The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1915-08-19
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
TO 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 q knowledge Of.
say, the baser side OF Hinduism can
understand II. War and its contracts
and compromises had brought into
Judah all the denominations Of the
surrounding nations. Pure religion
and immortality cannot coexist.
side by side; and the true worship
OF Jehovah was engulfed by 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 a. 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 |
idealists would be 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 |
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 as 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.
asement In bis reforms. They knew
human nature: by which they
meant that they understood the
baser side Of people Nobody truly
knows human nature who does not
clearly perceive It's capacity for
idealism. Judah for a time rose
to Asa's lofty expectations for Il.
even as the peoples at war TO-
day have shown . heroism. a self. |
sacrifice. a devotion TO great OBJ.
jectives which a year ago the cyni.
cal observer never suspected.
A wise reformer enlists the high. |
est motives that can possibly be AZ.
tached TO his cause. SO Asa. be-
cause he himself was primarily a
spiritually minded young man. made
his appeal TO Judah on religious
basis. He rallied the people to 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 true reform cannot come on
any other basis. Not prudence. not
prosperity, not enjoyment, not self
interest. IL an adequate foundation
for change in the social order.
Only religion. which transforms the
heart OF man. can make over the
world In which man lives That ~
Why Billy Sunday campaign does
more 10 clear up a community than
a political reform movement.
The Man with a Hammer.
Some things have NJ be smashed.
In any true reform. That Is where a
certain type OF mind balks: II would
cover the old idols with floral
wresths, and draw curtain before
the temple debauchery, and provide