widow and the
fatherless in their affiiction and keeping un,
spotted from the world doing good and
keeping pure. l dare not interject such
standard into the Bible standard, however
much / may disapprove of the waste or
force that comes with cooperation and fel-
lowship in the life of one who chooses TO
not avail himself of them. L bound to
concede TO others what L claim for myselt
the right of personal judgment as TO the
best method of doing a right thing. hence
l conclude that II from some mental ldio-
syncrasy or from some bias in the forma-
tive period of his life any may have
come to conclusion contrary to mine, while
he shows the fruits of useful and pure
life L not at liberty to disparage his
Christian character. To do so is bigotry
of a most pronounced type, yet it is too
common even among those who have moved
far away from the less harmful type have
spoken of.
But there as an enormity in the imme-
date occasion of the troubles referred to
which is out of harmony with the spirit
of the age that II deserves more than a
passing rebuke. Its enormity consists In
| its reflection upon the attitude of the best
| element of all churches of past epoch
| towards the liquor traffic in its several
| departments. The turpitude of their criti-
cism is founded upon the self-evident truth
| that the divine standard of morals and re-
| ligion is not SO adjustable that a given act
| is so intensely wicked to-day that II ex-
cludes its perpetrator from the kingdom
| of grace and glory, yet it so moral
| and justifiable yesterday, or a hundred
years ago, that the best types of Christians
| of that period freely INDUCED in it with
| out reproach or the thought of its being
! sinful, either by the perpetrator or his
| neighbor. a century ago, and much later,
| the manufacture and sale and use of in
| toXicants was deemed as necessary for the
public good and for personal comfort as
| was the manufacture and use and sale OF
| flour, the only legal or moral restraint in
| drinking being that the individual should
not use them to excess, leaving what con-
| stitutes excess wholly to the Judgment OF
| the individual the only rule of general APP
| plication by the individual or the commune
| ty being that excess was never reached
until the quantity drank interferes notice
| ably with locomotion, and the only re-
| Striction upon the sale was that no disorder
/ should be allowed in the place of sale and
| drinking, while in practice nothing short
| of a hight or its equivalent was counted
| disorderly in the dramshops of the period
| Hence came the license system, so that
none but men of good morals were toler-
| ated suitable to be intrusted with the
| keeping OF a dramshop. Hence in that
| epoch the elders and deacons and class lead
| ers were among the chief of dram sellers
| We are, therefore, about up TO the conclu-
| sion that the ministers who drank freely al
| home and at the bar, and the officers OF
| the churches of that period were unfit for
| church membership, that the divine
| standard was adjusted to suit the social and
economic customs of that period, or that
| it is not such an offense against the divine
| law now to make or sell or drink intoxi-
| cants that the manufacturer or dealer OF
| user is necessarily unfit for church mem
| bership, or that his wife must be under
ban on account of the business or the habits
| of her husband But this divine test of pure
and indebted religion cannot be wantonly
! divorced from its companion scriptures
| Cease to do evil and abstain from all ap
pearance of evil. deed may be alb
| stractly harmless in itself, yet it may seen
to be evil to others. In nothing is the
| spirit of the Master TO be more closely fol
! lowed by one who lives to do good than In
determining what he may do or may MOI
do that Is offensive to others. Evidently
| some criticisms of another are unreason
able. The man who objects to the cut OF
| my coat or shape of my hat is unreason
able, and / do not walk uncharitably If
| fered to idols is not necessarily sinful Of
ITSELF yet if it is offensive to my brother
and causes him to stumble | should alb
without SIM but If my drinking leads
another to drink who is in danger there
| by. or if my selling leads to drunken
ness, then l should not sell if the ain
| of my life is to follow the Master ii
| doing good. 1t was this abstinence thu
| part of thousands who might have con
tinued TO drink in moderation all thei
lives. with perceptible harm to them
selves or society, which promoted the re
formation of half century ago, which
literally transformed us from nation o
dram drinkers to a nation of total alb
stainers, among church members especially
and confined dram selling exclusively I,
the under class of society, wholly elimin
ating ii from the churches. This constitute,
an epoch wholly distinct from and dissim
liar TO the epoch of immoral dram drink
ing and indiscriminate dram selling. Thel
followed an epoch of prohibition TO RESTRAIN
those who would not yield to the moral in
fiuences which had closed the taverns AM
dram shops kept by church officers an,
| members MANY States obtained rrohih