The Penn's Grove record., 1912-05-31

morbid nature of man the
MSG sunny gospel Of Jesus
wA N| Christ has often been con-
E& strued into a shadow of
- gloom. No one had a
6rmer hold on life, a sounder taste Of
It's pleasure, a richer appreciation Of
the higher possibilities for Joy con-
cealed in existence than Jesus.
Unfortunately, he was an oriental,
and, by some strange will of destiny
his cult first spread among occident-
ais. All his picturesque imagery, his
poetry, his delicate, piercing shafts Of
lntuitional perception, were hardened
into doctrines Of syllogisms, and his
social truth intended to permeate like
a lump of ~leaven," became a rigid or
g%anization.
We may have gained something
who shall say?-but we certainly have
lost much. When you pluck your lily
to pieces, scatter It's odorous petals on
the ground, and transact with a sharp
knife it's swelling seed-sac, you may
have added to your knowledge of sys-
tematic botany, but you have lost your
lily; its grace, color, fragrance, and
fruitfulness-and the flower was ere
ated for these.
And we may be sure there was some
charm of life, some fullness Of deep
10y, that played like a felt radiance
about his eyes and smile, that SO drew
to him the "multitudes," for the com.
mon people follow only what smacks
of life. Most of all does our age lack
In the realization of his warm hu.
manity.
Joy the Cure for Sin.
He came, he said, that u joy might
be full. There is the cure of sin. 1t
remained for Nietzsche, the declared
enemy Of our faith, to see it most
clearly. 1T is not Joy, but the lack OF
Joy, tina It's the mother of evil"
There never was a mortal sin that
did not spring from an empty heart.
What are all blasphemies but british,
twisted prayers for inward peace?
What are drunkenness and all feshly
naughtiness but the struggling Of souls
to fl themselves at the swine's trough
Of sensuality? What are cruelties and
Injustice and oppression but the at
tempt to stay the appetite for joy with
poison and bitter passions? And, TAX
Ing the whole range of human wicked.
ness, murder, envy, hate, lust, theft
unkindness, and money-madness, dc
they not seem to be the cries and
grimaces and wild gestures Of starv
ing gods locked out of the banquet
hall of truth, beating with bruised
hands against the door?
Whoever, therefore, plants one pure
pleasure in the garden of men, and
teaches US how 20 eat thereof and moi
sicken, has helped to stay the open
wound of human sin. We are be
ginning, these last days, to perceive
that the way to make the world az
good as possible is to make 1t as hap
Ply as possible, and not as miserable as
possible.
Economists are commencing to I'm
derstand that what makes slums is
dark, wretched lives; what makes
drunkenness and the social evil is emp
tiness.
Old and True Gospel.
Our new gospel is unconsciously tAe
old one and the true one. We are try
ing to make the peoples joy full, tc
save the people from vice and death
So in Jesus name we may not be
building lofty c~athedrals, as they die
In another age, but We are laying out
parks, setting apart Fairgrounds fol
children, rearing a mighty public
school system to shatter ignorance
promoting science to WOO the truth
building hospitals for the sick, anG
asylums for the insane and blind, ant
deaf and dumb, and feeble minded
transforming prison bells into sane re
~formatories.
We are extending art and learning
and music and the drama and all civ
ilized pleasures more and more toward
the common man, establishing libraries
and making the best literature cheaI
and popular-all in the name of the
Son of Man, to shunt the vast river
of human Joy that for centuries rar
only into the pools Of the elect, into
the broad lowlands of the people.
To this end all philanthropists, la
Dor unions, socialist movements, de
mocracies, scientists and schools worE
along different roads.
Law, repression, punishment, didac
tic warnings, and prohibitions, these
do MOI cure crime; they do but "hea.
the hurt of the daughter of my people
slightly, crying. Peace. peace, wher
there is no peace" Whoever will cur
US, let him come that our joy may be
full"