The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-09-21
Continued from page ~
WHY MEN SHOULD GO TO
CHURCH.

CHURCH.
Were sum-, moon and stars sudden
ly made conscious beings, at once they
should dip their glory to Him from
whom their glory has sprung. And
man, conscious by special gift of di-
vine prediction, is silent-heart new
er moving in gratitude, lips never
trembling in the salute: "Our Father
who are in Heaven, hallowed be Thy
name"
Rather, a hundred times rather, l
do not fear to say, the soul of the
untutored Indian, hearing in the f1ut-
terings of forest leaves the whisper
ings of the Great Spirit, or of the tur-
baned child of Allah, kneeling at noon
hour in the dusty highway, than that
of the proud son of choicest culture,
who, whatever his services to fell
lowmen, dares be silent before his
God.
Man is not unmindful of justice and
gratitude to fellowmen. This, his first
born instinct. The babe in the cradle
smiles to mother or father, and lifts
itself to reach their embrace. This,
the imperious rule of all social rela-
lions. Friend gives salute to friend;
the receiver of favors thanks the
giver; the citizen bares the head to
the symbol of the nation that guards
his life and property. Alone among
fathers and mothers, friends and bene-
factors, alone among saviours and
guardians, God is forgotten, unheard,
unhonored! The mystery of blindness
of eye, and of hardness of heart!
Above all creatures is the Creator:
above all other duties is the duty of
divine worship. Master" said a doc
tor of the law, (which is the great
commandment of the law" And
Jesus answered.: Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with thy whole heart,
and with thy whole soul, and with thy
whole mind. This is the greatest and
the first commandment" Other COM
mandments there are: but the great
est and the first commandment is that
which bids us worship God: other
duties fall into a secondary place. In
deed, the greatest and the first duty
thrown to the winds, the foundation
crumbles beneath other duties. Why,
we may logically ask, the observance
of secondary duties, when the chief
duty is deemed undeserving of atten-
ton?
No Natural Virtues Take the Place of
Duty to God.
1t is of no avail to repeat: Smith
is the best of fellows, diligent in bust
ness, a kind husband or father, and
in politics anxious to vote for what
Lo ho1SouoG %o ha tho hast iptnroCtC 0f
the country" Smith may be all that
a hundred times over: he fails in the
essential duty-the worship of the al
mighty God.
Of no avail is it to recount the many
private and public virtues a scrutin-
izing eye is able to discern in Smith
the many acts of benevolence one
must put to his service, the high and
disinterested patriotism of which he
has been the willing actor. Virtues
be there, never more noble; deeds be
there, never more high-minded, more
conspicuous-when the list of human
duties is read out before the tribunal
of eternal justice, the chief duty for
which man is responsible, Smith has
neglected; the chief deed in mans
legitimate activity, Smith has left IN
done.
The service of humanity, is sub
stituted for divine worship: the mar
who has earned we'll of fellowman is
accounted the hero, the saint. The
service of humanity properly ordered,
properly intentioned, merits approval
and praise. Approval and praise we
gladly accord. But in it's best form,
the service of humanity always is a
secondary duty. To worship God is
the greatest, the first commandment:
And the second is like to this-Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as myself.
The service of humanity, to the ex-
clusion of divine worship, is the tacit
profession that humanity is the all in
all: it is the enforcement of human
ity upon the pedestal of the deity, the
rejection of the sinaitic mandate: 81
am the Lord thy God. y y y Thou
shalt not have strange gods before
Me-
Other Attractions, Besides Divine
Worship, Out of Place.
To induce Smith, "the average TWEEN
tieth-century American''-to go tc
church, the writer in the Atlantic
Monthly proposes his remedies of pre-
objection, the principal, that churches
transform themselves into institutes
of social betterment, whittier crowds
are attracted by popular eloquence
dramatic entertainments, concerts
picture shows, whence influences &C
forth into the outer world in works Of
benevolence and human uplift. The
writer notes with special emphasis
the results obtained through the "Sal