The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-11-12
MORALITY AND REJIGIoX

Si' duuIeSS on the current
cant that morality may be divorced
from religion was delivered recently
IN Manchester England by Father
Bernard Vaughan. the great English
preacher.
Can YOU divorce morality from re-
Ilglon or can YOU not?" asked Father
vaughan. Il listened TO TWO schools
of thought at the Moral Congress in
London recently-the modern French
school and the old English
school-the modern French school
represented by Buisson and the old
English school by the Bishop of
Southwark, Russell and others. Now
! we are told by NJ Buisson and his
! French supporters that morality can
be taught and taught efficiently and
taught TO be a working concert. a
| going concern, when divorced from
fehglon, when placed merely on the
secular basis; and the Frenchmen who
visited our island home the other day
We're very strong in their adoption of
TINS view. l think NJ Buisson would
nave told more for his aspect of the
case If he could have pointed 10 his
own country as a fine illustration in
the present day of a nation living up
TO high morality without any re-
llglous basis. But, unfortunately,
when lsok across the water, and my
eyes rest upon what was once Catho-
lie France, L see d nation standing out
foremost as the one nation in Chris
tendon with the highest statistics for
crime and the lowest for the birth
rate. l see nation that seems to for
get her grand position, and is now an
opJect lesson TO the world as a nation
from which we had better keen aloof. !
She has nothing to teach us in the
way of morality at present, and there |
lore l am glad NJ. Buisson put his
theory before us that we MAY reject |
II 1t says that it has been weighed |
in the balance and is found wanting. |
SO prefer the old school, which /
teaches us that morality can only be |
a working thing-in weather foul as /
well as fair-when it rests upon re-
ligion,
Il know that there are great
many in this country who think that
man can live up to high standard
OF morahty from a sense of honor. of
patriotism of duty, and the rest of the !;
abstract Ideas A man may go well
enough with these far-reaching and /;
far-away thoughts when he is in fair
weather, but take a man on his aver
age, and you know. especially. the
young man is assailed by a mob of
passions rising up from within and as
saulted by host of enemies trying his
virtue from without He wants some
thing stronger to lean upon. to look
to talk straight to go
to lead straight. than al
stract ideas. He wants the strong
arm of Jesus Christ. He cannot af-
ford to let his hand slip away lest he
himself slip in the mud and forget all
the laws of morality that should reg
llate his life. 1t seems TO me that
people when they talk of
without religion could never ,
have been young themselves. l know :
his, that if l had not had the strong
arm of Christ and His counsel to lean 9
upon L should have been in prison !
ong ago. Do you think that these +
grand ideas are going to help the man :
who has to fight against flesh and :
Dlood-come down to the concrete f
meet his passions and temptations?
My, ladies and gentlemen, there are +
people, some parents who never seem I
o have been children, and some a
Srown-up people who never seem to y
lave been young. You and l know i,
hat if we are to lead a moral life we .
must have some one who is going to n
each US. Morality means the moral i
aw, and the moral law implies the
moral lawgiver. Until YOU tell me q
omething about his authority over :,
ne and something of his character l y
viii not give two rows of pins for all .
is moral laws SO let US Christians y
We up to our principles y
Look today at the employed the -
Unemployed and the unemployable. y
ly friends I tell you what it is: we r,
ave been bringing up a generation -
pom the thin and meagre morality of 9
lere Bible reading, and the conse- =
uence is there is danger lest at any q
loment mob of passions may be let :,
,ose, and even, as the Manchester -
says today, perhaps blood -
ned. Could You believe it that we a
re living in day when members of y
arliament are calling upon the UNI VI
nployed to steal, and the guillotine
not applied? They are not gagged %
hey are not run into prison. We are ~
/ afraid of the working man because -
e all want his vote. Let US stand up =.
II the strong morality of the Son of r. +
Cd. If We were truer to Him we ~
ould know better perhaps how to 's,1
sal with the question of the unem- NJ
Dyed. If they had been given
ronger food on which to feed their
uls, today they would see that there
some other solution of the question
I