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viding for it. In the centers of the great cities of
England, as in this country, great and magnificent
church buildings are left deserted by the congre
gations that have moved further up-town. The
Methodist people took this situation in. They saw
that while the churches were all moved up-town,
the devil was holding high carnival down-tow T n with
the visitors, lodgers in boarding houses, hotels,
clubs, and the like. Seeing this they set themselves
at once to meet the situation. They opened up
great halls and theaters. Here and there they took
charge of forsaken church buildings and changed
them. Their idea was to reach the people not be
ing reached. Now, if you go to England you will
find in every city of any importance the down-town
sections thoroughly manned with great institutional
church buildings; with all sorts of religious and hu
manitarian enterprises carried on; and on Sundays
their great halls crowded with men and women,
with bands of music and great congregational sing
ing, and the Gospel in all its simplicity, and yet
purity and power, preached. They are putting their
very best men in these institutional church centers.
They put them there and then give them full sway
to run the work according to their own best judg
ment. What they w T ant is to reach and save the
people, and they care very little about how it is
done.
This is the kind of church work that has got to
come to the front in this country if the church is
to triumph.
But let me say also that the church has got to
give more attention to the places where the people
stay. Many people, perhaps the majority, will
never attend church service until they are found
and won in the places where they stay, and they
are not to be blamed so much; they are dead in
trespasses and sins. The church is the divinely
charged battery to put life into the palsied mass
of humanity, but this cannot be done so long as
the church and the people are apart. They must
be brought together. If the people will not go to
church the church must go to the people. The mem
bership of the church must be charged with the
spirit of individual evangelism. How long would
it take the church to win this world if the spirit
of personal responsibility should fall upon every
member and send him out to do his best to win men
and women to Christ wherever found?
INSTITUTIONAL CHURCHES.
But another thing must be done: The church
must be more humanitarian. When our Lord was
upon the earth He submitted the parable of the
Good Samaritan who made it his business to deny
himself the comforts of a ride —got down and
bound up the wounds of the poor traveler, and
placed him upon his own horse, carried him to a no
tel and requested them if any more were needed, to
call on him. This is institutionalism in the church.
It is the Christianity that must characterize church
work at the present time.
The church of the present day must turn its at
tention to the great mass of our people who need
a helping hand. It must hear and heed the cry of
distress.
In every city, town and country district are
heartaches and distresses which only need to be
realized to bleed the heart of the hardest. They
are not rare, they are very, very common. The or
dinary wage-earner gets sick; his income ceases;
credit soon plays out, and the whole family is left
to suffer. This is common. We never dream of the
suffering until we begin to look for it. Widows,
orphans, helpless and homeless women and chil
dren ; some with characters bad, who want to re
form, and others whose inner and outer life is as
pure as the purest; they are everywhere. They
make the bottom rail in our civilization and the
foundation of our government. They are in the
majority in our churches, and -they are of no
church at all. They appeal for help. The failure
of the church to properly appreciate this cry has
caused it to lose much of its grip upon them. They
have sought lodges and associations that care for
them in their distresses, sit up with their sick, and
take care of them when they are helpless. This
work is pre-eminently the work of the church. They
need sympathy. They go to the church for it,
Alas, alas, they often fail to get it! They needi
The Golden Age for May 23, 1907.
help.. They go to the church for it, or wait for the
church to bestow it. And again they fail to get it.
They need protection against oppression and wrong.
They go to the church to champion their grievances
and relieve their oppression. But, again, they are
turned aside. No wonder the lodges flourish and
grow strong in finances ‘while the church struggles
and starves.
The church of this century must more determi
nately enter this field. We must not turn the prob
lem over to CH"istless institutions, not even the
state. Orders and associations having no religion,
and acknowledging no Christ, must not have rele
gated to them the work of “weeping with those
that weep, visiting the sick and caring for the
widows and the orphans.” In the name of Christ
this is to be done. The waif on the street must
bo taken up. The homeless must be housed. The
orphans must be fathered and mothered. The poor
must be fed and encouraged. The sick must be
furnished hospitals and nurses. The outcasts must
be given a chance to reform. The great unchurched
and unsaved masses must be reached. The church
must be their friend, and its modes and methods
of work must be planned to meet their needs.
POWER AND INSPIRATION.
Again, the church of today must have supernat
ural power. Jesus Christ said to the first Chris
tian church of earth : “Ye shall receive power after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” Salvation
is a blessed experience, but salvation alone is not
enough. That first church was a saved body, but
salvation was not enough for them. They must
have supernatural strength. They must have it to
live by. Sin and temptation must be overcome. A
saved man must be a conquering man. The lusts
and longings of the flesh must be mastered. Besides,
they must have the supernatural power for service.
The world is to be Christianized. To do this we
must have a power unlike other men, have the com
mand to “tarry in Jerusalem until ye are endued
with power from on high.”
This power is just as essential to us. The church
must insist upon the overcoming life. Compromise
with the flesh can no longer be tolerated. The com
mand of Christ, “Be ye holy,” must be heard. To
hug the devil and hold on to the Lord is hypocrisy.
There must be a conquering of the forces within by
the power of the Spirit of God. The same need
is ours with respect to service. We are to make
disciples of all people. This is a stupendous task,
and cannot be done in our own strength. Culture,
wealth and activity combined will fail unless there
is the work of the power of the Spirit of God.
