OCR Text |
Show CHRISTIAN UiNlTY. Evils That Beset Christendom How to Offset Them-United Action of Christian De- j nominations the True Remedj. j (Written for The Tntermountain Catholic.) i - Religious agitatiou, during the past year, has- assumed a new role. The efforts made to bring all Christian denominations in closer contact and marshal their power and influence against the com- t mon enemies indifference, agnosticism and inti- delity are all laudable. In England the propat gandism advocated last year was that the e-stab- lishment. which applies to the state church, should be extended to all the evangelical churches. With the Nonconformists the disestablishment of th Established Church lias been in the past almost jj an article of faith. From their pulpits and in Parliament they have vigorously fought for three i centuries the alliance between tthe church' ami state, but all in vain. The b'tter and acrimonious . feelings engendered have served, in the past, only to widen the chasm that separated the Established Church from the Nonconf ormists. The latest com- S promise for a partial reunion. noniM from Canon I Hensley Ilenson of Westminster Abbey, who dis- j avows any ground- for the claims of the Estab- j lished Church to Apostolic Succession. In a let- I ter to the Christian World, published in London, ' I the Canon writes: "Xothing is more certain than that the mass of j the English laity hold in contempt the doctrine of Apostolic Succession, which has been disproved by the most respected of the English bishops, and I is known to be disallowed by the ablest of the cler- I gy, always excepting the members of the Sacerdo- t talist Faction, which on other grounds i3 suffi- , ciently distrusted by English folk. Few steps more i 1 important could be taken in the direction of home. I reunion than that which will have been taken when , Parliament -cleanse.- the statute book of the last k relic of the', Caroline penal code, by repealing the " act of uniformity in so far as it is a barrier to the f free action of Anglicans in their 'treSTmpni-oifc-l -. j low-Christians." f Canon H. Henson says that Apostolic Sucees- ' sion with Anglican Church stands on the same I level as does Disestablishment with the Xoncon- ( formists, viz., as dogmas of faitth, and then draws his conclusions: "Clear tthe fiction of Apostolic Succession out of the way and Establishment will be no barrier to reunion. Leave that fiction para- .mounfc in the minds of the English clergy, and l Disestablishment will only give freer play to the j intolerance it inevitably generates. The deeper forces are moving in the direction of that severe I individualism which would reduce the action and responsibility of the state to the lowest, measures ; rather we muve toward a larger view of state action and state responsibility." Very true, wbire Christian influnece and its! ef- feet upon modern civilization are entirely with- 4 drawn or ignored the consequences are inevitable, viz., paganism. What is true of England, and Eu- ropean countries is still more so at home, where i new contradictory creeds are springing up every I two months. Whether the attempt of the different Evangelical Churches commenced last year in Xew York will lead to concerted action, in maintaining t Christian principles. Christian civilization and- I Christian unity is doubtful. The American mind. " I in so far as it is interested in religion. . wants Christian truths in their unity and Catholicity. Fragmentary truths mingled with error, and con- ' tradictory of reason will never win back the great I body of Americans to Christianity. The coritro- vernal points, which sprang up after the Reforma-. tion are of very little importance today. The elabo- rate arguments and lung-drawn-out controversies ' i on the Sacraments of Baptism, penance, the Blessed ' f Euchrist, are of little moment in the present age. I They belong to the past. Each year has some new ! issue, and the living issues of the day are what must be met. Past -issues are dead. All Christian, sects I witness the sad and deplorable, effects of division, j and hence their efforts for federation and union in i meet 'the enemies of religion.. Civilization and civic virtues necessarily folfow on the. trail- of. Christian belief and practice. Xo honest man or student of history doubts that when religion ceases to exert a potent influence civilization, instead of I advancing, begins to recede, and civic virtues are j confined to outwnrtl show" and niere conformity to the letter of the law. The history of the :nciert ; Persians. Medians, Chaldeans," Assyrians and other i renowned nations of antiquity verify, the first, for where men of letters and commercial greaine I once fluorished the savage has roamed since the :" first twilight 'of Christian civilization broke-in -npoh the' world. As to the loss of civic virtues, we qiiot? from a recent artirlo in McCInreV Ma:vmn" b- ;" Rev. Charles D'. Williams, dean of Trinity "Cu'iJie- - dral, Cleveland. 'First Le describes t !. immoral ' . f power of "gigantic bni;es etterpri bow "by deliberate policies of commercial assasinatbn j they ruthlessly crowd to the wall, 'both'-.by fair 'means and oftener by .foul." all honest .cnmpetiN.rs.' I There is solemn perjnry committed." he continues; ' . ! "before courts of justice and irtvesfig-i ting com- 1 mittees. Stocks are manipulated with dinbolierd ingenuity in-genuity to the fleecing of the innocent and fir?: ruin' of the honest invrstor." lie describe' h ;v.: ;in- dividual rights of life, liberty and the pirrit- of : hapiness are' endangered, because- of he .