The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-11-05

eatarrns rheumatism dyspepsia
nervousness, that tired feeling.
the power and the efficacy Of the laws
Of righteousness.
Meanwhile Smith does not go to
church. Meanwhile the fashion
spreads; the multitudes do as Smith
does. Meanwhile the childhood of the
land passes through schools and COLI
Eleges from which God is severely ex-
lied. The children Of today, tor1or-
row the men and citizens OF America,
are versed in the secrets of matter,
in the manipulations of matter, in the
values of material possessions and the
methods Of acquiring them. OF the
rights of the Creator and of the duties
Of the creature, no mention Is made
the while teaching in its secular ex-
clusiveness begetting the idea that
God no longer counts in human af-
fairs, no longer .exacts from men Wor-
ship and obedience. Meanwhile phil
osophers of unbelief are making proc
lamation, daily louder and louder,
that matter is the all suffering entity,
that q personal God Is unnecessary
that the mind and the will of man are
so many movements Of chemical at
omism, that all men, all nature are
pieces Of blind mechanism, that con-
sequently moral responsibility Is the
dream Of wild fancy. Well may we
query, whittier are we drifting? Well
may we query, is the world of today
growing better or worse?
VISITS heshrdT pId; SIP shrdl fwy emf
The trend--we mustanot blind our
selves to facts toward secularisrn,
in modes of thought, in motives OF
conduct. The reaction must be quick
and resolute, if salvation is to be re-
stored to America. .
AS a man thinks, SO he is; as a peo-
pie think, SO they are. May the peo-
pie of America never put. from their
minds the great truth that God is to
be ~worshiped, revered, obeyed! Were
they to do so, sad were the happen
ings in the moral and social life Of the
nation The human soul Is vitality
logical; sooner or later, the thoughts
Of the mind prevail in daily life. God
taken from the mind, conscience with
ers and dies: without conscience in
human life, moral chaos is the ORDER
of the day. S.
AS perhaps no other country. Amer
lea is in need of conscience; conse-
quently, of. religion, the sole forma q
tive power of conscience. America
proposes to itself the most arduous OF
social problems-to maintain a gov,
eminent that will hold in check the
passions of the people, while it en-,
trusts to the people more or less i'm,
AN y W S1ASASI kAlN
government. What, then, Of the gov,
eminent Of the republic, if conscience
recedes from the bosom of the peoples
if the day comes When religion, in the
general thought of the people, is
merely q memory of blessed things
to be? Yes, let The reaction toward
religion be quick and resolute in our
cherished land of America.
Men do not go to church,; the life
of earth is their all-absorbing Idol.
For their inattention to God, they
plead in excuse the lack of a leisure
hour; earth claims so much that of
necessity heaven must be set aside.
Some go further and say that worship
of the Almighty imposes upon the
life that now is'', a harm they cannot
easily pardon. inasmuch as it begetst
in the mind q spirit Of other- worldli-
ness THAT slackens interest in the
present life. and impairs in no small
degree the zeal and energy needed in
the amelioration of the human race.
st. Paul writes: Goodness is prof.
table to all things. having promise Of
the life that now is, and of that which,
is to come" Words. those are of the
deepest import. In goodness even the
present life must put it's trust IL it
would insure to itself health and hap
piness.. ...-
Social charity, social justice, social
peace-behold the ideals of present
day worshippers of humanity. Those
ideals ! make my own-in the prom4
Uses they give, in the efforts to which
they stimulate outpuet Of effort. But
l make the contention that secularism
the custer of God from the life Of
humanity-nullifies those ideals, that
only through God and the service of
God does fruitful realization await
them. - - ...-
Is the issue that of social charity
Love n another; serve one anoth-
er; serve the DOOR, the wretched, the
slave of sin and vice. That we do so,
however, inspiration is needed, motive
is needed. But whence in the philo-,
sophy of secularism will come inspir-
alton and motive? Is 1t from the emo-
ton the sight of misery bestirs? This
Is mornentary, quickly exhausted by
fatigue in the server, by ingratitude
a renewed human race? This is a Wis
ion of merest possibilities, soon losing
through repeated failures it's bright
ness of color. Is it from the personal
interest involved in the welfare of
others? Personal interest lies too
often in injury to or in carelessness
of the welfare Of others; and at best
the advantages to come from service
given to others, especially when those
others are unable or unwilling to re-
turn service for service, are too slight
or too remote to wrest from the hum
an breast the sacrifice, the s%elf-denial
without which charity is sounding
brass or tfnkling cymbal.
Would we know what becomes of So
cial charity where secularism holds
full sway? Then we go back to Greece
and Rome of pagan ages, where one
half the population were the slaves
depending for very life on the whim
Of relentless masters, where woman
hood and childhood were without re-
spect, where the orphan and the infirm
We're loathed, where physical strength
and abundant pelf were sole recipients
OF honor and reverence. Secularism is
not tested to its just dement's in our
present social conditions. Christian
practices still are strong in our world;
christian teachings still invigorate our
humanity. But time opens room to the
logic of philosophers: in a broadened
and uncon1ned field of Influences see
ularism will not fail to revive the
spirit. IL not the exact form o. nldhr