The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-02-02
TELLS OF JESUS
ATTITUDE IF
HERE TODAY
Bishop Weldon Declares That
Christ Would Laud Hos
pitfalls, Not Churches.

NSIISI vVONbO 1dUO EVOS"
pitfalls, Not Churches.
By the Right Rev. J. E. C. Weldon,
Bishop Of Durham.
In this article the Bishop of
Durham, one of the most fearless
and outspoker1 clergyman of today,
discusses the theme of Upton SIN
cIGir's moVel, "They Call Me Car
penter."
LONDON, Feb. 1.-The ques-
ton: What would Jesus Christ do
If He came on earth today, or If
He came to some particular city,
as London or Chicago, has been
In late years not infrequently dis
cussed. 1t affords critics an easy
opportunity OF attacking the sup
posed views or failings of Christian
people.
1 have thought sometimes that
nowhere on earth would Jesus
Christ feel so much at home to-
day as in a hospital. There is
much that would pain Him in
business and society; much, too,
/ am afraid, that would pain Him
in the life of the churches. But
the hospitals have been, and still
are, the glories of Christendom. In
them Jesus Christ would recog-
nize His own spirit of charity.
Yet at the thought that the hos
closing their wards for lack of
funds, Jesus Christ would, think,
flash out in fiery indignation
against the abuse Of riches.
For great as has been the
changes in the distribution of
riches during and since the war,
there are still many rich persons
who spend upon pleasures, and
sometimes upon harmful pleasures,
money which might well be given
| to the support OF hospitals.
Warned of Riches.
No words Of Jesus Christ are
more strongly calculated to make
processing Christians feel uncom-
Portable than those in which He
insisted upon the peril of riches.
So now He would unsparingly
condemn all ill-gotten and ILL
applied riches. He would look, not
to riches alone, but to the sources
Of riches as well. He would show
pity, perhaps. to some persons
whom the world censures, such as
the unhappy victims OF drink and
lust.
But He would rebuke the men and
women all the more If they are call
ed Christian, men and women, who
are content to enrich themselves at
the cost Of bringing misery upon
their fellow citizens.
Jesus Christ, IL He came upon
earth, would be the friend Of the
poor. He was a workingman Him.
self. His associates and apostles
were workingmen.. It is the
strangest Of strange paradoxes that
Christianity should cease to be the
religion of the poor and become the
religion Of the rich.
Heard By Poor People.
1.-THE common people," it is said,
heard Him gladly" and they hear
Him gladly now, when the voice
which appeals to them is His and
not that of a Christian denomina-
ton or q Christian institution. A
Christian, in so far as he is true to
Christ. must always take his stand
with the poor, If only because all
souls are equal in the sight OF God,
and the poor are a majority of souls.
Yet feel sure that Jesus Christ
would never speak as though pow
erty hard as it is, were due alto
gether to the faults Of the rich. If
the poor would be temperate and
provident, if they would act upon
the rules Of common sense, half the
evils which afflict them would be
done away with.
Jesus Christ, in fact, would lay
His finger, as He always laid it,
upon the soul. It is the soul which
matters. If the soul is right with
God, then all will be right with the
man.
always have appreciated warmly
the words of an operative who, at q
meeting in Lancashire, said: II
hear you talk Of education; you say:
Educate! Educate! Educate! But
what I say is: Regenerate! Regen-
crate! degenerate" 1t is here that
the church may find her opportun-
ity.
Churches Should Educate.
She ought to be a light shining
in the world: she ought to be the
IL
causes; and she ought always to
lift the minds and hearts of men
and women above the low-lying mists
of earth to the serene and sacred at
mosphere of Heaven.
Jesus Christ would, 1 am afraid,
be distressed by the position of the
church of today. He would find it
rent by discords. He would find it
engaged in controversies which can
DO no good to anybody.
He prayed that it might breathe
the spirit of Heaven, and 10! it IS
someH mes worldly as the world
itself. He prayed, too, that it might
be one, and it is rent by schisms and
heresies.
The time has come for a return
to Christ Himself. There are differ
ences between Professionals and