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man can go to church on Sunday, listen to u
sermon, go home and think no more about
Jesus Christ and his religion until the
following Sunday morning, and still believe
he has done his full duty. This will not
satisfy the modern, intelligent business man.
He is a man of action, and he demands
that he be put to work. The policy that some
ministers have of preachipg the 'simple Gospel'
is driving a large number of business men away
from the church. What the minister needs to do
is to give each man brought into his church
something specific to do, and see that he does it.
Activity in church work begets interest, and
wherever a man's interest is he is very apt to be
found most of his time. The preacher of to-day
must get away from preaching and working for
his one little group, as represented by his congregation,
and must go to work for the world at
large. Quit working each unit for itself and get
together and work together for the good of all
men."
THE STATUS OF CHURCH UNION.
Many religious papers, mainly of the so-called
liberal" school, seem to be obsessed with the
idea that the physical division of the Christian
Church into a number of denominations is a
shame and littlo less than a crime. They would
have all shades of belief as to doctrine, sacrament*,
and government massed ipto one visible
organization, apparently oblivious of the confusion
that such massing of heterogeneous elements
would engender. Perhaps such abnormal craving
for masses and multitudes in ecclesiastical affairs
is the effect of living in big cifi.es where crowds
composed of many shades Of character and complexion,
of many nationalities and vocations, of
many grades of morals, intelligence and value to
the community, are a unit called the population,
ami arc pointed to with civic pride solely because
of numbers. The average in such cases runs very
low. It is now coming to pass that economists
and sociologists are telling us that it would be far
better for the morals of such communities if they
could be scattered.
So in ecclesiastical circles, the consensus of
opinion is drifting toward the conclusion that
separate organization, bai;ed on intelligent and
conscientious grounds, is not only conducive to
spiritual unity, but may be the best expression
of that unity. Certain it is that separate denominations
may and do cherish a true fellowship
and are conscious of a supreme spiritual
unity in Him who is the head of his one spiritual
kingdom. An instance seems to be found in the
ease of a correspondent of TJie Continent, who
has been making something of a tour in the
Southern States. The correspondent strides
squarely up against the question of union between
Presbyterians and in the progress of his
communication says:
:_:i 1 11 n , ,. < .
i ins spine uhjks an prospects ot immediate
church union of the Presbyterian family. Such
a union is farther off than a decade ago, so far as
signs indicate. It would be absurd for one who
knows the sentiment of the South to talk about
Presbyterian reunion at the present time. There
is no perceptible wish for it in the South, and a
very considerable sensitiveness over the subject.
The amalgamation of the Cumberland churches
with the Northern Presbyterian body has projected
the latter into places where formerly only
churches connected with the Southern Assembly
and bearing the straight Presbyterian name existed."
"As near as I can size it up, the feeling is that
so long as the Cumberland Church was in the
South it .represented a marked variation in doc
uiuc, auu mere wtus uu serious competition; DUt
for the Northern Church to talk union and then
to support with ita missionary money rival con/
PRESBYTERIAN OP THE SO
gregations bearing the unqualified Presbyterian
name is scarcely in keeping with the fraternal
utterances so often heard. On the other hand,
the plight of these newly baptized Presbyterian
churches in the South which belong to the Northern
Assembly is difficult. They feel out of fellowship
with the larger Presbyterian bodies
which are their neighbors and at times thev are
made aware that they prevent larger unions
which observing church men had seen upon the
horizon. The situation is a delicate one about
which probably the less said the better."
"IN THE WRONG BOX."
The attitude of the "lay " mind, and of secular
thought in general, toward the preacher's vocation
is well expressed in an editorial in the
March Century. Notice is taken of the fact that
at present the emphasis in religion is on the side
of philanthropy, that the church is busy doing
good, that the parish house stands by the side
of the sanctuary, that the clmrch's year book
is full of accounts of beneficent undertakings and
activities with abounding references to saws and
hammers and types, cooking and sewing, dispensary,
laundry, nursery, kindergarten, library,
summer camp and boat club. All these things,
the article declares, are excellent, but, it adds,
they are not the proper business of the minister.
The men who are engaged in keeping the philanthropic
machinery in motion should be drawn
from the laymen, and not from those who have
been taught to preach the Gospel and to minister
to souls. "These men ought to be occupied with
their specialty. They ought to be preaching in
mission fields and bringing religion along with
civilization into new settlements. They ought
to be doing the pioneer service of evangelization.
The proportion of energy is altogether out of
balance when these young men, in their freshness
of spiritual enthusiasm, are assigned to the
direction of boys' clubs, the management of
reading rooms, the providing of parochial entertainment.
