Identifier: ArenaMagazine-Volume40 (find matches)
Title: Arena magazine - Volume 40
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: B.O. Flower (ed.)
Subjects: Progressivism -- United States liberalism reformism social reform Christian Socialism Gay 90s political commentary Benjamin Orange Flower Progressive era social gospel
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one, abhor and avoid infinitely the other—strive infinitely to be the one and not to be the other. Not so thought Jesus when he gave to men his two great commandments of the law. And what if the church had been faithful to this true conception of its task—what if the church had resolutely, unflinchingly preached this prophetic gospel? Would not the world be a better and lovelier place than what we actually see it today? Suppose, for example, that the churches of America, in the great epoch preceding the Rebellion, had one and all steadfastly set their faces against the iniquity of human slavery. Suppose that, instead of quoting old Levitical laws or Pauline epistles indefense of this monstrous barbarism, these churches had all quoted Jesus gospel of brotherhood against it. Suppose that, instead of seeking to explain or excuse this social crime, these thousands of churches throughout the land had done nothing but assail it, denounce it, curse it. Suppose that, instead of trying to Digitized by V^jOOQLC
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Photo, by Marccau, Boston, REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES 405 Digitized by Google 406 The Responsibility of the Churches. avoid the issue, these churches had tried constantly to meet it. Suppose that every preacher, to the extent of his ability, had been a Theodore Parker; that every pulpit, to the extent of its influence, had been a Plymouth Pulpit; that every member of a Christian church, just because of that membership, had been, to the extent of his intellectual and moral power, a Garrison or a Lovejoy. Suppose, as opposed to the institution of slavery upon the one hand there had stood upon the other hand, in solid phalanx, the great institution of Christianity, and how long, think you, woul dhuman slavery have endured? And if, as is literally true, the Christian church, had it been so minded, could have smitten this hydra to its death, is it unfair to hold the church responsible for its long-continued life? Or, to take a modern instance, suppose that the churches of America should here and now unite u

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