The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-01-29
PERIL TO THE
CHURCH
From the Questionable Ethical Stan.
dards Of Business Men Who Be.

From the Questionable Ethical Stan.
dards Of Business Men Who BE.
came Famous
The Homiletical Review calls atten-
ton to a growing divergence between
the ministers and the people on the
question of business methods. 1t
says, Broadly speaking, today the
clergy of the country are far more
alive than the laity to the perils to
institutional religion which inhere in
alliance between men of wealth with
questionable ethical records and
agencies created to stand for spiritual
ideals. This is natural in view of the
fact that the clergy are not wrapped
up in the meshes of system which
leaves few men free moral agents
after they once get in the tolls, but
the fact is one which does not call for
Il retreat of the clergyman to the lay
mans position, but Il continual call
from the clergyman to the layman to
close the gap and ascend"
1t is significant that the internation-
al Sunday school lessons for this year
are upon the life of Christ, through
the whole twelve months. 1t is esti-
mated that not less than 10000, 1000
persons will this year be studying the
life OF Christ Besides the regular
courses there are offered advance
series of lessons on the subject; prom
inent among these are the courses of
the American institute of sacred. lit
erature. the Bible study union and a
course prepared by the Congregation
al Ipnn,ninutiny No old
publican says in its religious depart
ment which is written from rather
extremely liberal point of view and
is supposed to be under Unitarian in
f1uence: Out of this fresh concen-
tration of thought upon Jesus ought to
come results large and far reaching
The religious revival SO eagerly de-
sired will be FASTENED, for, as a dis
tinsuished scholar has said, The way
to know God better is to know Christ
better The ethical revival already
here will gain in sweep and thorough
ness in proportion as Jesus ideas of
righteous behavior are made to shine
forth before the eyes of all the peo-
pie" 1t is u question why the life of
Christ is not given Il far greater pro-
portion OF time than has been the case
in Sunday school instruction, especi-
ally of children and youth. Three
fourths of the time should not be too
much. That this has not been the case
is probably due to the notion that
all parts of holy scripture are some
how of equal value. The spiritual i'm
preston of the life of Christ as re-
corded in the gospels is beyond COM
parson greater than that of any or
all other scripture, upon the minds
of the young. While the church has
indeed found the latter part of the
new testament indispensable in teach
ing what the attitude of the believer
should be to Christ and His gospel
that teaching cannot be at all UNDER
stood without the knowledge of who
Christ is as the object OF faith and of
what His gospel is as learned from
His own words. Nor is it possible for
the minds OF children and young peo-
pie to grasp easily the thought of Paul,
for example, directly from his own
words. Nor can teachers be found in
most churches of sufficient training
to be able to teach other parts of the
Bible, except the first three gospels.
In these the personality and teaching