The platform of an Ethical Society is itself the altar; the address must be the fire that burns thereon.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The Ethical Society, therefore, is like a Church in maintaining, and emphasizing the importance of maintaining the custom of public assemblies on Sunday.
Will you permit the sacred fire of liberty, brought by your fathers from the venerable temples of Britain, to be quenched and trodden out on the simple altars they have raised?
There's always the tendency to transform the Church into an ethical agency, and of measuring the Church by the yardstick of social and cultural utility.
Wherever an altar is found, there civilization exists.
An institution or reform movement that is not selfish, must originate in the recognition of some evil that is adding to the sum of human suffering, or diminishing the sum of happiness.
The Church is or should go back to being a community of God's people, and priests, pastors and bishops, who have the care of souls, are at the service of the people of God.
We look to our pastors and priests and rabbis and counselors of all kinds to testify of the enduring principles upon which our society is built: honesty, charity, integrity and family.
The church is not a political power; it's not a party, but it's a moral power.
A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.
In the grave should be buried the prejudices and passions born of conflict. Charity should hold the scales in which are weighed the deeds of men.