, 1877-04-08
MINISTERS AND CHURCHES.

| churches are tue religions public schools OF I
people. AS in well-regulated community
under modern civilization, one sees the lan6
dotted with school-houses for the purposes
Of secular education, SO he finds everywhere
| for moral and religious uses, the church edi
fee. Each of these institutions ministers tc
felt want, or assumes to do so. Thot il
may really fulfill that purpose, it must be
adapted to the particular necessities of the time
and place. Thus, to have educational value,
the secular teacher must instruct in branches
related to the wants of the children put
under his care. There are localities where
high school or classical academy
would be useless, while primary school
would be q priceless blessing. Read
ing, writing, and arithmetic may be
commonplace studies but young children
Of the ordinary class and average prospects
in life are commonplace also, and demand
precisely such q preparation for coming work
as those studies furnish. It would seem more
dlgnifed for tho teacher to be insructine in
Latin and Greek; but the schoolhouses are
not built tor nbodes of dignity. And so one
may reason about the churches as devoted to
moral and religious education. To serve the
people well they must not stand 50 much
upon dignity rs upon utility They must be
in close relation with the actual wants of the
mass of men among whom and for whom
they exist; contemplating not the tastes Of
a select few, but the needs OF the many; or
dering their exercises not for the exaltation
Of the clergy, but for the moral and religious
of the 1nity.
This end should be steadi1y Kept in view
as justification for the number and expense
Of the churches II trnveler from semi
civilized land were to express surprise at the
fact that .he met q schoolhouse at every |
turn, and that the people should consent to
erect such costly buildings and to support m
army Of teachcrs, our explanation would be,
to point to the necessity and value of ed,,ca- |
ton and to the obvious practical benefit |
which the people derived from this e1pend- |
lture of money. It would not be sufficient |
answer to claim that the buildings were an
ornament to the place and that the teachers /
made an eminently respectable class in the
In the old days of united |
Church and Stats, when the people were sup
posd to be Of one religious faith, provision
,ould bo made Systematically for their re-
igious as for their secular trimming; and
:hurch could be located in its parish, as we
ocate school, house in its district, according
% the perceived need. That idea surely con
emplated practical benefit to be derived
y the entire community. But not less
nay We .claim similar relation of
hings under the voluntary system. For what
moral right have the various sects to organ-
70 SO many churches, to erect so many eccle-
iastlcal edifces, and to incur such vast ex-
'ense' in the support of the clergy and in
ther parish outlays, if they cannot show q
orresponaing benefit? And this benefit
hould be real, and not imaginary tangible.
nd not sentimental widespread, and not
onfined to a few. This is necessary to q
loral justification Of their existence; but,
SO practical an age As the present, it will
found equally necessary to their continued
1pport by the people, who will interrogate
Id Investigate each sect, in each p1ace, un- >
on some ground of utility it justihes its :
ght to be.
It has been charged that the clergy do not =
flciently keep these truths in mind; thai =
some churches the people have a great =
cess of ritunl and a deficiency Of instruc-
N, the sermon being omitted or reduced to
'tarTeling essay Of fifteen or twenty min f.
es; while in others there is preaching a.
ough, but the discourses are not sufficient a,