Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1888-03-10


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all going to the bad, but travelling at
a moderate gait in the other direct
ion. t Whh
Ceremonial religion has not the
same hold as formerly, but real re-
ligion has a flrmer grip. Mere forms
are secondary, but philanthropy,
justice and the cardinal virtues are
held in higher esteem. The clerical
office is not regarded with reverence
but clerical eloquence, when dealing
with great themes of life and death,
gathers crowds. In other words,
the clergyman's white necktie is out
of fashion, but his brains are at
premium.
Go to any Catholic church to-day,
for instance, and see the congregation
pouring out like bees out of a hive.
There is no Indifference there. Or
drop in at DR.. Taylor's or DIR. Pax
toms or DIR. Halls and note the
puzzled look On the sections face as
he tells you he would like to
accommodate you, but every camp
chair is occupied. Take trip &cross
the Bridge, snuff the cool air coming
up the bay, and then stop at
Talmage's or Behrends', while the
remembrance of Beecher's big
congregations come wildly to
mind, and you will quickly conclude
that the people are willing to listen
if there is anybody worth listening
to.
There you have the whole story Of
the change that has taken place. 1t
is not the church that attracts, but
the man in the pulpit Put a MUM
my in the pulpit, and the pews thin
out put some one there who has a
fire in his Uranium and there is
standing room only" Dogmatic
religion, treatises an hour long on
foreordination are like so much
chloroform. There is no demand for
them. But when minister sharpens
his sermon as a farmer does his
scythe, and talks with vim just as
the farmer cuts swath, why, In the
course of a few years you have tc en-
large the church, increase the minis
ter's salary and send him to Europe
on a vacation once in while for fear
some other church will steal him.
Ask the tremendous Methodist
workers if religion is declining. Their
ready answer is what do you suppose
we build an extra church for every
day in the year? Not because we
have a mania for churchs, but because
they are needed in every part of the
country Then visit the Foreign
Missionary Society; learn that they
raise a million year to carry the
Gospel to the heather. Who give
that amount of money? Men who
are Indifferent? Or go to Adler's
study and ask him to tell you how
much hard work his people are do
ing for the poor of the city. Men do
not go into the slums and women do
not watch by sick beds in tenement
houses unless they have strong mo-
tive, and when both men and women
slip their fingers into their
pockets and pull out a sroll
of bills to buy coal and drugs for the
unfortunate you may be sure that
they have been inoculated with re-
: ligion and the virus has taken.
No, you can keep your courage up.
: The world is all right and and going
ahead. Cracking is bad habit TO
get into. Above all things don't
croak-leave that to the frogs. The
old days were well enough in their
way, but they won't compare with
the present, and the present isn't hall
as good as the future is going to be.
For ourselves we are thankful We
didn't live in the times of1our fore
9 fathers, and if we have any sorrow
at all it is because we shall not bt
q alive a hundred years from now
| when our Observation-Disclosures
/ come on the stage. We should really
like to see how those youngsters vii
h handle things. t4 s4