Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-10-01


ligion."
I want to take two texts. one from the
bible and one from outside the Bible.
One is the expression Of human desire,
the other Is the answer to that desire.
Gerald Stanley Lee in a recent article
on advertising goodness, said this; 81
want To be good, but / don't want to go
up in a mountain and do Il, OF sink off
and live all alone on an island in the sea"
The other text want to take is from
one Of the immortal prayers of the Mas
ter when He lifted his voice toward the
stars and said. II pray not that thou
Ehould'st take them out of the world, but
that thou should'st keep them from the
evil."'-John xvii:16.
There have been throughout all the
centuries two ideas of goodness, the posi-
tive and the negative. The negative in
dex has been that In order to be good
man must run away from the world
The positive idea has been that In order
10 be not only good, but good for some
thing. a man must get into the world.
want to raise the question today as
1 to which Is the Christian idea of religion?
: 1 want to strike the death blow at the
idea that Icing a Christian takes a man
out of the busy whirl of the worlds life
and activity and makes him a spineless
and effeminste proposition.
do not believe that a man has to run
away from the world in order to be re-
ligious. 1, too, have felt as you have.
with Mr.. Ice, that l did not went to 90
up into a mountain or stink off all alone
and live on an island in the sea in order
10 be good, and face the job of being n
Christian with Joy, when 1 hear Jesus
saying: IT pray not that thou should st
take them out of the world" for know
that He expects a man to be good, not
alone behind stone walls of religious in
stitutions but in the rough and tumble
of everyday life.
No Need to Run Away,
want to write an indictment against
the idea of running away from the world
In order to be good. In this indictment
there shall be four counts. Running away
from the world in order to be good makes
religion a matter of place and observ-
ance. When a man locked himself in
monastery in an effort to achieve good
ness by that act ne said it was easier to
be religious in a sheltered place than out
in the hard-paved street And that
religion consisted solely in certain OBJ
servance, such as praper. meditation and
Bible reading.
man who seems TO think that his re-
ligion is summed up in the doing of a
lot OF special things, such as attending
church. singing psalms. saying prayers,
etc, and who seems to think that re
ligon is confined TO one day in the week
and that the other six are the legitimate
field of the secular Phillips Brooks had
at one time in his church such man.
His religion on Sunday was beyond criti-
cism, but on every other day in the week
he did not allow his religion to interfere
with any OF his plans or places. And
every time Phillips Brooks approached
any man in that city on the subject OF
religion this man was constantly brought
Into the conversation. Phillips Brooks
was one of those men who believed that
If preacher had any criticism to make
on mans conduct there was Just ono
place to make it, and that was squarely
into the mans teeth.
So Phillips Brooks said to the man:
Every time I approach any man in this
community on the matter OF religion
your name Is mentioned. and men say
that. while you seem TO be loyal to your
religion on Sunday, on week days they
find you a man Of very low business
ideals and tricky methods. Now, why
should you be different man ON Mon
day or Wednesday or Saturday than ON
SundayT' The mans answer is a signifi-
cant thing. He did not blush. He did
not stammer, but said: well, you can
not expect a man to be pious all the
time, can you? You cannot expect a
man TO be attending Resper services all
the Time can you? You cannot expect
man to be reading his Bible ali the
time or praying all the time. can you?
man has to earn his bread"
Religion in All Thtnn.
Just as though earning ones bread
and being religious were utterly inoonsIs-
tent and incompatible. Just as though
religion consisted solely in attending
church services, reading the Bible. sine.
ing psalms and praying. Just as thoush
religion consisted in doing q lot OF sue
cial things. AZ 1 have said so many times
before, religion does not consist In dong
lot OF special things, even though those
special things be good things; but reis-
ION consists in doing all things ia a
special way.
Religion is not a matter OF time. place,
circumstances or observance, and. there
fore. an idea OF religion which either lit
orally or figuratively causes a man 10
run away from the world In order 20 lie
good is false idea of religion.
Running away from the world In or
der TO be good makes religion selfish.
II a man runs away from the world
In order to be good. by his very act he
says that religion Is simply and My a
private affair with him-a something
labeled for external use and home con
sumption only.
We have produced in America by that
idea RELIGIOUS type Of men who ara re-
a hgions IN the best sense OF the " 1rd in
their private lives. but who IN their 70
fessional, commercial, social AMI nous
trial relations where other poo le are
concerned do not seem 20 think that theft
religion need necessarily enter. T., otner
words. this Idea OF religion has n, 'poea
men whose private lives are cool q. INT