Respectable by J. C.

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 11, 1858

Respectable.

By J. C.

We frequently hear of ministers preaching to respectable congregations, and there are respectable and highly respectable people and families spoken of, as though there was a difference and a dividing line somewhere among the citizens of the world. Dress, wealth, manners, station, education, polish, these and other aids raise men in the world's esteem, and often, very often, in the face of crime.

I have looked in vain for any such distinction in the Scriptures of truth: all are described as transgressors who are not the children of God.

Christ had followers, but we hear of no respectable people among them. The young man who came to Christ inquiring what he should do to be saved, was no doubt quite respectable; but Christ did not take any especial pains to hold him, although he was rich. The fisherman Peter would hardly have been called respectable, nor the young man who fled from the scene of Christ's passion with only a piece of linen around his body. Paul was very respectable while he persecuted the church, but when he sided with the Nazarene, he lost his popularity, and his influence. O what a deluded man, thus to sacrifice his respectability for so odd and unpopular a thing as the truth. But Paul like many fanatics now-a-days, loved and feared God more than man.

James speaks of a church that wished respectable people to join them, those who dressed richly, while the poor were directed to sit in a low place. It is evident that the church had even then begun to make a difference, and had instituted caste.

J. C.