Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1911-05-29

church must look to itself lest it fai
to speak with the authority and tn,
courage Of the old Hebrew prophets anC
with the authority and spirit of Hin
upon whose divine personality il alon,
/ is built
In a letter from a distinguished
/ churchman and member of congress
! was asked if the clergy from the
/ pulpit were declaring to business mer
and politicians the duty of absolute
honesty. Haven't the sternest and
! the most prophet-like denunciations OF
/ the sins of society, and of business
come from the secular press?" my cor
respondent inquiries; do the leaders OF
the church dare to lift up their voices
against our own respectable rascals
and swindlers?" l repeat the questions
without comment
In passing, l may say that We Chris
I tians are to remember that the great
heresy is heresy of life. In the language
of the New Testament the word always
refers To error of conduct and not of
opinion. In the early and most agrees
sive days of Christianity. men were
more concerned with conduct than with
dogma, were preaching Christ more
than theories concerning His divine
personality. In His spirit of love, of
brotherhood, of service. we are COM
manded now, as the disciples We're bid
den in the olden time, to work for
righteousness which, as it has already
been said, is only another name for
morality. right living. right conduct
simply to be good and to do good.
We cannot worship both God and
Mammon. We cannot serve Christ and
the devil at the same time. The king
doms Of this world are as opposed now
as they ever were. The two great fac
tors fighting against each other in
the world today are materialism and
idealism, the one standing for selfish
ness, the other for love and service
The one for the world, the flesh and the
devil; the other for the things Of the
spirit, for purity. for God our father,
and man our brother.
There has recently gone forth
strong plea for idealism, in the words
of an accomplished writer of the pres
ent day, who says that the most press
ing need Of our age is a great poet.
The poet has always stood as the in
terpreter of the highest and noblest
ideals What statesman. what military
genius of the past, can compare with
the influence of Shakespeare and
Dante over the human mind in the
molding Of opinions, in framing char
acter and conduct. The once famous
names in the history of Florence and
Italy, that were contemporary with
Dante, are now almost lost in oblivion,
while the most distinguished men of
that great Elizabethan era, now yield
the pre-eminence to its illustriOus poet.
Think of the mighty influence exert
ted by Wordsworth and TennysOn and
Browning in the last century in Eng
land. and here in America by our own
Emerson, Lowell and Whittier, in max
ing men realize the highest ideals, and
working out the noblest reforms in our
social and national life.
Are our great financiers, our rail-
road and coal and steel and oil mag
mates, and all the masters of industry,
in which apparently so much of the
leadership Of the present day lies, lead
ing men along the great high road to
a lofty and uplifting idealism? Is it
not true that the great need Of this
age is for men who see
visions and dream dreams? Visions
and dreams have been translated into
facts in days gone by.
The great truths of liberty fraterni- ,
ty and nationality taught long ago in
the precepts and sacrifices of Washing
ton and the fathers of the republic, re-
affirmed and emphasized by the burn
ing words and great spirit Of Lincoln,
and finally sealed by his life blood, T,
have broadened with the advancing
years, and while the principle and the
democratic ideal is still the same, the
vision is larger and richer, and the
men of today, in these early years of
the twentieth century. have tasks to
meet and duties to perform, Of which
our fathers could little dream a CEN F,
fury. or even a generation ago, a re-
sponsibility to each other. to our coun- /,
try, to all the world, civilized and I'M 7,
civilized. and primarily TO God and his
Christ whose vision and leading alone ,
can enable us to see clearly and to do !
There is a national responsibility as I.
well as an individual responsibility; !,
there is a national conscience as well /
as an individual conscience; there is
a national righteousness as well as an
individual righteousness; there is a ma !,
tional sin, alas, as well as personal sin; |
and the responsibility. and The con- +,
science, and the righteousness, and the ;
sin Of the nation, are determined by the !,
units which make up the :
great corporate body of the common ,
wealth.
If the state is not Christian in its
support and setting forth of a high !
and a noble and ever-increas- !
ng purpose in its life, then the fault /
ours. After all, it comes back as per /