"What these parishes need is not a
larger staff of clergymen, but a larger company
of active laity, employed, if necessary, to do the
institutional work. The proper work of the minister
is inspirational."
The article then maintains, and justly, that the
minister is a specialist, and that his people should
be jealous of any distraction which tempts him
away from his supreme service to humanity in
his regular calling. The physician whom we respect
and demand i> one who reads the books of
his profession and is informed as to all that is
new and useful in it, who devotes himself to his
patients in particular and to the public health in
J ?* ...v~ : A:?l? J
giuciai, aiiia nui tut: uuc wnu is actively uiigageu
in politics, attending meetings, making speeches,
serving on committees, and as frequently found
at the city hall as at the hospital.
The choice of Jesus i^ suggested as a becoming
example. The Master chose between a ministry
to the body and a ministry to the soul. He deliberately
thrust aside the opportunity to fill his
days with the good work of healing, divine as it
was. He devoted himself to ideals, the emphasizing
in himself and others of the supreme importance
of personality, the transformation of
the world, the preaching of the truth. "That,"
says the article, "is the emphasis which is needed
in the busy, useful church. The function of the
minister is to do the things which belong to his
splendid profession. He is to study and to pray; i
he is to lead the worship of the people; he is to (
preach; he is to go about on errands of ministry (
to the sick and sorrowful and sinful. In the (
midst of a generation occupied with things material
he is to uphold ideals and to represent |
the supreme importance of religion. There are |
plenty of people to lecture on sociology and to f
organize philanthropy. The minister's specialty
UTH [ March 30, 1912
demands all his time and thought. He is to save
our soul by building up sharaster that shall be
buttressed in principle.
"For he that feeds men serveth few;
lie serves all who dares be true."
The appearance of such an article as this in a
great standard magazine is significant, not only
in its expression of the world's judgment of the
importance of the ministerial calling, but in its
warning to men in the sacred office that the
world expects them to stick to their job.
thoughtful people outside the pulpit expect the
occupants of the latter to stay in their work, to
make the preaching of the Gospel the great staple
of their lives, and never to allow themselves to be
tempted to get into the wrong box.
NOTES IN PASSING.
by bebt.
The ascending scale of prayer is repreAsk.
sented by our Lord in the words, Ask,
Seek, Knock. The word for "Ask" signifies
to ask for something to be given, not done.
It means an earnest importuning for the satisfying
of a distressing Knnl-vmnrror. " a ? *- ?
? xxo LUC IlLLX'L
panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my
soul after thee, O Lord," expresses it. The asker
recognizes his need is very great; he is starving,
he is in poverty, his need has reached the
limit, one step farther and he dies. Out of
these depths he reaches up his hands to God in
heart-breaking petition. He cries in the earnestness
of despair. He cries to God, for he alone can
grant. lie cri,es until he receives. This is the
kind of asking to which God gives full assurance
of success. " Ask, and ye shall receive." To ask
in this way, therefore, means that there is a deep
consciousness of sin. We know that it is, and
that it is deadening to every power of the soul,
and that it prevents all communion with God.
And for this communion the soul cries out with
a voice that will not be silenced.
To seek has underlying it the thought
Seek, that something has been lost. We seek in
J ** '
uraer mat we may find. And what is it
we have lost? Where is our state of original
purity? Where is the communion with God we
once enjoyed? Where is the happiness that
once was ours before the darkness fell upon us
and hid us from the face of God ? What is all we
have retained compared to what we have lost?
We have lost command of our thought, we have
lost control of the will, we have l?st the power
of discrimination in holy things. At last we have
come to realize our loss and like the woman who
lost the piece of silver we have set ourselves to
the task of finding. And we are jwanrwl that
shall find. The shepherd who had lost his sheep
found it again, because he gave himself no rest
until he did. His perseverance was the measure
of hi^ sense of loss. His success was his reward.
To knock implies that we are on the
Knock, outside and want admittance. Through
sin we have become outcasts, strangers,
aliens. We are homeless wanderers out in the
wintry night looking in through the window and
beholding the cheery and comfortable scene
within, and remorse and agony rend the heart
as we remind ourselves that all JJhis joy and happiness
might have been ours had we nnt
love of sin driven ourselves into voluntary exile.
Now we see the mistake we made and we come,
Inimble, but very determined suppliants to the
iloor at which* we are determined to stay until it
spens and admits to the hearth we are determin?d
never more to leave.
And this is what prayer does for us. It supid
ies our needs, it restores our loss, it brings us
back and admits us to all the happy and
glorious privileges of which sin has robbed ns.
'Lord, teach tia to pray."