Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1913-12-03
SOCIALISM STIRS THE
CHRISTIAN MINISTERS
Some Approve and Some Oppose
The Rev. DR.. Cars Pre-
sentatiOn Of the Gospel.
REASON ON HIS SIDE.
Discussions Show The Main Citadel
Of Socialism To be lmpregnsble.
.ditnr Of The Canital .


To the Editor Of The Capital:
The Rev. DIR. Carr has finished his
present campaign in Maryland. A
week ago last Monday be addressed
about two hundred ministers in Bal
timore, and won repeated and loud
applause At the close Of the meet
ing animated groups discussed his
stirring message, which had fallen
upon their ears as the clarion tones
Of new John the Baptist.
IL would be amusing, If il were
not so tragic, to observe tire various
stratagems employed by the opposi-
ton to escape the force of his logic
He uses the Bible as a two-edged
sword against capitalism, aud his
opponents are driven into all sorts of
absurd positions. But none have
met the main issue, viz: that the
word of God forbids "usury' or in
terest, rent and profit and that
through these our present CONNER
cial stem is robbihg the people for
the benefit of few millionaires.
My esteemed friend and brother,
the Rev. Percy f. Hall, attempts to
explain the practical promises of
Christ to the poor by reducing then
to poetry. This would melt them into
thin air. For example, what mockery
it would be to say to the thousand
men shivering in the 'bre ad line" on
a wintry night "Be good and God
will take care of you. Or, again, to
quote the beautiful verses of the
psalm
"The heavens declare the glory of
God
And tha armament showeth His
handiwork.
To the slum-dwellers whose crowded
tenements rarely see sunshine or
stars? These people need bread and
butter, sunlight and fresh air, but
the owners of the tenements find it
cheaper to offer them poe try.
Not so, Jesus. He literally ''fll-
ed the stomachs Of the crowe with
bread and fish, and afterwards lifted
Up their minds 10 the beautiful teach
ings Of the "Bread of Life. The
church's blunder today is that of
vainly trying TO feed hungry stomachs
with spiritual sustenance. On the
contrary, st. Paul says "That is not
Eirst which is spiritual, but that
which is natural; and afterward that
which is spiritual. I" And so DIR.
Carr is fully viudicated in bis expo
sition cf the Divine truth that men
must be brought to industrial free
dom before they can be ssnctifed.
Another illustration of misconcep-
tion is furnished by an incident which
occurred last Saturday at the minis
ters' luncheon. A certain minister
bolted out of the door Indignantly
when DR.. Carr uttered the remark:
"Interest-taking is a greater crime
than adultery = Had that indignant
minister been less hasty, he might
have recalled the fact that the Lord
Jesus taught precisely the same thing.
A young woman was brought before
the Master on the charge of adultery.
Jesus absolved her and graciously
commanded her to go and sin no
more. " But the exploiter-or inter-
est taking rich manJesds consigned
to hell In similar vein he told
the Pharisees who exploited the poor:
THE publicans and harlots go into
the kingdom of God before you :"
imagine Jesus in a fashionable pulpit
today using such lauguagel Wouldn't t
gilded sristocracy cruelty Him7
OF course, neither Jesus nor His con-
secrated messenger, DR.. Carr, meant
to belittle the vile sin of adultery,
but rather to expose the enormity of
exploitation. The poor fallen victim
of the White Slave traffic is pitied by
merciful God, but the capitalist,
who creates her condition. is threaten
ed with certain he'll.
In conclusion let us urge all pa
triots not to listen TO the ISLANDERS
against Socialism, but to face the
main issue viz that Socialism spells
| Brotherhood, while Capitalism spells
Crime This is the clear teaching
cf Moses and Jesus. We must re-
cover this Bible truth from under the
hoofs OF greedy commercialism.
Not until we establish the Co
operative Commonwealth and thereby
give every human being an opportu-
nifty to develop his God-given facul.
ties, can We expect to bring the
whole world to the feet of the Cru
cited.
| Very respectfully,
| IhMEC CMIrEV