The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1866-08-02
For the jackson Standard


| All over Chrisendom, people conRrenate In
churches 70 worship God, and for various other
purposes They worship ln various ways, to which
we do moi object; for 1t Is evidently impossible
for human minds In present circumstances and i'm
the present stage of existence TO agree IN all points
respecting the Invisible, since they disagree re-
speeding many things that they see with their
eyes. At any rate the christian congregation Is
o phenomenon OF enlightened civilization; the
association OF the two Is III subject for reflection
But we prefer for the present to study conrrcpa-
tions as they may be seen in churches every Sab.
bath almost everywhere In the land.
! we Justly fear the community that has no reli-
gious congregations. Designing men NAV curse
the church ior It's discussion of great or national
moral questions, but the fact Is as stubborn as
ever that the community destitute of the nstitu-
tions of the church makes an undesirable home
for the honest man.
Whatever may be the various ideas of men re.
specting the extent of the souls communion win,
God, the supreme source of life and thought this
much seems to be established : worship Is soejol.
hence congregations But the outward form. the
prescribed mode and order are no measure of the
individuals devotion, or of the truly devout souls
communion with the all-pervading Spirit-or. If
the term spirit is here objectionabie-w will
say, the degree of the souls conscious sympathy
with It's Creator. SO that getting away down to
the basis of the idea of divine worship II is difi-
cult to conceive of professedly christian congrc.
CATION wholly destitute of the truly religious ee.
ment as existing in some individual s0nl The
heart sometimes recognizes God while the creed
the product of the BRAIN and the ceremonies OF
worship are strangely at variance with the con-
ceptions OF truth as held by others. Thus we NAV
say the soul of the congregation is deyout. while
alas the body is often composed of those who
congregate for various other purposes besides
worship. N..r -
Anayze any large congregation and sec whether
tis the elGmentS are not plainly rccognizable and
thls without injustice to the truly religious ele-
ment. 'Thata real religious element does exist.
no close observer of the phenomena of Christianity
Will deny and no sincere man who feels the wants
OF the soul, and considers those problems of life
that christianity is designed to solve, wishes to-
deny it. He does not desire to close his ewes to
the probability of revealed religion.
In nearly every congregation there is political
clement. There are some who do not care a fjg
Tor the gospel, but they want it pure If the
preacher Will only deal in generaites of heaven
aud holiness and leave political sins to political
sinners they are satisfied, and can sleep during
the sermon with some comfort They can get
along with holiness as harmless idea, or as q
comfort to the simply devout but to denounce
corrupt legislation or sin in high places is a de-
parture from the pure gospel The gospel must
not be applied in such cases So if the nrencher
breaches the enforcement of law for the Suppress
ion OF crime that dsturbs the peace and happiness
OF society, he stirs up the element of ttmoral
ouuoAOhlSto III congregations he slOuU
preach the pure gospel of Him who taught that
the magistrate, in christian land is to be terror
10 "eVll doers.' y no. he must preach abOut
heaven and holiness, utterly ignoring the demands
Of society.
Every congregation has critical element. The
objects of criticism are various The preacher
has a large share Of it, A man thinks he has a
perfect Idea OF Christ as preacher the model.
modern preacher must correspond to that idea
hence the critic is watching for any manifestation
OF the human or OF distinct individuality from the
pulpit, which he prononnces unlike Christ who,
say they, never so far forgot his dirine mission as
to NEEDLE with the ungodly business of men. o
no, there must be some mistake where il is re-
corded that he with his own hands drove ont of
the sacred temple certain set of merchants
Another man from neighboring church comes to
sec whether the preacher will dare to preach the
very doctrines which everybody knows he he
lieves-the doctrines of his own church which
his congregation should expect him to declare
Strange, that he will be so uncatholic as to do it,
This critic does not value the points of agreement
he comes expressly to hear the dsagreeable doc.
trines, and leels dsagreeable if he does not hear
them, Another critic nicely distributes the nm.
plcations Of the sermon among his neighbors and
chhckles over the happy hits. while he does not
suppose that any arrow is directed to him. unless
the preneher--like the famous ancient archer who
labeled nn arrow, ITO Philips right eve"-wouId
have the boldness to name him, and then he would
not be convinced,
1t can not be denied that there is very oftentbe
element Of hypocrisy in the congregation: to ex4
plain is better than to deny. There are those who
go the full length of false profession of pietv:
and there are Others who make false profession of
respect for christianity, The first class have learn
ed the phraseology Of really devont men; thev
have copied the heavenly countenance; thev have
learned to speek sWcetly on the clOce themes of
the holy religion of Jesus; but they are destitute
of the principles that should regulate an ordnarly
good Rte. For obvious reasons they counterfeit
pure religion that passes current among honest
men. The other class make fhlse profession of reA
spect for christianity in order that they NAV OBJ
tain the favor of the really pious while thev
heartily despise the precepts Of the gospel, and
live in daily disregard of some of the plainest If
them. They bow politely to the Lord they sit
upright in their pews; they excuse their moral
with the ready plea that they are not
professors; yet by studied pOiteness to the
church, or the observance of the etiquette of the
congregation, they expect to profit in temporal
things by cunning alliance with eternity.
Besides the element Of essential piety in the con.
greSatlon there is large element Of those who
are In transition state, composed of those who
are gradually giving up the principles of the gos-
pei as rules of life, and those who are gradually
adopting these same principles. The faithful
preacher reiterates these principles to the con-
lemnatlon of one class and to the confirmation of
the other. In the one case there Is process of
moral deformity going on, in the other process
Of moral symmetry. It's on account of this trans
tion element that the careless observer so often
Tails to comprehend and properly estimate these
phenomena OF enlightened ciyilization-ohristidn
congregations. PHIDELTA