"DECEIVING AND BEING DECEIVED."
An apostle assures us that in the last days "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." There is oftentimes less of rough crime, but also less of morality. In his address to the merchants' Protective Association the other day, District Attorney Jerome, of New York, said: "We are developing a subtler form of crime than any our fathers knew. In the olden days criminals moved along the line of knock down and take. Nowadays robbery has a more commercial aspect. This change is not being met by a corresponding development of laws to punish commercial crimes. The moral sense of most people is governed by the statute books. Thousands of us are blind on our moral side. Too many men do not know that they are doing an immoral thing until it is pointed out to them as a felony on the statute books." What a commentary this is on the preaching and the religion of the day. Men ought to be able to discern morality, to shun an immoral thing, without the instruction of a law with a temporal-penalty lash. If men knew more of Christ's Gospel which reveals the holiness of Sinai's law, there would be less need of laws against crime, and Mr. Jerome would not have occasion for such a speech. Men are partial in God's law, or are neglecting or rejecting it. Conscience is left without a standard; and therefore, in the words of Christ, lawlessness abounds. Matt. 24:12-14. A Reason of Loss of Power.
Here is an extract from a letter written to a religious paper by a lady who writes of her unconverted brother, whom she induced to attend church: "Afterwards, the minister kindly welcomed and spoke to my brother, and we hoped a profitable friendship would ensue. One evening he invited my brother home to supper. On returning, he said to me in a tone of peculiar surprise and disappointment, 'I suppose you know that your saintly Mr. B. is a smoker? He had a pipe with me after supper.'" "I can not of course explain why this injured his influence with my brother. I only know that it did, and from that time I could see that he ceased to regard him with the same reverence that he had for him at first. His interest in the services declined, and he slipped back to his former state of indifference." A religious contemporary well remarks: "Some ministers claim (it is to be hoped for unselfish reasons), that to be smokers helps them to get in touch with young men. This may be true, but it will also result in destroying their power to do young men real good. When a sinner gets sick of the world, as sinners do, he turns for help to the one who is freest from the ways of the world." How a Prominent Attorney Views the Situation.
At the annual convention of the New York State Bankers' Association, held at Frontenac, N. Y., on July 13, former Assistant Attorney-General J. M. Beck, of New York, spoke on "Moneyphobia." He declared that the signs of the times indicated a growing feeling of social discontent, which found its chief expression in an indiscriminate attack upon wealth. He stated further that the agitation was not confined to the ignorant, the envious, or the malicious. The recent commencement season had indicated that the educated men were considering the moral aspects of business methods. Their speeches dwelt largely upon the evils of our times, and the decrease of morals, as exemplified in business transactions. Abuses of trusts had run riot; the rapid accumulation of wealth had bred a new kind of intoxication, and a weakening of moral responsibility. Sober, thinking men are recognizing the conditions, and are fearful because of the dangers lurking in them. "Religion is not within the purview of human government. Religion is essentially distinct from government, and exempt from its cognizance. A connection between them is injurious to both."—James Madison.
"Every man is accountable to God alone for his religious faith."—George Washington.