THE HESPERIAN.
-M
fraternities. From abstraction of fraternities in this
institution we find that they foster class distinction
and, tend to create an aristocracy founded upon wealth
and snobbishness; they are ruinous to literary societies
and no literary society to which they are allowed to
bolongcan survive their influence for anyronsidcrablc
length of time. These arc'a few ofour reasons for op
posing fraternities. Does any person deny the charge?
Do fraterniticsofTer advantage that off-setthose disad
vantages? . In reply to those questions we would like
to hear something more convincing than "crank" or
"sore-head."
'LITERARY.
most people will give their assent to it. Hut it is a suggestion
worthy o( consideration. Everyone can sec the wrongs tlint
have existed in the social system of ages gone by. It is not
to see, indeed one is often indisposed to find defects in prcs
sent social arrangements. Hut oppressed classes arc here to
day as truly as they ever existed under Mediaeval despotism
or anarchy, and to that one he the greatest honor who strives
to relieve them. Therefore the name of Booth will be treas
ured by coming generations for his continuous and indefatig
able labors to help those who could not help themselves.
One' of the greatest of living philanthropists, is Gcncrr.l
Booth, of the Salvation Army. The mention of this peculiar
organization, or of any one in any way connected with it,
will bring a smile of contempt to many faces. Hut in spite
of all its shortcomings, the Salvation Army has set itself to a
task, the thought of which is offensive to many complacent
Christians, but one, nevertheless, that is of vital importance
not only to the poor but to the well to do. Hitherto the
Army has neglected too much the material welfare of those
whom it sought to belter, and has labored only to fecure
their salvation. Accordingly, those who believe that the
Army has a great work to perform, will look with approval
upon the change of program implied in the recent enuncia
tion of General Booth's plan for the relief ol the helpless
poor. His schemd may perhaps be impossible of realization,
but the mere broaching of it shows that the organization of
which he is the head is ready to work on more practical lines
than it has in the past.
The plan which he outlines for the relief oftV poor he
docs not declare to be a cure-all for all social evils. It is, in
brief, as follows: (l) The hungry, helpless individual is to be
sent to a food and shcllei dupol, several of which places of
refuge arc already established. Here he would be offered
work in the Army's factory, at first receiving only food and
shelter; later, wages in addition, (s) Other men more fitted
would be sent to work in the Army's Labor Bureau, already
in successful operation. Moreover, believing that from the
waste of the richer houses all the helpless poor could be fed.
Uooth proposes "The Waste Not, Want Not Hrigadc," by
which cumbersome title those now of the idler class arc to be
designated to whom the duty is to be assigned of gathering
food now wasted. (3) Men who prove their willingness to
labor by undergoing the discipline of the first two stages
already discussed, arc to be transferred in due time to rurnl
communities, some agricultural, some industrial, managed
on the co-operative plan. (4) The next step in this elaborate
plan is the cmigtalion scheme. Those who in the first three
stages succeed in mastering a trade, and arc proved worthy
of confidence, arc put into the hands of an Emigration Bu
reau, and transferred to colonics over the sea, where the
Bureau is .to care for them. In these colonics co-operation
and common ownciship ot land are to be adhered to with
strictness. Such is a bare outline of the plan he proposes.
It is obvious from the comprehensive nature of his scheme
that vast wealth will be necessary to carry it out. And since
the practical application 6i it would necessitate, up to the un
certain, date. when it would prove self-supporting, so consider
able an outlay of money, it will be with great caution that
"Wonders will never cease." To those who have never
thought of PhincasT. Harnuin except as the veteran showman,
it will be surprising to witness his appearance in a role hitherto
unheard of by them, namely, that of a writer on relig
ious topics. In a recent number of the Ciristain llrortf, pub
lished in London, he answers the question, "Why am I a
Univcrsalist." There is something in his unique way of stat
ing and justifying his beliefs that is refreshing, suggestive not
of musty theological Ion, but of the experiences oi his own
busy life, and of fearless individual interpretation of Scripture."
He was raised in the orthodox faith "attended prayer meet
ings where I could almost feel the burning waves and smell
the sulphurous fumes" and thus was driven, largely from ha
tred for the teachings of his youth, into more liberal channels
of thought.
lie declares by way of preface his contempt for texts with
out contexts. "The preacher against absurd fashions in
headgear who took for his text 'top not comedown' (Matthew
24:17) made a use of Scriptuic I can hardly endorse." And
he concludes the preface of his remarks by the assertion:
"The Woid of God did not cease when the New Testament
canon closed. Still is the best thought of the best mcn.in all
lands the ever-speaking Word of God." This last statement
alone suffices to place him apart fiom the masses of orthodoxy.
He combats the deplorable tendency which reached its
height in the psychological helplessness of Mediaeval times,
and has not yet ceased, toward making abstractions con
crete; the tendency one sees operating in the old-time desire
ior the possesion of the true cross and other sacicd telics.
The writer docs not conceive of heaven as locality, nor of sal
vation as getting into a good place. It is rather absurd to
suppose saints and sinners shut up all together within four
jeweled walls and playing on harps whether they like it or
not." The enunciation of such sentiments as this can have
none other than a healthful cflcct on popular opinion, sincr
it serves to check the, tendency toward the "localization" of
Christianity,
His conception of future punishment is worthy of remark.
It is one that should recommend itself to those who sec in di
vine punishment not external chastisement fire and brim,
stone but the logical evolution of unrighteous tendencies:
the scrtimcnt expressed by Milton
The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a
heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. Against the x statement,
"death ends probation," he asserts that, as the word "pro
bation" is not found in the Bible, nor the thing itself in its
popular sense, the burden of proof rests on ths one who sets
up this artificial date, and not on the one denying it. His
belief is that "the call to repentance is not issued good for
thirty days or till death, but good until used. "The present
life is not a probation, but discipline." Thus it is seen, from
the writers arguments above outlined, that he is in touch on
vital questions of religion with the church of his choice.
Not alone is thiJ apparent, but it must be noted by everyone
that the general trend of his teaching is elevating; that while
1
I