-indirect evasions and overt fractures not m.preiy of the mo- - , r tCintinued on Pags 4. f CHRISTIAN UNITY. Continued from Page 1. ral law, but of the common statutes of. tie Strte and Nation," and then truly adds: "These arc tin-real tin-real anarchists who are chiefly to be feared today, who threaten most seriously to overturn the very foundations of law and order among us.'' He describes tho men who engaired in all tho flagrant violations of the divine and civil law as "gentlemen who arr scrupulously correct in their personal behavior, temperate, sober and chaste. They scorn a lie where no business interest is a; stake. They are even orthodox, pious and devoted in their religious life." AH this, 0t course, is by the way of irony. He points out the causes of thU moral depravity, depravi-ty, ethical inconsistencies, and the contradictions between the professions of these men and their daily-lives. daily-lives. The following is Mr. Williams' explanation: "It seems to me to lie in a lack of moral co-ordination, a divided and disintegrated conscience. These men have attained and fulriUid their ideals of morality in their personal conduct and relationships relation-ships and their technically religious life. In thes-.j regions they exercise and exhaust their conscience. But in their commercial relations and business lif they have no standards whatsoever. Here they arrj morally colorblind. They ee no distinctions of right and wrong. They are for the most part utterly ut-terly uncon-cious of the flagrant iniquity of their doings. For here in this region of commercial life, the writs of Christ do not run. Even common conscience con-science and the moral law have no jurisdiction 'The accepted rules of the game' are a. sufficient code of ethics. There is a hopeless cleavage, aj bridgeless gulf through the midst of their lives." This i3 so true that many an honest, upright citizen has become disgusted with churches when they see daily "a lack of moral co-ordination' or a lack of logical and ethical consistency between churchgoers professing to be followers of the Good Master, and their daily lives, which are a contradic- j tion of his. A conscience that has no qualma or remorse at "putting up jobs," inviting the public I into their confidence to "fleece'' them, and will aft- I erwards found eleemosynary institutions and as- sume to be orthodox, is "a divided and. disintegrated disintegrat-ed conscience." What is still worse, huge corporations corpora-tions have no conscience at all. Hence ''in their commercial and business life they have no standard stand-ard whatsoever. They are morally color-blind." Brave words, yet how true are they in their application. appli-cation. The evil is increasing every year, and as Rev. C D. Williams expresses, "There are stories sto-ries of some of our gigantic enterprises which have climbed to dizzy heights of unprecedented financial finan-cial power." But how cope with the evil? How train enn-i enn-i sciences that are morally color-blind? How infuse : a conscience into a corporation or trust made up of twenty or a hundred stockholders who shirk th delinquency or extravagance of the corporation or trust from one officer to another, as was witnessed at. the Insurance investigation last venr in Xevr York? Mr. Williams suggests that: "The Church is to teach men to do business and to vote as they pray, in the fear of God; to go tn the poll3 or the legislative halls as they go to th I sacrament, in the fear of God. ,... "Afore thsn this, she is to sound in the ears ?.. . her young men of this generation, young men who ; are always ready to answer the call of -chivalrous ! action and even sacrifice, young . men who still 'dream dreams and see visions she is to sound in the ears of these young men the call to righteous j political and honest commercial careers and make ( that call a3 holy and imperative as the call to her 1 ministry." ' Then he adds : "Here then lies the searching anrl final test of our modern Christianity. Can it produce pro-duce such men today?. If it can and will, it shall prove itself to tho conscience and mind of today 'the power of God unto salvation.' If it cannot or will not, it must perish, whatever arguments may be alleged as to its authenticity and authority. In every age it has produced the saint who met the needs of that age. Can it produce today the typo of Christian who shall meet tho needs of thi3 age; the man of open mind and yet reverent -faith, of intellectual hospitality and spiritual insight; the man of large heart with room for all that is human ; and the man of solid conscience who rings true I wherever you strike him, in whatever region or i plane of his life?" ; All very well if the united action which ITr. ( Williams seeks to inculcate will gain the ascend- t ancy, or if the young men whom he invites "to ehiv- alrous action" will respond. The downfall of the j Roman Empire and the loss of its gilded civiliza- 1 tion served as a final test of paganism. Not so of ! Christianity, which is divine, and which, coming up through tho centuries, has civilized the savage? and softened the hearts of the Northern barbarians 1 who overthrew the Roman Empire. Mr. Williams ' rests the final test of modern. Christianity in its" ? success or failure in coping with the evils which h so eloquently depicts. Be it so. Why not extend his vision down to the cradle of Christianity ? What objection has he to introduce into the new crusade J by modern Christianity the workings of ancient! Christianity, yet always new. . Did not this old Church bring all nations of Europe within the pale f of civilization? Is it not historically evident that all civilized nations on the face of the globe owe their civilization to the patient and enduring labors j of her Popes, her missionaries and her religious, "a i much and so often abused? Does she not present j Christianity in its unity, and Catholicitv, not in I fragmentary parts, as it is to be found in the multi- ! f arious Protestant sects who have sprung up since the sixteenth century. Clear-sighted, unprejudiced minds see and realize the necessity of unity and ' peace in Christian truths and practice. With would- I be compromises they have no nflt;ma T...o. ? I one and indivisible. It ,s absolute and uncomprom- ! ising. It demands our allegiance, and ha3 absolute authority over man. It eminates from our Cre- ator and will never yield to error. It is the only ' bond that will cement together Christendom, and ? without it there can be only a factitious unity. The objections to Catholic teaching, which havo wTT at h h 1 ?ime3 over' Wer interest in-terest the broadmmded, intelligent and unprejudiced unpreju-diced portion of our countrymen, and when the v j once realize that she has from-the beginning'of her ' existence taught Christian truths in their unity and university, to her will our statesmen look for the redemption of society, for which Mr. Williama so zealously sighs and prays. v -n I |