The Irish standard., 1913-11-08

THE IRISH
safer the pathway to illicit possession
and sensual enjoyment.
| Bring together into one single ar
ray IN support Of morality, private Of
public. all the theories, all the com
binstiops. that philosophy limited tt
earth may invent, and human HAND
may apply-the words Of Scripture
remain true: Unless the Lord build
the house. they labor in vain thai
build It; unless the Lord keep the
city, he watcheth in vain that keepett
It," Are we in earnest in our will
that the moral law should prevail:
Then, let us fasteh the soul of man
deeply and firmly, to the Almighty
and Eternal God. making it to know
and to understand that the princi
pies of righteousness are the immov
able laws Of God, the supreme moral
ruler of the universe, making it to
know and to understand that God II
is who Furnishes the violation of those
principles, who thereof rewards the
observance. 1t is written: "Fear God
and keep His commandments; for
this Is ali man." There, and nowhere
else, lie 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 col.
leges from which God is severely ex.
lied. The children of today, tomorrow
the men and citizens of America, are
verseG in the secrets of matter, in the
manipulations Of matter, in the values
of material possessions and the meth.
dds of acquiring them. OF the rights
of the Creator and the duties of the
creature, no mention is made-the
while teaching in its secular exclu-
siveness begetting the idea that
God nc longer counts in human af-
fairs, no longer exacts from men
worship and obedience. Meanwhile
philosophers of unbelief are making
proclamation, daily louder and louder.
that matter Is the all-suff1cing entity,
that personal God is unnecessary,
that the mind and the will Of man
are SO many movements of chemical
atomism, 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?
The trend-we must not blind our
selves to facts-is toward secularism,
in modes Of thought, in motives of
conduct. The reaction must be quick
and resolute. II salvation is to be
restored to America.
AS man thinks, so he is; as a peo-
pie think, so they are. May the PEG.
pie Of America never put from their
minds the great truth that God is to
be worshiped, revered. obeyed! Were
they to do 80, sad we're the happen.
ings in tho moral and social life OF
the nation. The human soul is vitality
logical; sooner or late, 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.
AS perhaps no other country, Amer.
lea is in need Of conscience; ccnse'
quently, of religion. the sole forma'
tive power Of conscience. America
proposes to itself the most arduoua
of sociol problems-to maintain q
government that will hold in check
the passions of the people while II
entrusts to the people more or less
Immediately the right to control the
government. What, then, of the gov
eminent Of the republic, If conscience
recedes FROM the bosom OF the peo
pic; II the day comes when religion
III the general thought of the people
is merely a memory of blessed things
that once were and now have ceased
to be: Yes, let the reaction toward
religion he 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 leisure
hour; earth claims so much that Of
necessity heaven must be set aside
Some 60 further and say that worship
Of the Almighty imposes upon "the