SETTING UP FALSE STANDARDS.
A recent report from Richmond, Va., says that under an amendment to the rules of the church, unanimously adopted by the state Episcopal Council, members of that faith in Virginia can indulge freely in such pleasures of this world as dancing, attending theaters, and horse races. The new rule makes the only stipulation that the lives of members shall not be of such a nature as to offend the congregation. For many years a rule has been in force, forbidding indulgence in the practices mentioned, under pain of being expelled from the Lord’s table by the minister. The new rule specifically cuts out all mention of these forms of amusement, and substitutes the general statement therefor. The council approved this change without a dissenting voice. The ministers and lay delegates were all of the opinion that the change was necessary and proper. When the lives of the members are to be only of that standard that will not offend the congregation, and the congregation is made up of members, and the members favor the striking out of those specified forms of amusement, it is not to be supposed that those who desire to go to the dance, the theater, or the horse race, will refrain from doing so. Nor is it to be supposed that any of the members will complain of the conduct of such persons when they have stricken out the rule which was to have governed that conduct. If the rule to govern the members is to be such a standard as that, it will mean in the end that the members will do about as they please. God has never given us human standards by which to shape our characters for the eternal world. The example of Christ and the teachings of the Word are the standard for the Christian. As soon as men set up the desires or opinions of men as a rule of conduct, they begin to depart from the path which the feet of our Saviour trod, and they can never regain that path by following that standard. It is just such a standard that is being followed by the clergyman who carries a revolver in his pocket to use against another should occasion arise. A recent report from Texas tells of two clergymen who had a battle in a car while on their way to a religious convention. In the encounter one of the combatants fired three times at the other, who was struggling to gain possession of the weapon. We can not imagine one who is following the standard of Christ and the Word taking part in any such procedure, or carrying the weapon, or even cherishing the feeling which would prompt to the carrying of the weapon. The men were said to have been bitter enemies for years; but for that to have been the case, they must have been following the standard of the world instead of the standard of Christ during all that time, and one of them at least followed it to the extremity to which it leads. There is only one true standard, and all others lead away from Christ. The world is full of such to-day, and they will increase until our Lord shall come to put an end to sin.