Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-02-24

educated mind q regenerated heart, edu-
cation may serve simply to make a more
clever rogue. Education II divorced from
religion leads to the spread OF depravity
| and the destruction Of the basic elements
OF Christian civilization. You can dot
| every hilltop with school house. you
can build colleges in every village. you
can erect universities In every large CEN
tire, until Ignorance will stink like a
whipped cur into darkness, and still
America will sink into hell unless the
purity of Americas heart keeps pace
with the brilliancy of Americas brain.
Every day, therefore, the outer wall of
education breaks down for somebody.
(c) Business. There Is no doubt that
poverty causes crime with some, just as
crime causes poverty. There is no doubt
that being without a job Is a severe strain
on mans morality. All things being equal
II ought to be easier for man with a
comfortable income or a living wage 60
be good, and I believe It is. And yet,
every day somebody with magnificent in
come. palatlal home, locks the door of
his place of business and uses his pros
perity as a toboggan to slide into all
sorts of immortality and vice. If abject
poverty tends to eat away the founda-
ton of moral powers, there seems to be
a sort of acid in money and prosperity
that eats the virtue and purity out of
many who possess It. Every day some
prosperous man turns out bad and an
other example is added to the long list of
men for whom the outer wall of business
as n moral protector has broken down.
(d) Home. with all the moral In
fluence of the home, every copy of the
morning paper adds to the slckening list
of men and women who violate all the
sacred things that bind them to home;
they sin against themselves, against their
children and against society. Every day
the outer wall of the home as protecting
force breaks down.
(e) Patriotism. Although in the time
of war patriotism does inspire small men
to big action, yet in times of peace, when
the smell of powder Is not in the air
and the rattle Of the drum Is STILL men
find it easy to fail in their duty, and
in a thousand and one ways. by low
ideals or dishonest practices, commit trea-
son to their country In innumerable ways.
There are more Benedict Arnolds than
history records. Every day. therefore,
the outer wall of patriotism breaks down.
"I want now to pay a tribute to that
one inner wall of genuine Christian char
acter, which will stand when all these
outer walls have crumbled into dust
"1f every man in America was a gen.
uine Christian we could dispense with
the outer wall of legislation, for 1t is
because the principles of Christianity are
NOT HCCepleu ana llNeu out tndt we need
police. jails, penitentiaries, electric chairs
and scaffolds.
"If every man in America was gem
une Christian, even though we lacked
the wall of education, it would be found
that the ignorance of a man who Is
Christian would not be as fruitful a soil
for the seeds of wickedness as the igno-
rance of the man who Is not a Christian.
"If every man In America was a gem
une Christian, our periods OF unemploy-
ment would not be productive of crime as
they are now. The inner wall OF Chris
tianity helps man more than anything
else TO hold his rudder true, when his
sense of morality is being strained to
the breaking point. by temptations which
come in the hour of poverty or want.
"Tf every man in America was a gem
uine Christian, no one would wriggle his
Shiny carcass of vice and seek TO lure
others from the path of virtue
"If every man in America was a gen