The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-02-07
THE RIGHT KIND,
Which IL the Kind Of Church Mr.
Van Wagner Proposes to
Give Sedalia.


Alien j Van Wagner. The reverend gen
Ileman preiaced his sermon with some OBJ
srrvaIions OH the subject Of the pew rent
Ing which Will take place at the church
tuesday. lie sand that il required the cum
oi sixteen hundred dollars t. run the
church, and that d large part OF the income
necessary tor this purpose WAS To he raised
from the sale oi seats. Ii was 10 ue uLder
stood, however. that the seats were To re-
main lust as tree rs ever. and that pew
renters who came Late would have To take
their chances with other people
lie di>claimed any desire To enter Il
special plea in the premises, as his
salary was secured by contract between
himself aud the church, and he would be
pIId, 40 matt, r how much or how little
might be realized from the sale oi seats.
lie wanted every body 10 know that IL w;s
the peoples church, enphatlc,lly, and To
ie,l perfectly at hOme and at ease while
there. Ana that II there va, any mrmner
oil the chuch, any pOw-r, nj, r,who rcItse To
extend the hearticst welcome To out>iLers,
then that member WIS not IN sympathy
with the church, ami had better leave.
The eighteenth chapter OF Exodus, eight
teenth Verse, served for u text.
he preacher said that inasmuch a. he
hal 60 Guided To remain here, and continue.
tue work VIII .ch he believed tic was Called
upon To- do here, he thought II rs we'll that
the people 81 Sedaiia should know what
kind oil Il church lac proposed To give them.
In the first place lac intended that his
church should be the peoples church,
where NIL might come, and BE- welcome,
aud feel ut home, AMI 20 away b-t tier Tor
having come there. Ii was Tor all alike,
the poor AMI the rich, tine good and the
bad. All should have the sane rights "a,
any member vi the church or ANYBODY
else.
Whenever preacher undertakes, said
Mr.. Van Wagner, TO talk On live subjects
and illustrate his sermons by the event,
ot public interest which are trlnspiring
around us every day. the old fashioned
church people at once pronounced him sen
sItiOnal. There are some good people who
think IT Is all wrong To preach anything
but the sermons to- which they have been
accustomed, and which are heavy, sleepy,
pro,y and lazy. What We want is i've
preaching AMI not the heavy kind, ami
Law kind Give men chanc, To think, and
nj them away thinking. Wehave special
fourteen churches in this city, | am told.
and II there Is no particular thing Tor us
Id do In this church We might Us we'll lock
the doors, Tor there are enough churches
without ii. But We have Il special use III
his city. We propose, In many different
ways, to make This church different from
any other in >edalia The young men OF
the city flock here Sunday after Sunday,
BECAUSE they know that am doing them
good, that am their pastor and iri, nj
When first took thi, church | was Laugh, ii
at. / used 10 meet pee pie down suect
who would la e ME by the ha nd and say.
Well, Mr.. Van agner, | think Il guo,
deal of You on your fathers account, but
YOU have under AIKEN II big thing in that
church up there. hope You'll pull
through And they would laugh al me-
wen: home to Illinois and told my
vile thi > dalii was the finest field inthr
southwest for church, and that was sat
isiied that could do good work here, e,-
pecialy among the young Men, who were
running VIVID, and into all kinks of vice.
came here and have been here ever since
The membership of the church has nearly
double !, and We can hardly accommodate
the people who flock here every Sunday
night.
We also want cheerful church. We
must all feel cheerful and joyful among
ourselves, and when Il stranger comes heie
We must take him by the hand, make him
welcome, make him JOYOUS, and glad that
he came here Let every man, womag
and child who comes here feel that he is
at home among VS., that we want him To
come here and will do him good. And
he will come again because il does him
good, because he is at home, because he is
welcome. LII We cannot do this, then
We had better shut the church up. And ii
there Is anv member of the church who
docs not ievl like doing this, let him take
his letter, and leave.
We also want asympathetic church. We
want To- svmparhize with every body, with
the whoi. world. All, one wants sympa- |
thy when he stands over the coffin. and il
Is lowered into the grave. Think or the !
anguish aud SORROW IF that moment |
Think oi the death which Is everywhere |
around us. Only the other day Brother |
Bullard stood over the dead body Of his
vuuug and beautiful wife, who So loved |
lie, and who SD enjoyed it, and saw the
coffin lowered into the grave forever. Up
on broadway death has made his inrOad>, |
carrying off wives and daughters amt leav
ing sorrow and anguish behind Wewan
To b. sympathetic, then, and extend the /
ready hand OF sympathy To all men.
We also want IL social church. for tell |
Won that church is very often tn b, |
Judged according TO It's socialiiy. Where |
YOU lind church VIII, 81 members are not |!
social among themselves and towards others
that church can't bee prosp, rous. a good !
many people think the church was made |
ior the saints, and they come in and sit
with long faces and listen to- a sermon with |
three minutes between every word. l want
everybody to feel that there is no restraint
here. When come into the church like |
10 see the congregation engaged IN chatting !
i'm u low tone, ami In Il social and friendly |
don't like TO see them sitting
here as il they were at funeral. BE SC al
and cordial with everybody.
Nc want nop-seetarI3n church also /