The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-01-03

| cHutcu Oil run anu AhdulS'h "'Sh"S',
on any Sunday, We shall find there q
we'll dressed crowd, or thinly scattered
company Of fashionable people, and al
most no poor people at all These
churches may carry Oh, and, as a rule,
do carry Mission Sunday School IN
some part Of the city, where a great deal
of useful work is done Under the cir
cumstances, they do as well as can; but
the fact remains, that the people whose
children are taught do not enter a church
at all. 1t is in vain that they are invi-
ted to attend preaching; and the fact IS
demonstrated beyond all question, rs 1t
appears to ua, that there must he
change effected in the basis and policy
of church support before they can be
induced To DO SO We may attribute
their non attendance 20 indifference to
religious subjects. This is IN easy
method Of reviewing ourselves OF rcspon'
sibilty, but in view of tho alarming fact
that this Indifference is steadily incrcns-
ing, it becomes Us to Inquire whether
the Church itself docs not come IN Tor
a share of the blame, and to find, it pos
sible, where that blame lies.
We have before us book entitled
Copy, BY Hugh Miller Thompson,
Rector of Christ Church, in this city,
consisting Of between sixty aud seventy
brief editorial articles, which has, we
may say in passing, more straightforward
common sense i'll it than any book we
have met within year, aud which pre-.
sents to Us two articles respectively re-
vealiug the basis of our difficulty and
the way OF release from it. The first
is entitled, " A Proprietary Christian.
ity," and the second, Il Lost Act OF
Worship We DO not propose TO quote
from them, for W have not the space,
but il he reason for change in the
basis of church support, and the solu-
ton Of the problem Of free church are
not to be found in them, then they are
hardly To be found in current literature.
Our houses are churches of men, and
not houses of Gud They are .argcly
owned by individuals, and not by the
church, or BY any body of men rclre.
seutng the church, Either ths is the
ease or they are sold every year to the
highest bitder Tremendous tXpcndl-
lures are made Ia building churches !;
grtas ontiays oi moacy are needed for
carrying them OF IA most OF the
lchuroAcs tuCf1 j. absolute ownership Of
, pcws on tie part Of individuals; ana by
private sale or public auction the sit
tings are appor,iobed to those who have
the money TO pay Tor them. There are
free sittipgs oi course, but the men for
whom they are iett viii not take aud oc
, cupy them, and thus publicly advertise
. themselves a. paupeis. 1t seems plain
To Us that sJme change must be made
} exactly here, before The first step can be
. taken toward reform, Indeed this
change must te the first step. Our
). houses OF worship must be recOgDlz d
- as houses Of Gol--houses III which there
are no exclusive rights purchasable in
any way by money houses where the
rich man ana the beggar meet on com
, mon ground TO worship a common Lord
houses 70 any seat in which any man,
high or low, rich or poor, has equal right
with any other nIau. We have tried tGc
other an long enough, and ought to be
satisfied by this time that it is failure
as it most lamentably Is.
Now comes up the question Of church
support \ churcn cannot be run
without money. l. cannot be buit or
bought without money. Well, in the
first place, churches need not cost hall
% % the money they do, either to build or to
u carry on. We pay immense Gums IL
g make churches attractive, aud there are
N those in New York that are crammed
g every Sunday simp J for the purpose OF
g hearing expensive music. There is u
II very large Attendance upon certain
o churches in this city that has not the
" frs. motive of wOfsn p in it-churchcc
D. in which artistic music is made 50 prom
X iuent, indeed, as quite 10 put all ideas Of
" worship out of tue MUD OF chose vino
's are musically inclined. There is no,
q. oDly money enough for all necessary
70 purposes, but money is absolutely wasted
- Our churches are now built and run or
ito theory that men will pay for exclu
sive privileges for themselves, and will
th not pay for tree privileges for all
:, !, Ana here il where Dr. thompson
a article on " a Lost Act OF Worship
p comes to it's practical bearing liz
" claims that the Worship of God in Gift.
has been lost, ana ought to be recovered
The first worship offered to Christ OF
earth was worship Of gifts. Gift
were recognized acts Of worship in til,
Jewish church from the immemorial
All that Is necessary is to re -nstatt
this act of worship so that every
= Christian who goes to church shall brins
with his tribute of prayer and prais,
his offering of money, as an act OF wor.
h. ship, in order to solve the free church
a. ., problem at once. Churches are 10 bC
ls butt by gifts offered in worship-by .
dedication of substance as well as OF
=, self. and they are To he carried nm -