Mr. World and Miss Church-Member: A Twentieth Century AllegoryHarris, W. S. (William Shuler)
Religion
Mr. World and Miss Church-Member: A Twentieth Century Allegory
Harris, W. S. (William Shuler)
Christian fiction
“We are not to worship money, yet we are to guard against squandering
it. The person who wastes one dollar sets a bad example to others and
brings injury to himself. Woman is criticized for wastefulness in
dress. I stand here to defend her, not because she is altogether
innocent, but because her accusers are equally guilty in the same and
in other directions. The money wasted in Home Missionary Work would
feed the starving of all the world. Where does this money come from?
The greater part of it comes from the purses of those who are burdened
with all manner of financial obligations. What right have such people
to rob others of their dues in order to support Home Mission Work? O,
that the time may soon come when consistency will be manifested, and
so much money no longer wasted in this sentimental manner!”
The speaker proceeded, but the interest of the two listeners was
flagging; so they quietly left the room.
They next entered Hall No. 17, devoted to “_The Results of Home
Missionary Work_.” But after remaining a very short time Miss
Church-Member declared that she was interested more directly in
Foreign Missionary Work.
In deference to her wishes he at once accompanied her to the second
section of the Missionary College, which was much larger than the
first. Miss Church-Member led the way into one of the large halls where
Satan, through his agents, gave special instruction concerning “_The
Condition of the Heathen._” They listened to four speakers from whose
brief addresses they received food for thought.
The first speaker expounded the theory that “_Ignorance is Bliss_,”
and declared that the heathen were happy and comfortable in their
present condition.
The second lecturer argued, at greater length, that the heathen were
free from all responsibility as long as they were left alone, and that
if God held them accountable, then their vague worship answered for
a good conscience, and therefore they would reach Heaven by a simpler
path.
The third speaker declared that the heathen were now as God had made
them, and therefore just as they should be. To establish this theory
he used garbled arguments of predestination.
The fourth assured the audience that the heathen, in due order, would
rise to loftier conceptions by the same natural processes as the
civilized peoples of to-day have risen from their rude primitive
conditions.
After examining some heathen relics the two companions spent some time
near-by in a hall of the same section devoted to “_The Effects of the
Gospel on the Heathen._”
Its teachers were very emphatic in their utterances. They affirmed
that the Gospel did not benefit the heathen, except that it brought
to them civilization with all its attendant responsibilities and vices.
One lecturer to whom they listened was very fiery. In a scathing manner
the speaker pronounced censure on the Christian church for her
ill-advised policy in Foreign Missionary Work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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