The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-04-15
CARkEG|E's ADVICE TO
PREACHERS Of GOSPEL
Herbert Bigelow Asks Philan.
thropist What Is Business
of Church.
Scoringly Criticises Position of
Some Rich Men on Church
Duty

the Vine Street Congregational church,
the pastor Herbert s. Bigelow, dis
cussed Mr.. Carnegie's reported utter
ances concerning the duty of ministers.
Mr.. Bigelow said in part:
Mr.. Carnegie is reported to have said:
If the clergymen were to stick closer
to the business Of the church, and de-
vote less time to somewhat wild dis
cussions Of questions which are not in
timately related to their work, it strikes
me that there would be better results
in the church.
The value of this advice depends upon
what Mr.. Carnegie considers the busi-
ness Of the church. Some say it is to
teach that all men fell In Adam and
that none has hope Of Paradise, save
he who believes that Jesus was God,
and that the vicarious atonement
wrought by his blood on Calvary is
humanity's only hope Of escaping he'll
Others say it is to teach that God
is spirit; that there is something of
God in every man; that salvation con-
sists in the growth in intelligence and,
love, the God in man becoming upper
most, and that there is no better way
to find this salvation than to strive
while we are on the earth to love mercy
and to deal justly with. our brothers.
Is it the province of Mr.. Carnegie
to say that this latter view is not re-
ligious? Has he right to say that the
church which seeks to inculcate these
ideals is not tending to its business?
Poiities-ReIision in Action.
A bishop, preaching to an audience
of slaves on the duty of forgiving those
who punished them unjustly, said: IF
you bear it patiently and leave your
you cause in the hands of God, he will
reward you for it in Heaven, and the
punishment you suffer unjustly here
shall turn to your exceeding great glory
hereafter"
Was the bishop tending to his busi-
ness?
What is religion worth to slave?"
cried Beecher, when the hand that
breaks to him the bread Of communion
on Sunday, takes the price of his blood
and bones on Monday, and bids him
Godspeed on his pilgrimage from old
| Virginia tobacco fields to the cotton
plantations Of Alabama?"
Was. Beecher indulsing in wild dis
cussions Of questions not intimately
related to his work. You may call this
! bishop pious man and Beecher a
| politician. To me, these words of the
| bishop are blashphemous, while Beech
er's politics was religion in action.
Monopoly Forever.
From the lips of the purest and no.
blest of men, we have the divine injunc-
| ton to pray and work for the coming
| of Gods kingdom. on earth. In that
| kingdom of justice and love for which
| we are to hope and labor, does Mr..
Carnegie think there will be tariff laws
| and railroad rebates, and private mon
! opolies? Does that legislation accord
| with the golden rule which cOmpels the
American people to pay more for the
products of their mines and factories
| than is paid in foreign markets. In
| this kingdom of heaven on earth will
one man or a few be permitted to mon
| opolize the coal lands and the ore rang
es and mass fabulous fortunes while
millions are disinherited and live in
pauperism or on the verge of 1t. The
little white slaves in. the cotton mills,
the children in the Chicago stock yards
! who stand all day in watts of blood, has
religion no voice of hope for them?
| II 1t is not the business of the church
to seek to improve their earthly con-
| dition, then whose business is It?
Shall we leave that work to the poll
ticians or to the millionaires?
No doubt there are people who pre-
| fer church which directs the thought
to a paradise in the skies and makes
no effort to teach them the iniquity Of
monopolies on the earth.
The politicians for laws; the million
aires for philanthropy: the church for
theology; and, monopoly forever;-that
Is a fine arrangement. ..
JOHANN HOCH GETS
CHANGE or VENUE