Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-11

.
Mr. Sunday said that religion is
an antitoxin which renders you
immune from the sins of the world
and a powder blast sending you
like bullet out into the heart Of
the world, there to act as a IeaVen
to leaven the lump and bring this
world to Jesus Christ" speaking on
the subject THE Kinds Of ReIig-
ion" Continuing he said:
{ There have been, throughout
the world, two ideas of goodness, a
negative idea and a positive. The
negative has been that in order to
be good you've got to run away
from the world, and the positive
idea has been that, not only to be
good but to be good for something,
you need to get out into the world
and rub elbows with the world and
meet men and women face to face
and hand to hand. And 1 want to
raise the question in your minds
which is the Christian idea of re-
1igion.
/ / want to strike a death blow to
+ the idea that being a Christian
/ takes a man or woman out of the
. busy activities Of life and makes
/ them weak, spi1eless, pale faced,
ettea,jnata. sort CT anaemic, sissi-
/ fed don't believe that man
needs TO run away from the world
( to be religious.
l, too, have felt as you do, that
you don't want to go up In a noun
tain or ike on some island in the
middle Of the sea to be good. l,
TfUy 70 k l. IF
Christian with joy, when l hear
thou shOuldest take him out of the
world"
I know God Almighty expects
you and me to be good. not alone
behind the stone walls of the
church on Sunday morning. not
alone. hid in the inside room OF
some monastery, hut out in the
rough and the tumble of everyday
life tho meeting and the mixing
with people.
want to bring an Indictment,
this afternoon, against the idea
that running away from the world,
in order to be good, pleases God
or has a ealublance of teligion
about It. And, l have four counts
in my Indictment. First: Running
away from the world, in order to
be good, makes religion simply 4
matter Of place and observances.
When a man locks himself in n
monastery in order to achieve
goodness or up behind the stone
walls of Sunday morning, by that
act he says it Is easier to be relig-
tous in a sheltered place than it is
out on the paved street rubbing ell
bows and mixing with people, and
that religion consists solely in GER
tain cbservances and rituals, such
as prayer, meditation and reading
the bible.
Just so, there is in America, a
type Of man who seems to think
that religion is summed up in doing
a lot of special things, such as at :
tending church, singing psalms, )
saying their prayers, repeating the
SO articles of confession, and the .
catechism, and giving a little
money, and they seem to think that .
religion is simply confined to one i
day in the week and then TO one ,
hour in the day. So far as 1 can
figure out, from what you do here, |
you can't even get 'em out at night
and they seem to think that relig- :
ion is confined to one day in the /
week and that all the other six
days they can indulge in legitimate
or iIlegitimate activities regardless
of secular matters.
Just as if earning your bread
were inconsistent and Incompatible
with religion. That's what's the
matter with the prostitute, that's
what's the matter with the thiel.
It's a damnable insult and SANDER
to say you can't be religious and
earn your bread. You are bring
ing an indictment against God
when you say. Il can't be decent
and make anything in the world"
Then die and get out Of the world.
Doing Gods Command.
AS have said so many times be-
fore, religion doesn't consist in
doing a lot of special things, but
religion does consist in doing
everything in a special way as God
commands you to do 1t, whether it
is making the bread or sweeping
your house or whatever it may be.
Religion is not simply matter
of place or time, religion is not
matter of circumstances, a matter
of observances, therefore, any idea
of religion which, literally or fig
causes a man or woman
to run away from the world 10
please God is a false idea and
craWIed out of the pit of hell It
never came from heaven.
Second: Running away from the
world, in order to be good, makes
religion selfish.
I get so disguised with the way
a lot Of people live and call it re
liglon, that / can hardly hold my
self. What little they do in the
universe to show they live for
God! II you never did any more
to show your love for God than
some people I know Of, you'd bet
ter get busy.
This idea of religion has pro-
duced men whose private lives are
good, but whose public lives are
rotten. I mean this: Here's a man.
He will be true and virtuous, true
to his wife and yet he will be
damnable CRATER in
politics. His private life is all
right, his public life is rotten.
Here's what I mean again: He will
be true to his wife, virtuous manly,
yet he viii float some get-rich-
quick scheme and sell some fake
mining stock and steal money from
people and he is just dirty, filthy
thief His private life is all right,
IL t. Tr