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THE CHURCH AND THE WORKING MAN
A Sermon by Dr. Broughton the first Sunday
after his two months’ rest, preached to his men
in the afternoon men’s meeting. 1,500 men were
present. Scripture Lesson Acts 2nd chapter.
AM speaking this afternoon on
“The Working Man and the
Church.” I do not make any
apology for the term “working
man” for most of us here are
working men. I take it for grant
ed that no men in this presence are
not working men, some with hands,
some with feet, some with mouth,
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and some brains, but we all work. I think there
has been a misapplication of the expression
“working man,” for we have gotten to think
that the term refers to a man who simply works
with his hands, whereas it should apply to all
men who work. So I include all classes of men
today, that work.
The Church to me, is the greatest institution
that God ever gave this world. Every other
institution in the world fades into insignificance
when placed alongside of the Church of Christ.
There is nothing that the world enjoys in the
way of civilization and privileges under civili
zation that it does not owe directly or indi
rectly to the Church. If you disbelieve this in
any sense, go with me and let us pay a rapid
visit to some of those countries where the
Church has not really gone, and there you will
find something of an opportunity to judge the
merits of the Christian Church. And that is
particularly true of this country. England is
after all the mother of our Christian civiliza
tion. She has done more to carry civilization
and maintain it than any and all countries in
the whole wmrld together. I do not think she
is doing as much as she might, I think she is
failing at many vital points today, but she
has done a great work.
Now I have read to you in my lesson this
afternoon, an account of the organization of
the Christian Church. It is a very short ac
count, but it is a very important one, and one
that every man is bound to face. In this ac
count two things are worthy of our consider
ation. First there is an account of the organ
ization of the Church; and second, the account
of the line of work that it did. I want us to
see first its organization, as you find it here in
the second of the Acts.
There are three things said about it, first,
‘ ‘ they received the word. ’ ’ Second ‘‘ they were
baptized.” Third, “they were added unto
them.”
Then there is an account given of what this
first Church did, and there are six things men
tioned. First, they continued in the Apostles’
doctrines. A Church without a doctrine is
like a ship without an anchor in the day of
storm. Say what we will about it, there is no
Christian life without a strong, vigorous, Chris
tian doctrine for it to rest upon. Christian
doctrine to the Christian is like a skeleton
to the body; there can be no healthy body with
out a strong, healthy, well put together skele
ton.
We may have too much skeleton for the
body, as some of us can testify to, or we may
have too much body for the amount of skele
ton, as some of you.can testify to. But if I had
to have one or the other, an over-amount of
skeleton, or an over amount of body. I should
take an over amount of skeleton and therefore
I am satisfied with what the Lord gave me in
this respect; it is a great deal easier to get
about within a great metropolis like London,
and in some cases when the thermometer runs
up it is very much more comfortable.
And so in respect to Christian doctrine, when
you hear a man pooh pooh Christian doctrine,
Preached at Christ Church, Westminster Bridge-road, by Dr. Len G. Broughton, M.D., D.D.
Reported for The Golden Age by M. I. H.—Copyright Applied for.
you say that man stands for a milk and cider
religion that cannot endure hardship. And so
they continued in the Apostle’s doctrine, and
“fellowship,” and this is a word I would like
to expound. In many respects it is the most
beautiful word in the English language, I like
it far more than the word “brother,” there is
much more in it. Do you know the real mean
ing of the word “fellow,” it is “ones other
self.” So this Church continued in fellowship.
They continued each to live the other’s life;
and what a beautiful state of things that was,
could we imagine anything more beautiful than
that! A Church of 300 members, each striving
to live the other’s life, to judge life from the
other man’s standpoint
And then they continued in the “breaking
of bread,” or what we call communion. There
is no more beautiful exercise in all the world
than the observance of the Lord’s Supper, un
less it is the ordinance of baptism, and they
observed both. They were baptised, and num
bered among the members of the Church. Ido
not know what you think about it, but I tell
you I think that baptism, representing as it
does the burial and resurrection of our Lord is
after all the greatest testimony that the world
ever had of Christ. They were baptized; they
were buried and raised again with our Lord,
and then “they continued in the breaking of
the bread” in the communion, that which tes
tifies of the rest of that which followed, in
perfecting the plan of human redemption.
Baptism takes Jesus from the cross, carries
Him through the grave. The Communion is
the broken body and shed blood of our Lord.
Both of these are essential in order to complete
the perfect type of full salvation.
