The theocrat. [volume] (Zion City [i.e. Zion], Ill.) 1914-1949, 1915-05-08
Review and Outlook
An Editorial Classic

On Nov. 3, 1906, The Wall Street Jour
nal published an editorial entitled els
There Decline in Faith?" 1t has become
an editorial classic 1t has been trans
lated into more languages than one, and
has been republished thousands Of times in
English-speaking countries all over the
world. At the request Of innumerable
readers, it is now reprinted, not unsuitably,
for Good Friday.
The editorial is the more interesting now
that it called attention to tendency. or
trend, which is, by the blessing of God,
working perceptibly in the other direction.
The Wall Street Journal makes no apol-
ogy for handling such subject IF it is
not the immediate and vital concern of
business men, what is?
Is There Decline in Faith?
He who believes in a future life is a
citizen Of two worlds He moves in this,
but his highest thought and inspiration
are fixed on the future. To such person,
what takes place here and now is not I'M
important, but it is infinitely less import
ant than what shall take place hereafter.
He looks upon his life here as but prep
aration for the life to come. His expert
ences here, whether of joy or of sorrow,
are of value to him only as they enable
him the better to meet the everlasting de-
mands Of the life after death. He is not
Indifferent to the rewards which may come
in this world to industry, endeavor and
opportunity; but failure, illness, poverty,
abuse,-what do these amount to, to man
who believes he is to enjoy the sublime
privileges of eternity He measures every
thing by the infinite. Wealth, luxury,
power, distinction-he may not despise
these, but he looks upon them as being but
temporary-mere delights that are given
as tests Of his character.
Faith in eternal life smooths out every
inequality and injustice Of the present
life under the great weight of the infinite.
It makes the poor feel rich, and gives to
tH0 uuIOIGuudCo q SclSc VI HClISH1P W CHc
Almighty. It makes the rich feel a sense
Of grave responsibility and trusteeship.
Now, it is not needful for this discus
sion to consider whether such faith is
reasonable or not The Wall Street Jour-
nal has no concern in theological discus
siOns Intakes no part for or against any
creed, but it is intensely interested in the
economic and political effects of any
change in the thought, the habits and the
lives of men. If there has been marked
decline in religious faith, that fact must be
of profound, far-reaching significance. 1t
alters the basic conditions Of civilization.
1t becomes a factor in the markets. It
changes the standards and affects the val
ues of things that are bought and sold. 1t
concerns the immediate interests of those
who never had such faith almost as much
as it does the lives Of those who have had
the faith and lost it.
The question, therefore, is Of practical,
immediate and tremendous Importance to
Wall Street, quite as much as any other
part Of the world. Has there been de-
cline in the faith in the future life; and, if
so, to what extent is this responsible for
the special phenomena Of our times, the
eager pursuit Of sudden wealth, the shame
less luxury and display, the gross and cur
rupting extravaganza, ''the misuse of
swollen fortunes, F" the Indifference to law,
the growth of graft, the abuses Of great
corporate power, the social unrest, the
spread of demagogy, the advances Of
socialism, the appeals to bitter class ha-
tired? To find out what connection exists
between a decadence in religious faith and
the social unrest of our time, due, on one
side, to oppressive use Of financial power,
and on the other to class agitation, might
well be worth an investigation by COM
mission Of government experts if it were