Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-01-05
PURIFY THE CHURCH.


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PURIFY THE HCRCH.
Woe unto YOU, scribes and Pharisees, hypo-
critics! for We compass sea and land to make
one proselyte; and when he is made, we make
him two-fold more the child of hell than your
selves.-Matthew xxI1I:15.
All the efforts of the church are directed
towards PROSECUTING. To bring sinners into
the fold of the church is the highest ambi-
tien of every minister who stands in the
pulpit on the Sabbath day, and if, at the end
Of the year the, roll of membership of his
church shows an increase, he is perfectly
satisfied and felicitates himself and associ-
ates on having done a good work and merit
ing the divine appreciation. He never
seems to inquire whether the church is a
proper place-whether it has not so deterio-
rated as to be a positively bad place i'll
which to fold the sheep who may be reclaim
ed from their wanderings. 70 get men in
to the church every effort is made; to in
struct them in the theories Of Christianity
when they are there is q secondary consider
alton, too often neglected altogether. When
man is converted, as the term goes, ne is
considered to have been saved, and to re.
quire no moro attention save when his pew
rental is due or subscription is wanted to
upholster the pews or carpet the aisles.
The preaching is done for the benefit of the
worlds people; the church members ara
allowed to care for themselves-to go hungry
for spiritual food, and thirsty for heavenly
watars. The inevitable result follows. The
churches often degenerate and become the
very hot beds OF ell that is loathsome in
social life, all that is reprehensible in per-
sonal relations. It becomes the home and
breeding place of SANDER. There the foul
calunnv is set afoat which eventually
brings shame and reproach upon the pure
and confding young lady or the guileless
young man. ISLANDERS proceeding from
within the church are vastly more
poisonous than those that originate
outside, for they come az by authority-the
criticisms Of the pure upon the impure.
Tho sewing circle and the church soc;able
are generally the delight of the gossips.
They partalze somewhat of the freedom of
the home circle, and words are spoken and
acts are committed there that would never
come to the surface elsewhere. These are
taken up and commented upon and dissected
by the gossips, and what was spoken, per-
haps, in jest, OF in a spirit of inviting con-
fidence, is distorted into heinous otfense
against social OF personal propriety.
There is disposition manifested in the
churches to defend and uphold church mem
bers in the commission Of acts that in any
other person, would meet with the most VIC
lent condemnation. It seems to be cardi-
nal tenet of most religious organizations
that church member, more especially if he
is prominent one and contributes largely
to the funds of the society, can do no wrong,
and should be exempt from criticism. Thus
it happens that a moral laxity prevails within
the organization that is fatal to its Influence
for good. Those who are brought into it
learn to ignore the teachings of the master
they profess to serve, and TO follow instead
the example set them by those who are older
in the church than they. Instead, therefore,
of being a school of morality the church Of
tentimes becomes a school Of deceit and nv
pocrisy. People who were frank, open
hearted and honorable in all things prior to
their joining the church become deceitful
and Enthusiastically in an incredibly short
space of time afterwards.
This is not due to religion, but rather to
the lack of its essential principles Too
much Importance is attached to the fact of
church membership. It begets an II am
holler than thou feeling among many
causes1 them to despise the morality of the
world and to create one of their own, in
which the old Adam takes prominent seat.
1t is also due in measure to the neglect
of proper instruction from their spiritua!
teacher. He is too busy in the attempt to
proselyte others, and has no time to devote
to the training of those whom he has already
caught. AS long as they remain in his
church he cares but little whether they have
a proper conception of the duties of Chris
tians Or not, provided they avoid any open
transgressions of the moral law which might
bring the church into open disgrace If a
Baptist can proselyte Presbyterian, or a
Methodist Roman Catholic, the fact is
heralded abroad as q grand triumph of the
true religion over the false, while the fact is
the convert may be going from a church that
is living up to the full requirements of tbs
divine law into one that puts honest and
sincere Christians to the blush by reason of
their hypocrisy and worldlinegs.
1t would be the part of wisdom in minis-
tiers Of the gospel to pay more attention to
the publication of their own churches and
less to the attempt to proselyte from others.
They ought to bear in mind that example is
better than precept, and a little band of sin
cere and faithful Christians can do more to