Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-09-14
SOCIETY CHURCHES.

SOCIETY CHURCHES.
Moreover this they have done unto me: they
have defled my sanctuary in the same day,
and have profaned my Sabbath.-EzKKIEI
xxIu:3S.
The Christian church was established, like
that of Mosaic times, for the purpose of
worshiping God. 1t was not intended that
it should be devoted to any other purpose,
and to pervert it from it's legitimate end is
an act fraught with much danger to the in
terests and progress of religion. Yet In
these times this perversion is all but univer-
sal. Instead of being q place in which
Christians meet to offer up praise and thanks
giving to the most high, the church is gen.
orally mere social resort where people 60
to meet each other, to inspect and compare
each others wardrobe, and to discuss the
topics of the day much as they frequent the
lodge room, the club or the social gathering.
The sermon and the service merely afford a
pretext for such meetings. The church as
community is not a religious but social
body, drawn together by identity of tastes
and social rank. In order to procure the
entree into certain society man or woman
must belong to some particular church, and
hence it occurs that so much irreligion
manages to get into what should be wholly
religious organizations.
We do not wholly condemn this social
feature of the church. It is decided i'm
provement, within certain bounds, upon the
austerity of the covenanters and the puritans,
and tends to make the services of the sane
tuary and the society of cody men more at
tractive. But there is danger that it may be
carried too far, and indeed in many instances
within the personal knowledge of every OBJ.
serving man it has already gone SO far as to
injure the cause of true religion. Men
select their church as they select their club,
not because of the godliness of its men,
bership, but because of the social and
business advantages association there
will afford. Women, if they aim to be fash
ionable and to move in good society, join the
most fashionable church, no matter what its
creed may be. True, if the advantages are
equal, or nearly SO, they choose the one in
which they have been educated, but denomi-
national differences melt away before social
considerations.
In the days of the apostles the church
communities were not organized for the pur-
pose of social converse, but that, by COM
muning together on religious topics, they
| might give each other encouragement to per-
severe in the Christian faith, courage to re-
sist temptation and to endure persecu-
ton. All the epistles written to the churches
by the first ministers of. Christianity tenn
with exhortations to abstain from falling into
worldly ways,and to be constant in the faith,
in season and out of season. While recon-
mending the frequent assembling of the
brethren together the caution is given to see
that their conversation is godly and pure,
SO that the church may be without blame.
There has been great degeneracy since that
time, and many innovations have crept into
| the church, among which is this transform
ing the organizations into simple social clubs,
in which there is little OF religion. The
greatest objection we find to this innovation
is the fact that it reflects not only upon the
sincerity of the church members generally,
but upon the truths of the Christian relig-
ion. 1t is argued by those out of its pale
that if the practice of religiondoes not make
men and women better than those with whom
he comes in contact outside of the church
and It's influence, it is of no avail what
ever. He sees the same strife for social
prominence in the churches that he sees out
side; the same envyings, chickering's, SANDER
ings and passion for display; the same striv-
ing after wealth and Indifference to the
means through which it is acquired; the
same license in conversation and as little de-
votion to the welfare of mankind
either in this world or that which
is to come that meets his gaze
among those who profess nothing. It is
natural for him to conclude that churches
are simply social organizations and the So
called religious services simply prete1ts for
getting their members together and fostering
community among them, just as the ritual
of the lodge room or the debates or dra-
matte performances of the literary societies
are employed. While social converse be-
tween members of churches ought to be en-
couraged, it should not be allowed to absorb
all else, and to dwarf the purpose of their
formation into utter insigniicance. A little
more of the religious and a little less of the
social element in our churches would be
| beneficial.