The Detroit times., 1915-08-20
In the Religious World
What the Church Folk Are Thinking About and Doing

When the young king came TO the
throne he found the nation IN a
sorry state OF decline. The worship
OF Jehovah had been largely super
seeded by the idolatries OF the sur
rounding nations. with their appeal
10 the sensual nature of man. An
appalling state OF depravity had
been reached. one so far below our
modern conceptions OF religion that
only those with knowledge OF.
say. the basar side OF Hinduism can
understand il. War and its contracts
and compromises had brought into
Judah all the abominations of the
surrounding nations. Pure religion
and immortality cannot coexist.
side by side; and the true worship
OF Jehovah was engulfed py this
flood of depravity. No modern re-
former ever faces conditions SO bad
as those met by young King Asa.
The Reformer's Mission.
Left TO itself, society says and
slumps. When men do as they
please. they commonly please TO do
wrong. Throughout the centuries,
the great social corrective has been
the prophet and the reformer. some
times both Offices being united In
one man. a world without these
iGealists would ~ hopeless indeed
Consider how far Judah had deter
iorated from the great days OF Da-
vid and Solomon. Nobody. be he
the greatest Of kings. can establish
a social order that will endure per
manently; but he can transmit to
his sons the impulse and the pur-
pose and the vision To maintain life
at high levels.
This CLEAN had been passed on
TO Asa. Where there Is no vision.
the people perish; and without the
diviner conceptions OF life which
burn in noble breasts this old world
would soon perish OF its own rotten
ness. Always these reformers are
derided by their own generation,
Just az practical" men today sheer
at the prophets who proclaim a com
ing day Of inevitable social Justice.
OF peace on earth. and OF world
brotherhood. The administrators In
Asa's court gave him scant encour.
agement In his reforms. They knew
human nature; by which they
meant that they understood the
i otI. 80
knows human nature who does not
clearly perceive It's capacity for
idealism. judah for n time rose
10 Asa's lofty expectations for IL.
even as the peoples at war to-
day have shown a heroism. a self.
sacrifice. devotion 70 great OBJ
tectives which year ago the cyni.
cal observer never suspected.
A wise reformer enlists the nigh.
est motives that can possibly be at.
tached TO his cause. SO Asa. be.
cause he himself was primarily a
spiritually minded young man. made
his appeal 20 Judah on a religious
basis. He rallied the people 10 the
God OF their fathers. All the force
of the covenants which had been
made with Jehovah by Solomon and
David and Moses and Jacob and
Abraham was directed 10 the re.
enforcement OF the new movement.
Let II be said over and over again,
that trne reform cannot come on
any other basis. Not prudence. not
prosperity. not enjoyment. not self.
interest. is an adequate foundation
for a change in the social order.
Only religion which transforms the
heart OF man. can make over the
world in which man lives. That f.
why Billy Sunday campaign does
more 10 clear NJ community than
a political reform movement.
i The Man with a Hammer.
Some things have 10 De smashed.
IN any true reform. Thai Is whore a
certain type ~ mind balks: II would
cover the old idols with floral
vteaths. and draw curtain before
the temple debauchery, and provide