The Penn's Grove record., 1912-12-20
PULPITANDsOC|ETY
Trend Of Church Today Is to Ad-
vance in the World the Spirit
of the Golden Rule.

11G1bE 1b an uUmISIdkdDl0 tTSQQ
in our modern civilization to-
ward neighborliness. Individ-
ualism is losing out. A gen.
uine socialism is emerging. Men
are getting to be a little more
considerable Of N another. There is
more Of a disposition to think in terms
OF unity and fraternity. The old or
der is changing. The progress may be
slow. but it Is real.
True, our friend, the pessimist, rises
to remark that the progress toward
a real brotherliness is practically i'm
perceptible. He raises questions that
seem to indicate that the movement
is backward, not forward. Is not the
most marked feature Of our day rs or
ganized selfshness?
But for all the questions of u pes
sfmist friend and despite the prima
facie case he may to have es-
tablished. taking a comprehensive
view and comparing decade with dec
ade. 1t Is altogether certain that we
have made a big advance toward a
social and fraternaI organization
of society. AS indicating the advance
made:
Witness the splendid and far-reach-
ing organizations for social service, for
relieving oppressive conditions, for
helping the least fortunate to make
the most for his right to life and lib
erty and the pursuit of happiness.
Witness the consideration that is
given to the demands of the great in
dustrial working class, the mighty in
fluence that class Is welding in poll
tics and on legislation, the distinct
gain that class has shown In i%ndepend-
ence. confidence, and self-respect. the
growing disposition to give hand-work-
ers equal respect and recognition with
b~rain-workers and the aristocracy Of
wealth.
Many Things Show Trend.
Witness the great body of legisla-
ton in recent years looking to the pro-
lection and welfare of the ~toilers, look
ing to public health, looking to the
rights of m and children, loolfng
to social justice and the square deal"
for every man.
And not to speak of other things,
witness the new social emphasis in the
work and message of the church. That
emphasis is very marked these days in
the utterances of the pulpit. The old
individualistic gospel, that was con-
cerned only about the relations of the
SOU to God and Indifferent to the re-
lations of men in society, is giving
away. The message is becoming broad
er. While not putting any less en-
phasis on the Importance of each soul
getting right with God, preachers are
putting more emphasis on the duty of
men to live together in society as
brothers, in the spirit Of the Golden
rule. The pulpit is coming more to
concern itself with the external con-
ditions which do so much either to
help or hinder spiritual growth.
The social emphasis in religion
means that the church is getting back
closer to the spirit and method OF
Jesus. Christ was always working
toward a kingdom wherein righteous
ness and fairness and b~rotherliness
and mutual goodwill should bind men
together in an ideal social order. And
with this end in view the Master was
always relieving distress, healing dis
eases, Tightening burdens, sympathiz-
ing with misfortune, breaking shack
les and delivering captiyes, driving
away malignant and tormenting de-
mons, and m~inistering to the physical
welfare in order to promote the spir-
itual.
Position Of the Church.
But this is the question we wish to
raise: Has the church lent herself suf-
~fciently to this new social emphasis?
A recent writer has asserted that the
church always suffers in times Of so
cial upheaval because she is SO slow
to adjust herself to the changing needs
of the people, because she Is constitu-
tionally conservative, and because she
is in such large measure dependent on
certain rather comfortable and we'll
favored classes of society. For reasons