Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-09-10

ana n is Old-IaSnlon-
ed" She has been reared to do as
her mother desires; they lave only
one standard, which is that every
body is doing It," What she has
been taught to consider modesty
they scott at as prudery. All the
reticencies which this girl has been
told should shield a woman's soul
are laughed at by her "up-to-date"
companions. In speech, in dress,
and in conduct they daily cross the
line which her traditions deem I'M
crossable. They take and permit
liberties of behaviour with young
men which violate the code which
she has accepted as sacred. They
have a line" and know how TO
jazz it up" she IA been brought
up to observe limits of speech and
action. So this girl is bewildered.
She does not want to be a trump"
a "kill-joy." a "sad-bird," for she Is
light-hearted, pleasure-loving, nor
NAL young person.
That girls plight embodies the
problem of today. The world is a
jungle of conflicting codes and GUS
toms. Since the war many ancient
boundaries and landmarks have
been removed. Barriers are down.
A rea social revolution has taken
place. All the ancient practices and
prophecies are now hedged about
with question marks. In individual
conduct as in international affairs,
the accepted standards seem to be
in the melting pot. There is not a
young person out in active life who
is not puzzled as to what course to
follow. In print and in converse
ton, on the motion-picture screen
and on the stage, as well as in the
contemporary life mirrored by the
newspaper, youth finGA much that
runs squarely counter to the teach
ings Of home and church. There is
a sort of moral and social and spir-
itual Bolshevism in the air. The
Russian code of individual conduct
has spread more widely and rapidly
than the Russian political and econ
omic doctrines.
An Ugly Old Picture
There is no use in wringing our
hands over present conditions, OF
thanking God that we are not as
others are; that is sheer pharisaism.
First, we must face the facts, with
clear and open vision. Then we
need to ascertain whether they are
altogether unique. Is u time
worse than all other times? Are we
really going to the dogs? Do our
modern cities, as some fervid critics
declare, surpass Sodom and Gomor-
rah? Having confronted actual con-
ditions, we are bound next to find a
way out. And here we have, oppor-
timely, a Sunday school lesson which
is pertinent as if made to order for
this very month of September, 1921.
Thrust into the midst of the
course of historical studies in the
life of Paul we have this fragment
from n of his letters. We shall
be considering, two weeks hence. the
city and the people to which it was
addressed. Now there is before us
the second of three known letters by
Paul to the Church at Corinth. The
first is lost. The present n is a
tonic for our times. Its reading will
stiffen up our loose thinking upon
moral questions. 1t really was writ
ten to combat certain evils which
had arisen in the young church.,
such as strife and partisanship and
immortality. The letter has almost
uncanny contemporary value. as it
depicts the evils of a church led
aside into incidentals n eccentric
ity of doctrine, to the neglect of the
primal simplicity of the faith
preached by Paul.
1t is an ugly picture of the
Corinthian church that this letter
paints. We are in the habit of as
Stunning that those early Christians.
of Bible times. were exemplary dis
ciples. Far, far from it. There
were contankerous saints in Corinth,
quite as we find them in our own
churches. There were fantastic and
fanatical folk who stressed the
second blessing and the gift of
tongues while neglecting love and
good works. Rich Corinthian Chris
tians were setting themselves up
above their poorer brethren. Worse
yet, there were members who were
living in open unchastity. One man.
to the same even of the heather,
was living in sin with his step
mother. The nerve of moral convic-
ton in the church in Corinth had
been paralyzed; and, at the same
time, schism and suspicion and back
biting and doctrinal id~iosyncracies
abounded. There is a certain kind
of encouragement for us in the his
torical fact hat this apostolic
church was farther off from the
Christian standard than any Chris
tian congregation that we could find
today.
As it Was of Old
Once I heard q missionary tell of
the pleasure his converts had in the
Book of Acts, because those early
Christians were so like themselves!
We read the Bible from u W
Christian background. AS heirs of
centuries of Christian teaching and
tradition, we have %outgrown much
Of the crassness of the Worldliness
which the early church knew.
HeathendOm surrounded them. The
very air they breathed was tainted
with idolatry.
In a dozen ways, and every day,
paganism thrust itself into the life
and thought. What about observ-
ing heather holidays? Should they
bow to the empcror's portrait or
image-a current question in Japan
today? Was it consistent for a
Christian to a meat that had been
sacrificed to idols? Should a con-
vert put away his plural wives? If
SO, which ones? Were the sensual
indulgences that were looked upon
as normal by the community to be
permitted to followers OF the new
Way? How about the old class
lines; should they persist in the
Brotherhood?
Some of these points were non
essential, and some were central to
the very existence of the new faith.
No perplexity of morals or ethics
that beWilders a Christian today can
compare with the gravity n COM
plexity of the questions that con-
fronted the disciples in the de-
bauched pagan life of old Corinth.
The quandary of the girl mentioned
in the opening paragraph of this
article is the same in kind-but far