Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-08-16
MaWkish Sentimentality
Making Murderers
BY
BISHOP
w. A. :


likeness. and applied to their idol the
sacred name of Christ
Well, we see the outcome of the reign
Of sentimentality which they have thus
set up. mania for crime possesses the
land, and murders increase at the rate of
five hundred per cent in fifteen years. The
majesty OF law is destroyed in the minds
of the people, human life is held cheap,
and every sort OF selfish indulgence Is
held in the highest esteem. Luxury en-
ervates and lawlessness degrades, while
the reign of sentifnentality prevails on all
sides. The nation abtures purity and alb
hors pain. Men and women demand first
of all that they shall be happy and
that they be not annoyed by any demand
that they be holy. Their sins they ac-
count as no more than foibles. and II
one should undertake to cure their faults
he must do 1t like certain dentists claim
to pull teeth.-painlessly. They would
have their feelings saved at all cost, and
their souls saved at no cost.
Where sin is so lightly considered it
does not appear that any such atonement
as that which Christ offers is needed.
Wherefore, these people having no need
of Christ as a Saviour, make of Him
only a teacher and example, or, at best,
no more than a martyr. Having lowered
the moral standards Of the universe to
the level of their limp sentimentality,
they require no divine Saviour to lift
them up to any higher level of life.
Now, however plausible these senti-
mental theories may be, and however
popular they may be. 1t is evident that
they will not work. Both as to men and
doctrines 1t is true that by their fruits
We shall known them and the newt
able fruitage of lawleSs sentimentality
L. To- H., 6orn orfx ant Of
life. Men may call such sentimentality
'broadness," '1iberalty," tolerance"
charity" or what not; but the outcome
of it all is none the less damaging to
character and destructive of order. In
civil life It may call itself humanity"
but. as DIR. White truly aff1rms 1t ''is
really the greatest cruelty" In religious
and social life the case Is just the same
with It, 1t prattles to the people in dull
Get tones, and destroys them while 1t pets
them. In the pulpit ii is nothing less
than clerical demagosy.
1t is time we had done with this whole
type of things. The moral nature can
no more thrive on senseless saccharin-
ity than the body can grow strong on
diet Of sweet-meats. There Is a ma
jesty about law that may not be trifled
with. There is a stern-ness about JUS
tice that may pot be safely ignored.
There is an inflexibility about RICH teous-
ness that may not be despised. God is
love, but His love is not indifferent to
the distinctions of right anGs wrong; He
has some moral character, and He pro-
poses, out OF regard for the well-being OF
ali moral agents, to enforce His moral
laws by appropriate penalties. Indeed,
system of law with out penalties Is
no more than a bundle Of impotent ad-
vice, which sinners may trample under
foot at will. All that we know about
Gods government, whether we draw our
differences from the study Of nature or
the study of the Scriptures, shows us
that 1t is a government of unbending
righteousness and infinite power. If
one remain on the right side of ii, it
blesses him with boundless mereies; but
II he thrust himself against il, he finds
1T a consuming fire. Electricity will
light a mans house, turn his machin-
cry, and heal his diseases when rightly
applied; but 1t will also burn his habita-
ton, overwhelm his enterprises, and de-
stroy his life when 1t Is wrongly used.
The law of gravity will both sustain and
kill him according to the attitude which
he assumes to 1t. This seems to be the
most merciful arrangement Of natures
forces for the welfare of mankind. Any
other arrangement would be fitful and
unreliable And the moral law is not
less uniform and majestic in its opera
ton than are the laws Of nature. 'TitA
soul that sinneth, it shall die" No plea
of ''heredity and environment" avails to
excuse It, No self-pity will turn back
penalties of the law which we have will
fully despised and defied. We know in
our inmost souls that we are free. and
that our sins are not misfortune. but
misconduct We know that it is not ig-
norance, but iniquity which explains our
wrong doing. The simplest among us
knows what is right, and approves 1T too,
however much he may the wrong pur-
sue.
we need a gospel preached that shall
recognize these facts, and enforce Gods
long-neglected law. If the reign Of SEN
timentaIity shall continue much longer,
men will lose the sense OF sin, and be-
gin to hold that the only crime in the
universe is the disposition to condemn
wrong. Indeed, some have reached that
station of moral deterioration already.
1t has come to pass that the preacher
who speaks a stern word on behalf OF
virtue is set on. while he who handles
the word of God deceitfully and pleads
for self indulgence. is set up by certain
classes among us. If a man agrees
with the creed OF historic christianity
these classes account him mean and mar
row: but IL he proclaim some parvenu
creed of recent prominence, he lis glori-
fled as a thinker" Modish vice thus
would drive obsolete virtue out OF So
ciety in the name of good FORM" in or
der that men might be saved by taste
rather than by grace.