Finally, the church of today must live in the light
of our Lord’s second coming. Paul said: 11 Where
fore comfort ye one another with these things,”
referring to our Lord’s return to dethrone Satan
and seize the reins of government. This is the
inspiration of life, the morning star of a brighter
day —when this old world, now cursed with Satan,
and marred by the stain of sin, shall give way to
His rule. Oh, to think, when He comes and stretches
forth His pierced hand we shall be privileged to
look out upon this earth, where we have struggled
and toiled; where we have had heartaches and dis
appointments; where we have mourned and grieved
over loved ones, sick and departed; where we have
felt the sting of Satan and sin, and our eyes have
been holden so that we could not see the great pur
poses of God. Oh, to think that when He comes
we shall be permitted to see this world in its
Edenic purity and beauty! It is enough to inspire
ns. We shall then feel no sorrow, no heartache,
no disappointment, no sickness to shut us in from
friends and loved ones and duty, but with Him and
the vast redeemed throng we shall climb the moun
tains and roam the valleys and pluck the flowers
ami rejoice evermore!
A great revival has closed at East Baptist Church.
Paducah, Ky. There were 104 additions by baptism.
Os the saved there were drunkards, gamblers, sa
loonkeepers. and rough characters of every grade.
The meeting was conducted by Rev. E. H. Cunning
ham.
W, T. WINN, Fire, Accident and Health Insur
ance, Both Phones 496. 219 Empire Building.
What We Think of What We See
It impresses us as being very unfortunate that
our English friends do not seem to understand us.
A London woman writer has gone so far as to say
that there are no gentlemen in America. This is
cruel and unjust. She simply is not informed. She
surely, though must have heard of our Mr. Bill
Taft getting up and giving his seat in the street
car to three ladies. No one but a perfect gentle
man could do such a thing.
•5 *
A distinguished and brilliant bachelor lawyer of
Georgia has invaded the lecture platform. His
subject is “To Marry or Not to Marry,” and the
lecture is very popular. We have not as yet had
the pleasure of hearing it. but we will when oppor
tunity offers. We are struck most forcibly,- how
ever, by this statement: “ ‘To Marry or Not to
Marry' was first delivered at the invitation and
under the auspices of the Woman’s Missionary. So
ciety. The audience and especially the Society,
were greatly delighted and pleased.” We fee!
quite sure that the lecture earnestly advocates the
“To Marry” side of the question and that the
affirmative is championed most convincingly, else
the Society would not have stood for its being de
livered “under the auspices.” So granted that
the gentleman does advocate a general matrimonial
movement, how long will he be listened to respect
fully by his audiences if he does not himself
“prove his faith by his works”? We simply sound
a warning note. The good people who let a lecturer
deliver his opinions under their auspices, should
look well to this issue and force him to make
good.
•e *
Miss Dorothy Dix is the author of a sprightly lit
tle tale in which the chief actor is a colored gen
tleman who discusses the characteristics of the va
rious faiths he has met. The gentleman in question
had moved into the community, and there was much
speculation as to his religious leanings. A sister
of the Baptist flock approached him, and to her de
light, the Baptist faith was the kind that received
the most complete endorsement. We confess that
our enthusiasm is aroused by what he said of it,
and we are glad to quote him with reference to
three of the churches he had joined:
“ ‘ Den I jined de Piscumpalums, but dat is a book
chu’ch, an’ I didn’t know how T to read, an’ hit
kept me so mixed up dat I was always afeared I’d
git de wrong blessin’, for lak as not when I’d want
1o 'zort de Lawd to send me a rain to bring up
de potatoes, de only prar dat I could remember was
for dem whut go down to de sea in ships, which
didn’t seem to have no bearin’ on de case. So I
passed up de Piscumpalums, dough I shorly would
lak to be saved in as good company as dey is. Dey
suttinly would do you proud, when Gabriel blows
iiis horn.
“ ‘De next chu’ch I tackled was de Unitarians.
Dat’s a big, fine, broad chu’ch, Sis Mirandy, but
hit is cut too big for me. I lak to feel my religion
fit a little closer, an’ bind a little at the seams,
not enough to really hamper me, you know, but just
so I’ll know I’se got hit on, so me an’ dat chu’ch
didn’t stick togedder ve’y long, an’ den I moved
over to de Baptists.
“ ‘Dat’s de chu ’ch, Sis Mirandy! Dat’s hit! Hit’s
dip an’ duck, an’ dere you are. Hit’s de chu’ch
wid de double action plan of salvation, for when
you backslides all you got to do is to come agin’.
And hit sets mo store on doctrine dan hit does on
works, which is mighty comfortin’ to a man lak
me whut draps by de wayside occasionally, yit is
strong in de faith.
“ ‘Dat’s whar I stands, Sis Mirandy. I’se a
deep water Baptist, but I ain’t a sayin’ nothin’
agin st all de odder chu’ches. Dey’s all good, but
yon has to pick out yo’ religion lak you does yo*
coat —what’ll suit one won’t suit anodder, an’
ev’ybody to deir taste.’
“ ‘Dat’s so,’ ’spons I. ‘an’ hit’s a good thing .ve
don’t all hold to de same faith, sores we did dere
wouldn’t be nothin’ to fight over.’
“ ‘Amen,’ says Br’er Isham, ‘an’ hit’s a bet
ter thing dere’s so many different chu’ehes —dev
perlices each odder.’ ”
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