Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-08-21
OLD-TIME RELIGION
BY BISHOP w. 4. GAMBLER

1t will continue to confront and test all
the generations of the future; for He is the
unavoidable Redeemer and Lord of all men
| in all ages.
Pulpit demagogues, proclaiming pseudo
gospels Of sentimentality can not set aside
His claims upon the minds of men by
preaChments Of Creedlessness.
The reign of sentimentality will spread
from the realm of theology to other fields,
if its folly is not exposed speedily and it's
influence arrested Indeed, it has already
penetrated the regions of LEGISLATION In
both church and state there is a marked
tendency to Iegislate by sentimentality
rather than by clear reason and sound judg-
ment. The consequences of proposed enact
ments are ignored while legislators yield to
the emotional appeals of the perfervid ad-
yocates of dangerous devices Of ruinous pro-
grams and pernicious plans. All sorts of
good objects employed to disguise the
most unWise measures which are proposed
for their accomplishment. The fundamen-
tai principles of good government and the
indispensable provisions of established con-
situations are denounced antiquated and
rejected as obsolete, if they stand in the
way of the ends which enthrall the senti-
mentalsts.
When sentimentality thus displaces reason,
the reign of the demagOgue and the rule of
the man of mediocrity prevails; for it is far
more easy to exploit thoughtless feeling than
to think through a perpleXing problem.
Thus weak men win transient influence and
acquire fleeing fame from using, and being
used, by historical reformers and excited
radicals.
At the national capital this sort of thing
abounds. In a current magazine it is set
forth justly and wildly as follows:
This doubtful or spurious sort of fame
fascinates the mediocre type of legislator.
With some of them, to have ones name at
tached even to bill that doesn't become a
law, but attains notoriety, is a glorious
end in ITSELF worth seeking regardless of
the character Of the law or the bill.
Aside from some measures which have
to be passed such as the recurring tariff
acts, the proposals which endow their spon-
sors with this sort of fame fall into two
classes: One class of bills would open wide
the doors of the public eXChequer for a
wholesale distribution Of funds in some new
direction. The other would provide for an
extension of governmental activity (Which
usually means government interference in
some new quarter Frequently both are
proposed by the same measure for nearly
all authorizations of new expenditures carry
with them extensions or expansions of gov
eminent
"Sometimes the second class involves
proposed amendment to the constitution.
Nearly always the proposal contains the
emotional appeal, the sentimental equation.
Frequently there is much elemental merit
in claims made for the proposal. For all
kinds of things wrong with the world,
and it is not easy to demonstrate the cold
fact that these things can not always be
corrected by constitutional amendments, by
increasing the already vast numbers of in
spectors and investigators and regulators
directed from bureaus in Washington, or by
adding to the tax burden on the people
who must meet the cost of all such things.
Argument for these proposals usually can
be put forth in emotional or sentimental
way, which, of course, is the easy way. Ar
gument against them must rest on cold
logic, and therefore usually requires sound
ability, cold intellectual honesty and often
superlative courage.
Legislative bills that propose to do some
Grams, or to correct this or that moral
or provide easy money out of public treas
uries for large numbers of people, are easy
to advocate; it doesn't require cold logic
'Hence the mediocre legislator who is
energetic and wants to make his mark re-
QUres little inducement to sponsor such
things for the prominence they will give
him in return"
Have we not had enough OF this dethrOne-
ment Of reason and enthronement Of senti-
mentality? Or, shall we go on with it until
awake too late to the peril it brings to
all good things; and then in despair cry
out with the great dramatst-
20 judgment, thou art fled to british
beasts!
And men have lost their reason