The copper era., 1911-09-29
l Morality '
 ] By Rev. Guy E. Simpler II ] Assistant Rector of St. Peters Se Louis E

l
 Of women branded as moral lepers,
 the presence of any one of whom
 would not be tolerated in our homes
 Yet our daughters are allowed to min
 gle freely with the men who prey
 upon these women; to receive them in
 our homes-and too often-to marry
 them. Such is custom and conviction.
 so totally an inversion of the teaching
 and practice of Jesus Christ, who ate
 with harlots and sinners, not to con-
 done their acts but to save them from evil.
 Let us ask in all frankness, is it not
 tune for the church to inquire rather
 more seriously into this matter of conscience and morality? Shall we go on being satisfied that custom and convention have said the last word on
 these vital matters?
 There are too many false judgments Of morality in society. as a result of untrained conscience. The thing we call convention is too often but cloak for false morality. Custom and convention are made up of elements both good and bad. though most of us. if a thing is conventional, adhere to its announcements without stopping to question the right or wrong of It.
 Convention and custom are good when they conserve the good of the past; they are viciously evil when they cloak evil, and even worse when they so enslave the minds of the peo- pie that they stupefy all moral prog ress
 There is a tendency in most of us toward legalism: this false use of the law. and the subtlest foe with which Christianity has had to cope. One of the most remarkable things in history is the speed with which Christianity morally ran off the track and al lowed its freedom to become elaborat- ed and stiffened into dogma. and then into legEiism.
 The church. which was to bring God and man together, became burdeDed with ecclesiastical machinery, which kept God and man apart. What is the standard? Shall we frankly be- come Iegalists and accept the law as our standard of conduct? Or shall we accept what are called the average judgments of mankind-the consensus Of opiniOn-as our standards? If so, what shall we do with the prophets; those men of vision who sometimes rise in our midst. to point the way to e clearer conception of truth than the average man has attained?
 And if we do not listen to the prophets-for example, those men of vision we have in our political life today-how can we hope to progress as a civilization? Or shall we accept as our standard that which satisfies us? Or shall we accept that which works-pragmatism, which has be- come popular among certain ethical thinkers.
 This matter of conscience calls for clearer thinking than we have be- slowed upon it as a church or as in- dividuals in the past. Conscience ie the souls discernment of right and wrong for the purpose of its own moral choice. It has as a standard aot any exterior law, which means the reduction of religion and morals to Jurisprudence and restraint; but it must have an inner law. which means freedom.
 Jesus Christ's most emphatic teach ing. about which centered all else he said and did was the sacredness of the self We have Christian morality then when we set before the task | of developing this self. This self loyalty is the only morality we know. It is truth for truths sake. not truth for e-pediency.
 Conscience is the voice of God wit messing to eternal right within the in dividua; soul. It is the voice of mans true self, ard the true self is one with 1 God. As our sense of beauty leads us on to things beautiful, so our moral sense should lead us to things moral ! And, as in art. we turn to great mas ters. whose genius has wrought in the world of beauty for the standards ] of valuation; so in the world Of morals | must we turn with ever-increasing earnestness and appreciation and l longing to the master of men.
 And as our study of the great can | vas reveals ever and anon some deep . CT truth that lay in the heart of the . artist. so our serious study of Christ l must reveal more of the truth that lay . like gold in the depths of his heart. | It is for each one of us to say-for no . one else can Say it for us-whether [ the light that is in us shall become , darkness and so spread the gloom of . itself through the hearts of humanity or whether it shall become a part of that light that lighteth every man that eometh into the world.