The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1906-01-06
CHRISTIAN UNITY.
Continued from Page

foundations of law and order among u.s.
He describes the men who engaged in ell those
fragrant violations of the divine and civil law as
| gentlemen who are scrupulousiy correct in their
personal behavior, temperate, sober and claste
They lie where no business interest is at
stake. They are even orthodox, pious and devoted
in their religious life All this. of course is by
the way of irony.
He points out the causes Of this moral depravi-
ty, ethical Inconsistencies and the contradictions
between the professions of these men and their daily
lives. The following is Mr. Williams explanation:
ut seems to me to lie in a lack Of moral co-or-
dinaton, a divided and disintegrated conscience.
These men have attained and fulfilled their ideals
of morality in their personal conduct and relation
ships and their technically religious life. In these
regions they exercise and exhaust their conscience
But IN their commercial relations and business life
they have no standards whatsoever. Here they are
morally color-blind. They see no distinctions Of
| right and wrong. They for the most part ut
terry unconscious of the fagrant iniquity of their
doings. For here in this region of commercial life
the wrlts of Christ do not run. Even common con-
! science and the moral law have no jurisdiction
The accepted rules of the game are a sufficient
code of ethics. There IS a hopeless cleavage a
brldgeless gulf through the midst of their lives
This is so true that many an honest, upright
citizen has become Disguised with churches when
they see daily "a lack of moral coordination" or
lack of logical and ethical consistency between
Master, and their daily lives, which are contradic
ton of his. A conscience that has no qualms or
remorse at putting up jobs" inviting the public
into their confidence to fleece" them, and will aft
erwards found eleemosynary institutions and as
sumo to be orthodox is "a divided and disinegrat-
cd conscience" What Is still worse, huge corpora
tions have no conscience at all. Hence Gin their
commercial and business life they have no stand
ard whatsoever. They morally color-blind"
Brave words, yet how true are they IN their appl-
cation The evil is increasing every year. and as
Rev. c. d. Williams expresses There are sto-
res Of some of our gigantic enterprises which have
climbed to dizzy heights of unprecedented fnan-
cial power"
But how cope with the eviIl How train con-
sciences that are morally color-blind? How infuse
a conscience into corporation or trust made up
of twenty or a hundred stockholders who shirk the
delinquency or extravaganza of the corporation or
trust from one officer to another, as witnessed
at the Insurance investigation last year in New
York;
Mr.. Williams suggests that:
"The Church is to teach men to do business and
to vote as they pray, in the fear of Cod to go to
the polls the legislative halls as they go to the
sacrament, IN the fear of God.
"More than this, she is to sound in the ears OF
her young men of this generation, young men who
are always ready to the call of ,chivalrous
action and even sacrifice young men who still
dream dreams and see VISIONS she Is to sound In
the ears of these young men the call to righteous
political and honest commercial careers and make
that call holy and imperative as the call to her
ministry
Then he adds: cHere then lies the searching and
final test of modern Christianity. Can it pro-
duce such men today If it can and will, it shall
prove itself to the conscience and mind of TODAY
the power of God unto salvation IF it cannot or
will not, it must perish whatever arguments may
De alleged as to Its authenticity and authority In
every age 1t has produced the saint who met the
needs OF that age. Can it produce today the type
OF Christian who shall meet the needs of this age;
the man OF open mind and yet reverent- faith of
intellectual hospitality and spiritual insight: the
man of large heart with room for all that is human:
and the man of solid conscience who rings true
wherever you strike him, in whatever region or
plane of his lifeT"
All very well if the united action which Mr..
Williams seeks to inculcate will gain the ascend
ancy, or II the young whom he invites "to chiv-
alrous action" will respond. The downfall of the
Roman Empire and the loss of its giIded civiliza-
ton served as final test of paganism Not so Of
Ohrlsuanlty, which Is divine and which coming
up through the centuries has civilized the savage
and softened the hearts of the Northern barbarans
who overthrew the Roman Empire Mr. Williams
rests the hnal test Of modern Christianity in its
success or failure in coping with the evils which bs
so eloquently depicts. Be it So WHY not extend
ms vision down to the cradle of Christianity? What
objection has he to introduce into the new crusade
by modern Christianity the workings of ancient
christianity, yet always new. Did not this old
Church bring all nations of Europe within the pale
OF civilization! Is it not historically evident that
an clV!llzed nations on the face of the globe owe
their civilization to the patient and ENDURING Iabors
OF her ropes, her missionaries and her religions On
much and so often abused? Does she not present
christianity in its unity, and Catholicity not in
tragmentary parts, it is to be found in the nolt
1ar1ous Protestant sects who have sprung up since
the sixteenth century. Clear-sighted unprecedented
minds see and realize the necessity of unitv and
peace in Christian truths and practice with world
be compromises they have no patience Trntb l.
one and ndivisible 1t is absolute and 11ncomnrono
lslng. 1t demands our allegiance and has absolute
authority over man. 1t eliminates from our Gre
ator and will never yield to error It is the onlv
PONG tnat wan cement together Christendom and
without 1t there can be only factitio,s -
The objections to Catholic teaching. which have
been answered hundred timas ounr II. -