Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1876-03-24
Church Debts.

Church Debts.
The way in which church edifces are
built nowadays really necessitates a new
formula of dedication. How would this
read? I'VE dedicate this edifice to Thee
our Lord and Master; we give it to Thee
and Thy cause and kingdom, subject to a
mortgage of one hundred and fifty thou
sand dollars ($15O,OOO.) We bequeath it tc
our children and our children's children
as the greatest boon we can confer to them
Subject to the mortgage aforesaid,) and
we trust that they will have the grace and
the money to pay the interest and lift tine
mortgage. Preserve it from fire and fore
closure, we pray Thee, and make it abun-
dainty useful to Thyself, subject, Of
course, to the aforesaid mortgage"
The offering Of a structure to the AL
mighty, as the gift Of an organization of
devotees who have not paid for it, and do
not own it, strikes the ordinary mind as a
very strange thing, yet it is safe to say that
not one church in twenty is built in Anne
RIGA without mourning debt, larger or
smaller. A more commodious and more
elegant building is wanted. A subscrip-
ton is made that will not more than half
cover it's cost, and money enough is bor-
rowed to complete it. The whole property
is mortgaged for all that it will carry, the
the financial authorities are saddled with
a floating debt which they can only handle
on their personal responsibility, and then
comes taxation for interest sufficient to
keep the church always in distress. This
sort of church enterprise is so common
that it has become commonplace. The
children Of this world do not build rail-
roads with capital stock paid in, but they
build them with bonds. The children Of
light do not really seem to be less wise in
their generation, in the way in which they
build their churches. Indeed, we think
the latter can give the former several
points and beat them for the paying sue
cess of a church depends upon more con-
and its bonds really ought not to sell for
more than fifty cents on the dollar flat. :"
If we seem to make light,of this subject, it
is only for the purpose of showing how alb
surd position the churches have assumed
in relation to it. 1t is not Il light subject;
it is very grave one, and one which de-
mands the immediate and persistent at
tention of all the churches until it shall be
properly disposed of. In the first place, it
is not exactly Christian act for body of
men to contract a debt which they are not
able to pay. II is hardly more Christian
to refuse to pay d debt which they know
they are able to discharge. 1t can hardly
be regarded as a generous deed to beqneath
debt to succeeding generations. The
very foundations of the ordinary church
debt are rotten. They are rotten with
poor morality, poor financial policy, and
personal and sectarian va nifty. Does any
one suppose that these extensive and debt
laden churches were erected simply for the
honor of the Master, and given to Him
subject to mortgage
The results of building churches upon
such an unsound basis are bad enough.
The first result, perhaps, is the extinguish-
ment of all church benefcence. The church
debt is the apology for denying all appeals
for aid, from all the greater and smaller
charities. A church sitting in the shadow
of great debt, is mot at hcme" to cal
lers. They do not pay the debt, but they
owe the money, and they are afraid they
shall be obliged to pay it. The heather
must take care of themselves, the starving
must 60 without bread, the widow and
fartherless must look to the God Of the
widow and fatherless, the sick must pine,
dage, because of this awful church debt.
All of the meanness in a church skulks be-
hind the debt, of which it intends to pay
very little, while all the nobleness feels
really poor, because it is conscious that
the debt is to be paid, if paid at all, by it.
self.
Again, church debt is scare crow to
all new corners. A stranger, taking up his
residence in any town, looks mutually for
the church without debt. He has a hor-
ror of debt of any sort, perhaps, and, as he
had no responsibility for the church debts
he finds, he does not propose voluntarily
to assume any. So he stays away from the
debt-ridden church, and the very means
that were adopted to make the edifice at
tractive, become, naturally and inevitably,
the agents Of repulsion. Debt-ridden
churches, with good preachers do not need
to look beyond their debts for the reason
which prevents more frequent and remu-
nerative accessions to their number
Christian at Work. !.
The DEAR DEAD-The dear dead
They lie in their quiet graves, knowing
nothing Of the sorrow that lives in the