You hear people today talking about being
orthodox Christians, and yet they never take
the Lord’s Supper. You cannot get some men
to take the Lord’s Supper. Why, I do not
know. There is no such thing as Apostolic
Christianity to the man that absolutely ignores
and refuses communion, never mind how good
he is, or how much he gives himself to kind
ness, and fellowship and the like of that.
The Apostles continued in the communion,
and if we wish to be Apostolic we must do so.
They “continued in prayer.” Then again
they “had all things in common.” They had
(a) a common experience. They all experienc
ed the regenerating grace of the Lord Jesus.
They had received the Word, and in that re
spect their experience was common.
Then they had (b) a common service; they
all served. Then they had (c) a common sorrow.
All of them had their sorrows, one had this,
another the other, but they were all alike in
sorrow. You must remember that these early
Christians were tremendously persecuted. Most
of these men were away from their home. They
were in Jerusalem at the time of celebrating
the Passover, and they were converted while
there. And many of them were ostracized be
cause of their acceptance of Christ.
Then they had (d) common sivkness, they
got sick just like other people. They had (e)
common temptation, and (f) common bodily
needs, they needed for their bodies as every
man else needed.
Then they had (d) common sickness, they
fice. They sold their possessions and parted
them to all men as every man had need.
Now let us see something of the Church of
today, let us look at our own Church. The
Christian Church of today is to operate upon
exactly the same basis as the Apostolic Church
if it would be Apostolic; that is to say, she, too
must have all things in common, (a) She must
have an experience that is common, (b) she
must have a service that is common, (c) she
must have a support that is common, (d) she
The Golden Age for October 31, 1912.
must have common sorrows, sicknesses, perse
cutions. (e) She must have a temptation that
is common, (f) She must have bodily needs
that are common, (g) She must have a sacri
fice that is common.
Now this is what the Church proposes to do
for every man of you. What is it? In t brief,
the Church today proposes to answer as far as
she can, every human need.
Every human need never mind what it
springs from, is a part of the consideration of
the Christian Church. Is that need an intel
lectual one? It is a part of the business of the
Christian Church to see that every man, woman
and child has that intellectual need supplied.
Do you mean to tell me that the Christian
Church can sit down and fold her arms and be
perfectly satisfied while the world grows up in
ignorance. We cannot expect to have the
world’s confidence if we do that. That man’s
intellectual need over there, as my brother in
Christ, is a part of my consideration, and when
I say my consideration I am speaking for the
Church. The Church can never rest until every
man has a chance of an education. And this
is a part of the -work of the Church. God save
this country from ever having an education
that leaves Christ out. Now I am going to
say something that perhaps you will be sur
prised to hear. I had rather have distinct
Church education as you have it in this coun
try than to have what we have in America, an
education that leaves God out—-that forbids
the Bible.
Physical need, bodily need. Every bodily
need is a part of the consideration of the Chris
tian Church. Do you mean to tell me that the
maimed, lame, halt, blind and otherwise sick
out there on the street are not a part of the
consideration of the Christian Church ? Why
my brethren, you will have to cut out the whole
of the ministry of Jesus before you get me to
believe that. The Church would be lacking in
His sympathy so long as she saw the world
groping in sickness and disease, and did noth
ing to help it. And why has the Church wait
ed so long in considering its relationship to
disease, —physical disease? The old monks
were to a great extent right. They did many
things that we ought to have incorporated in
the Church today. They considered the ques
tion of physical disease, and regarded it as of
so great importance that they built great hos
pitals, many of them stand in your own coun
try today.
And so the Church has got to go back to this
and remember the Lord himself “healed the
sick.” Why should we send a man off yonder
to some place that is non-Christian to get his
healing? The time to impress a man most is
when he is sick. There and then, the Church
through its doctor and nurses should lay hold
of him and make him a Christian as well as a
sound man. One reason why the Church has
made so little progress is because she has oper
ated upon so narrow a plan. Thank God she
is beginning to wake up today and realize this.
Yes, every human need. The need of em
ployment if you will. My brethren I believe
every Church should be an employment bureau.
And if God gives me life, this Church is going
in the near future to have a distinct employ
ment agency for the purpose of looking out for
jobs for men. (Great applause.) In the
Church that I capie from in Atlanta we had
an employment agency, and that agency was
the direct result of bringing more men to
Christ, and more families into our Sunday
School and Church than any one agency that
we had. It was far more fruitful than our mid
week prayer meeting. I speak to you frankly
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