Evening journal., 1907-10-05
SOCIALISM
Paper Read Before NJ. E. Preachers Association by
Presiding Elder A. S. MOwbray


And from under the heavy foundation
stones
The Son Of Mary heard bitter eroans.
And in church. and palace. and juds-
ment hall.
He marked great fissures that rent the
wall.
J And opened wide and yet more wide
AS the living foundation heaved and
sighed.
Have ye founded your thrones and al
tars. then
on the bodies and souls Of living men2
And think We that building shall endure
Which shelters the noble and crushes
the poor?
with gates Of silver and bars Of gold
Ye have fenced my sheep from their
Fathers fold;
I have heard the dropping Of their
tears
In heaven these eighteen hundred
years.
l"O Lord and Master not ours the guilt,
1--we build but as our fathers built;
behold thine images how they stand,
Sovereign and sole thro' all the land.
l"Our task is hard with sword and
flame
10 hold thine earth forever the same,
And with sharp crooks steel to keep
lstnl as thou leftest them thy sheep"
Then Christ sought out an artisan.
| A low-browed. stunted, haggard man,
And a motherless girl whose fingers
thin
Pushed from her family want and sin.
These set he in the midst OF them,
And as they drew back their garment
For fear Of denlement, "Lo, here" said
he.
"The Images ye have made Of mel"
Dr. plantz declares: 1--WE believe u
must be admitted by every student Of
the social problem that for some rea-
son the church has largely lost its
hold on the great mass of the work
ling people" a Massachusetts church
committoe sent out a letter to over zoo
labor leaders. asking their opinion
iabout the attitude OF the laborine
lclasses TO the church The replies de-
lclared that they were almost entirely
alienated. Rev. Charles Stelgle re-
Icently tried n like experiment with the
lsame results. DR. GLADDEN. asserts:
"Tho proportion of wage workers IN
our churches is diminishing" Rabbi
Hlrsch says: "The painful fact Sanuol
be blinked at that the masses have
been eliminated from the churches
isays Dr. Thomas: Somehow the
churches have lost their hold upon the
confidence. sympathies and almost the
Prospect of the laboring people. Whether
fright or wrong. the laboring men fee
lthat the churches i'm general are not
their friends; that they are for IN,
lrich; that money controls both Tho
pulpit and the pew; that the preach
lers as a rule either do not care foi
the rights Of the laboring man, or tina
lthey dare not plead his cause" or the
.ll5 million men In this country unde
30 years of age. million are IN som'
measure, more or less Interested; whil'
10 million are almost entirely allenated
land these are mostly laboring men. II
London / IN 6, mostly women and chill
dren, attend church I'm some degree
In New York only ono person II
twelve can be found IN any Of thl
churches on Sunday "In this SAINT
lefty, while 100000 people, mostly labor
lers moved i'm below Fourteenth street
ll7 Protestant churches moved out be-
cause they could not sustain their con-
lgregations."
1t is not claimed that the social ques-
tion, with its acute agitation, Is th
, lcause OF all Of this decline. but it ha'
= much TO do with It. At the very mo-
ment these men are turning agains
, the church they freely proclaim thei
admiration for Christ and his teach
d 'lings, and draw upon him 10 defend thei
position Surely such alienation oush
mot to be necessary. To what extent q
{ THE church and the ministry 20 blame
r Have our urgent financial methods
and our love Of money, plac
3 and power, caused us 90 lean to
5 far toward the rich? one difficulty
{ that we cannot well be on both side
of such a sharp controversy. DO w
defend the rich when they are wrong
f, DO we avoid the poor when they ar
s right?
(To be continued Monday)