Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1905-03-17
OSTRACIZE The WICKED.
PROF. ADLER DISCUSSES HOW TO
DEAL WITH PUBLIC INIoUITY.
He Believes That the Church Has in
Exclusion Strong Weapon Which
II Should Use, but Depreeates PIae-
Ing Certain Virtues Above Others.

ooClety lot HtnlcdI culture, IN Carne
gle Hall, on whether churches and re
hgious societies should use ostracisn
In the struggle against public iniquity
He said ne believed in ostracism il
certain cases; but that the great dan
ger to churches and religious societies
lay in the erection of rigid mora
codes and in the placing of certain
virtues above all others.
I Prof. Adler cited the case Of a young
woman whose parents insisted that
she should marry a man whom she
hardly knew, simply because he Meth.
or drank nor smoked. To them this
was sufficient guarantee that the
husband they had picked for her was a
moral man, yet he turned out to be a
monster Of iniquity and caused her to
lead life of untold misery.
DR.. Adler prefaced his lecture by
the statement that any man who is not
wholly corrupt will pay secret respect
70 that very honesty of which ne falls
short in his practical affairs. The
worst libertine will bend the knee be-
lore purity when he sees it in all it's
dnmistakable radiance.
Taking up the Church. ne said it had
lasted so long because it was so useful
morally. Early Christianity was
great moral movement New stand
ards were appreciated, and in some
cases, at least, lived up to. II taught
the people to put aside the racial mar
rowness so characteristic of Israel,
and thus the most exclusive race be-
came the most inclusive.
But there is no denying the fact"
continued the speaker, that all
churches and all religious societies
are losing their influence. The hand
OF religion on human affairs is weak.
Its voice is scarcely heard. In fact. 1t
Is rarely ever raised against public
tniquity. Look at the crimes of the
last ten years. The heads of the great
eommunions were silent on the out.
RACES committed in China. Rome was
silent. The Vatican spoke no word
OF condemnation on what Christian
people were doing in China. And the
Protestant Church was no less mute
and ineffective.
And SO there is distinct and pal
pable decline in the influence of the
Church. Statistics show as that the
of young men in our colleges
willing to enter the ministry has great
ly fallen off. There are said to be |
more churches than there |
are ministers for them. How, then, |
can churches and religious societies !
be made more effective? Should they |
not, instead of combining their attacks
10 doctrinal heterodoxy, also take a
stand against moral .offenses?
''The Church lays down certain rules
IS to the right relations between the
sexes both before and after marriage.
Z it laid down certain rules of bust
less and then cut on all who did not
comply with them, would not the peo-
lie feel that the Church once more
ives? The great weakness of reli-
ZION is due to the general belief that
t is not real. Another thing that
yeakens it is the contrast between
receipt and practice. There are
'lenty of good men and women in the
hurches, but somehow the whole at
itude of these bodies is weak and in
Elective. blame no one for this, be-
ause the situation is complex and a
etter way hard to find.
How can we bring it about that
here shall be greater agreement be-
ween what is taught in the pulpit
nd on the platform and the practice
the members of religious bodies? ,
What is the use of pleading for purity ,
young men continue in their impure ,
ays% ,
Concerning the use of ostracism as ,
corrective, the speaker said it was
angerous to make set of certain
xed rules and then drop all who did
ot comply. On the other hand, it
as just as dangerous to throw down
] barriers and nave no rules at all. =
his extreme latitude is not feasible. >.
he Church can not say 1t has no con-
I'm with how its members behave
emselves.
Take, for instance, the Command =
emit Thou shalt not steal This
ould not be held to include merely !.
rglary and larceny, but also the ;,
ealing that is done by fraudulent :,
nkruptcy. A man guilty of that =
lme may say, You have got nothing -
do with my morals. come to hear n
u talk and am helping to support
ur church ter society," But can a n
urch live that winks or connives at =
CHI a view? Does it not stultify it. ~
Z? VIII you not in such a case >.
ng discipline to bear? Isn't the :.
urch weak because it doesn't pay -
ention to these things?
I can conceive of man being
'oretical anarchist and yet being a
raj man, but l cannot conceive of
nan throwing bomb and seeing all hi
horrors that follow in the train of M
act unless he has a bad heart. M
ither can lee how the Church can ho
wv the woman five times divorced ne
AXE a seat among the congregation. OF
yally, she may have done no wrong, st,
the Church should require con- of
nifty to a standard higher than that raj
IN the statute books" m
rof Adler said he believed that wa
exclusion the Church had a strong
Ipon for its upbuilding, and that IN,
n if this is used only rarely it will bu
e a wholesome effect and show the his
nders that they have to deal with wo
ody not wholly innocuous, body a.
e not 70 he s,Ood uri N l. al or houoht