"THE STANDARD OF CHRISTIANITY."
By Editor
THE Midwinter Fair and its closing on Sunday is again an agitated subject among the ministers on the Pacific Coast, although the religious press, so far as our observation has gone, has had but little to say. The protests of the clergy were presented to the directors, and were by the directors acknowledged, and, as expressed by the daily Examiner of January 30, "the ministers have been ignored in a way they do not like." Now the ministers had a perfect right to present their protests, the directors had a perfect right to respectfully receive them and ignore them, and then throw open the gates of the great Fair on Sunday. Here the matter should drop. The only other step, it seems to us, that the ministers have a right to take in the matter is to convert, by gospel means and methods, the managers of the Midwinter Fair. But the ministers do not like to be ignored. Says the Examiner:— As a powerful body themselves and as the spokesmen of the Christian people, the ministers are now uniting and intend using their influence to have the Fair closed on Sunday. They say if all denominations would band together, some effective result might yet be reached. They say they will make one more attempt, and if they fail they will at least convince the world that the standard of Christianity in California is as high as in other civilized lands. But what has the Fair to do with the "standard of Christianity"? Suppose that twelve cold-blooded murders should occur in the "Christian" city of Philadelphia on a Sunday morning, what would that have to do with "the standard of Christianity"? Suppose that nine-tenths of the men in this country, and the supposition is probably less than the fact, considered first their own interests and pleasures, and secondly the interests and pleasures of God and their fellowmen,—a course of life manifestly not Christian,—how would that affect "the standard of Christianity"? Those who are "of the world" are not of Christ, and they make up the majority of the population, but their lives do not affect "the standard of Christianity."226The professed church of Christ may be taken, however, by the world generally, as bearing aloft the standard of Christianity, but the church does not do this by the help of the world; she does it in spite of the world; and she has lifted that banner highest when the world was most positively and aggressively against her. This the churches of California have the privilege of doing. The theaters may be open on all days; the Midwinter Fair may stop only for the small hours of night; prize fights may occur every day in the week; commerce and trade may know no sabbath; but the church may lift "the standard of Christianity" as high as it pleases her. "The standard of Christianity" in teaching and example is Christ and his word. He who preaches that word the most faithfully and lives the life of Christ the most humbly, lifts highest the standard of Christianity. It matters not though he stand alone, he is doing better service than a multitude of Christians who are compromising with the world. "The standard of Christianity" was never held higher, it never shone with a holier light, than when its divine Author was nailed to the cross in apostate Judea by the civil power of the world. There was revealed the infinite holiness of God's law, the infinite love of the All-Father for the race. We commend this object lesson to our brethren who are determined that the Fair shall close. But he who follows Christ and his word will not unite with civil power; for Christ's kingdom is not of this world. John 18:36. He will not endeavor to compel or coerce men into doing his way; he will "persuade" and "beseech" by the "tender mercies of God." Rom. 12:1; 2 Cor. 5:11. He will not sit in judgment upon the world; he, like Christ, will be seeking to save the world by the gospel of peace. John 12:47; 1 Cor. 5:12. "The standard of Christianity" knows no political methods, knows no union with the world, knows no coercive methods, knows no boycotts, knows no maledictions and anathemas. Let our brethren hold up this "standard," and the opening or closing of the Midwinter Fair will not trouble their consciences half as much as will the unchristian methods now being used by the church.