The Washington herald., 1911-10-08
guiSh Between Wholesale Discourtesy and Whole
sale FriendIiness in Social Relations.

that to be courteous is Christian? And
should not discourtesy always be branded
as sin?
A Distinction, IL Not n Difference.
The next principle is that in all mat
ters. social, financial. intellectual, cut
side the public church associations and
meetings. the Individual is at liberty to
find the associates with whom he may be
mutually congenial. The chief difficulties
come here. Apply this principle first to
those who are more fortunate in their So
cial privileges, their financial standing
and their intellectual attainments than
their fellows-the people of large and wide
opportunities. who from the very fulness
OF their advantages can be more eX-
elusive in their individual preferences. II
we demand Christian courtesy in church
relationships We must also protect the
independence of our members in their
private social life and their individual
tastes. II a Christian woman wishes
to give a musicale, a dinner party, or
any other social function, she has the
right to Invite whom she will. whether
in the church or out; and IL she fafS- to
invite certain women in the congregation,
her judgment or her taste may become
the subject of comment, especially among
those who have not been invited, but her
Christian principle and her Christian
courtesy are not open to criticism The
individual follows his or her own tastes
In the selection of friends and social
acquaintanceS. In this respect the church
Is no different from any other Organiza-
tion.
THE point cannot be insisted on too
strongly that Christianity does not de-
stroy individuality OF preferences in So
cial and domestic matters. In a New
Jersey metropolitan church, there were
number of rich women who always
treated the humber members Of the
congregation with great politeness and
kindness in all public services and social
gatherings Of the church. In the con-
gregatiOn were some young Germans of
the working class who used to meet the
daughters of these rich Christian women
at the young peoples meetings, but when
they wanted TO escort the young girls
from church and later to call upon them
at their homes, these Christian mothers
objected. They had other ideas regarding
their daughters associates. and they used
their prerogatives parents to decide
the quality and social status of their
daughters friends The young men felt
aggrieved and. inflated by the current
undiscrimiDating socialism of our time,
mothers action was un-Christian. But
We're not these Christian women acting
within their rights both as women and
as Christians, and were they not worthy
OF all Commendation in the exercise of
their parental duty and their personal
convictions?
4 Brave Minister and Cinnamon.
This principle of independence applies
to the problem which is before those of
our churches which have to deal with
people OF alien races, or people of diff
ferent color, who desire to come into our
church membership 1t is not right for
the church to be criticised as lacking in
the spirit of Christian brotherhood be-
cause. while giving the ministry of the
gospel to people of various races whose
ha abits and customs are different from
those of our American white people, the
church members retain their own individ-
ual preferences and tastes. and refuse TO
give these alien people all rights of equal
ity with them in matters of social and
friendly intercourse. He was a wise and
brave minister. who. on receiving seven
or eight Gilman men into his church, eX-
planned to the congregation that he had
made plain to these incoming members
before they had decided to unite with
did not carry with II the privilege of be-
ing received on terms OF social equality
by all the other members of the congre-
CATION, because their Oriental customs
and traditions of life were so radically
different from those of the other MEM
bers that social harmony was not pos
sibIe. This clear and frank statement of
what the church proposed to do with its
alien converts was a wise and truly
considerate method of procedure. 1t was
not as spectacular as the common way of
receiving members with an emotional
idealism and an apparent belief in the
possibility and probability of social equal
ity among all persons in the church re-
gardleSs of social and racial distinctions:
but 1t will not end, as the latter method
generally does end. in the utter neglect
of the humber members and a failure
to give them even that moderate amount
of Christian courtesy and fellowship
which a more carefully defined policy of
the limitations of social equality will pro-
duCe.
Il believe that the majority of our cul-
tivated and well-to-do people are Chris
tian in their feelings and purposes. and
1t is because the church will-not distin-
guish between wholesale discourtesy. on
the one hand. and Wholesale friendliness
on the other. that the more cultured
members of our churches are guilty so
often of committing what seem to be un-
kind and un-Christian. acts.
Real Products, By-prOducts, and
Material Advantages.
Apply this principle now from the
standpoint OF those who are socially
financially. or intellectually less gifted
than their fellows. Here the truth is
also evident that outside public church
gatherings persons in a congregation must
find their own. mutually agreeable as
sociates. This principle gives expression
to the necessity of keeping the higher
spiritual aims of the church foremost fr
the minds Of the people. ''Godliness /;