The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1906-02-23
A MINISTERIAL PRESENTATION

Charles Stelzle at the Oliver last Sunday after
noon missed one of the ablest pleas for organ
lied labor made in this section The pro-
Tossing Christian who failed to hear it failed
to hear mastery presentation of the gospel
of the Carpenter of Nazareth. The union man
who heard it got broader and better idea Of
the gospel. The Christian man who heard it
got a broader and better view of llnionsm
Quietly, and without any attempt at orator.
cal flights, and without appealing to prejudice
or passion, Mr.. Stelzle devoted his time to PROV
ing that the gospel Of Jesus Christ presented
the only rational solution of the great eco
nomic problems of the age. He proved by
logic and by the scriptures that in the Nazar-
enc the working people have their ablest cham
plon and defender And his whole plea was
Tor men to get together upon the common
platform presented IN the teachings of the
Master.
The opera house was we'll filed, and trades
unionists were out in large numbers Several
union officials and representatives were upon
the stage, and to the editor Of The Wage
worker was given the honor of introducing the
speaker. Mr.. Stelzles compliment to the
editor, while undeserved was thoroughly ap-
preciated. He began by telling Of his child
hood in the basement of tenement house on
the East Side in New York, where his widowed
mother and four sisters and himself lived in
poverty and misery, his mother supporting the
family by making wrappers at So per dozen
Tor Hebrew sweat shop manager He told
how he and his sisters often had only piece
OF bread with pinch OF salt thereon for sup
per, while the mother went supperless and
worked far into the night. He told how he was
apprentlced as machinist, and how he worked
for several years at that trade. All this was
told simply and directly, and then he said ~
Knowing all these conditions I do, and
Knowing what trades unlOnisln has done for the
workingmen, | would be false to myself and
false to my God if / were not q trades union
ist''
If thought the church of Jesus Christ was
not interested in this phase of our economic
problem; if thought the church S mission was
not to aid and comfort those who are op-
pressed; if | thought it had no thought for the
children doomed to slavery in the mills and
factories, would leave the church and devote
my whole time to preaching trades unionism. :
Then the speaker gave voice to his earnest,
belief that the church interested, and that
it was just beginning to awaken to its duty in
this regard Mr.. Stelzle then proceeded to
preach sermon, earnest thoughtful and in
structlye, and the great audience hung upon
every word. He showed that the labor qrles-
tion is, in it's last analysis, a moral question,
and that moral questions to be solved only
by the application of the teachings of the Car
penter of Nazareth. The address was full Of
epigrammatic sentence that seized hold on the
minds of his hearers.
There is this difference between the religion
Of Jesus Christ and all other religions, he
said. The religion Of Jesus Christ is the
result of God reaching down after and search
ing Tor men. All OLher fellg1OnS are the result
of man seeking God.'' Following is brief
resume of his closing remarks
christianity is not dependent upon the in
fallibility of the church nor of the Bible The
church and the Bible simply means to
an end, and not end in themselves. Their
purpose is the revelation of God in Jesus
Christ
Therefore. the chief question that men are
called upon to answer is not, What do you
think Of this doctrine, that church, that
CG Y1ckk
Christi Gladstone once said that this is the
greatest question of the age.
'sYou might be asked What do You think
of Plato of Socrates, or Shakespeare and you
could dismiss the matter with an off-hand re-
ply. But this questions asked of Christ passes
into the most practical and the most personal
of questions: What shall I do then with
Jesuse' The question becomes insistent. Men
cannot get away from it. It will follow them
to the ends of the earth They may become
angry because of it's presence, but does not that
prove that it is ordinary question? To dis
miss it by saying that Jesus Christ was simply
great reformer will not satisfy. To say that
he was only good man, or that he was great
teacher, but simply one OF many teachers,
brings the co4sciousness that one is only dodg-
ing the issue.
.3It is frequently stated that Christ came to
establish an ideal republic, that he sought
to inaugHrate utopian democracy. Neither
statement is true. His own words indicate that
it his purpose to establish an absolute mofl-
archy, kingdom of which He should be the
bead. This kingdom is to embrace all those
who will acknowledge His kingship. Ii
Therefore, when some social reformers'
select from among the words Of Jesus Christ
a few catch words, which have to do only with
certain social affairs, rejecting everything else
that meets with their disapproval, especially
that which applies to their personal lives, and
then claim to be the only bona fide followers Of
Jesus Christ they are leaving out Of their
consideration altogether the most important
part Of Christ plan for the complete emanca
| patton of mankind aS
6 What. think We Of Christ z, Workinpn,el,