The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-02-12

in different FORMS and also because can reach
people through the eye who cant be reached
through the ear. The first and third Sunday
evenings of each month, on which hold these
services, are marked by alarger attendance than
the others, but the attendance on the intervening
Sundays is larger than 1t otherwise would be.
The simple fact is, the ordinary morning congre-
CATION is composed of regular church attendants.
Then many Of these attend the Sunday school
service in the afternoon. After that they are
opposed to going away from home at night, aud
they have much cause to be. There is no reason
why they should go Sunday night. and, IN fact,
they had better stay at home There is f1oat-
ing element here large enough to fill every
church in the city, if measures were taken to
reach them. They make quiet. orderly auditors,
and soon become regular attendants. The whole
question 10 merely that of adapting the form OF
service TO the new conditions of lifs Schools
change and newspapers change 70 meet the
| changing conditions and why should not the
| church changel / remember very clearly the
remark made by Rev. DR. Duff, one OF the early
missionaries to India. Il would" said he he
willing to stand In the streets of Calcutta and
beat two wooden shoes together all day ii it were
necessary to bring people to hear the gospel"
Then saw an article recently written by
Moody, in which he said it was just as legiti-
| mate to sing the gospel as to preach it. Awhole
| service of simple music would draw out the peo-
| pie and would help them after they were there
have been giving my monthly illustrated
lectures for aboy1t SIX or eight months to an av-
eraee audience of . thousand The result has
been to make people better acquainted with the
lie. time and thoughts of Jesus Christ OF
course, the expense has been considerable;
more perhaps, than some would care to incur,
but my experience IN II is that 1t Is well worth
the expenditure.
Rev Dr. j. 8. Jenckes, Of ST. Paul's Episcopal:
have had no Sunday evening service at my
church for some time, but have been conducting
meeting at missionary chapel in West In
danapolis. / think that good sermon in
the morning is enough, and that the members
should remain at home at night. l think, too,
that the drift the country over is in favor of
that idea. will not ask my congregation to
come to night services. My remarks on the sub
o.-,.~
called out by the request from the Commercial
Travellers Association. I will do anything can
in their behalf, as they are a great and infiu-
entail organization. / understand there
700 of them living in this city, and that about
400 more of them usually spend their Sundays
here. They can have my church on Sunday
evenings if they want it, and would like to see
them all ont on Sunday morning.
Rev. M. L. Haines. of the First Presbyte rian:
I think that our scholarly and eloquent DR..
Jefery lad a attack of minister's blue
Monday when he announced to his brethren that
his Sunday evening service was failure. A
minister may be doing solid and lasting work
through services where more than half the pews
in very large church building are not occupied
Relieious work is not to be measured by its
quantity alone. but by its quality also. In Brook
Ign Dr. Storrss second service is but thinly at
tended, and yet DIR. Storrs is one of the finest
pulpit orators in the land, and his church is do
ing noble work. If we can have our spacious
audence-rooms packed full twice Sunday SO
much the better. But the fact is, tho congrega-
tions Of the majority of the churches in our
morning than they do in the afternoon even
ing, and there good reasons in many cases
why it should be so. Morning eongreca-
tions, as rule, draw themselves, while the
ev ening ones have to be drawn, and the mem
bers practically leave the minister to Go nearly
all the drawing. That largest room in the world,
the for Improvement would be dmip-
ished if church members realized better what
help their presence was Sunday evenings
1t would be still further diminished if in each
of our large churches twenty - Eve or even fifteen
persons would form themselves into an ''invi-
tasion society" and make it their business
during the week work up the attendance at
their second services A congregation in Chica-
go wrote Mr.. Spurgeon to send them minister
who would fill their church. Mr.. Spurgeon re-
piled that he know of no minister in all England
big enough to fill that church, but he knew of
several who could fill the pulpit, and he under
stood that it was the duty of the members to fill
Rev. Reuben Jeffrey. First Baptist: I am
afraid to say abolish tnem-night services-and
/ don't like to say surrender" But the matter
of fact is, people won't come out There are no
across-town cars. and ladies can't come down
alone to the center churches You can't get
people without sensationalism, yet sensational
methods will draw the crowds. My own Sunday
evening audiences are good any of the
churches down town save Roberts Park Is
there a remedy Well. my own idea is to rent a
hall in the more densey inhabited part of the
city, and hold services there, thus drawing in
large class who do not regularly attend church
Gut q better and more practical idea is, think,
a union meeting Sunday evening. Let four
five of the more centrally located churches
unite in Sunday evening meetings the pastors
preaching by rotation OF course this will have
to be tried We have to feel our way, and see
whether experience justifies us in adopting it.
/ am not prepared to say quit evening services,
for it 1 am not prepared. either,
to adopt sensational preaching-that
is. preaching anything but Christianity. did
not have this experience with Sunday-evening
services until l came here When was at
Brooklyn and when 1 was at Denver these serv-
ices were always largely attended But Brook
Ign is church-goiug city and city of resi-
dences People there live in neighborhoods.
and congregations are not scattered they are
here. Then in Denver there is the influx of
strangers who have other place to GO We
must recognize another great factor in this mat
ter, and that is that the influences conscience
to go to church are not as binding as they used
to be. People now talk about the family life,"
and not the church life the Sunday school
life. There Is widespread fashionable ten
dency to irreligion. Still, 1 think there are
other reasons not SO discouraging. When be-
gan in the ministry We had no street cars, and
people crowded into neighborhoods to reside;
but with the arrival of the cars, off they 60 in
all directions. The recent fashion of suburban
residences may, after all, be recited the chief
cause of the poor night audiences. As an ex-
ample. ten or twelve families in my church live
on the upper end OF Mississippi and
Tennessee streets can hardly expect
them to come ali that distance regularly to
morning service, Sunday-school and night serv-
ice. Then have other members living as far
east as Woodruff Place, and as far west as Mil
itary Park. They come out In the morning, but
that Is about all they can do. The tendency Of
people is to go in Gro wds. A church that has
the reputation of having big crowds will have
the advantage that account. Therefore I
think something like the plan of union meetings
ought to be adopted
Rev. James Mcleod, Second PRESBYTERIAN:
No. am not in favor of abolishing the evening
service There are some who cannot attend in
the morning, and they should not be debarred
from such a service. ! should not want to de-
prive the servant girl. who has to stay home in
the morning. of the privilege of going to church
Sr1nh a gualn 70
services. It might be worth while
for two or three of the churches in the central
part OF the city to unite In an evening service.
But as long 100 or 200 people are willing to
come out to hear the gospel, we, think, should
be willing to preach il. The major part of my
congregation in the evening Is composed Of
those who do not attend in the morning-and,
indeed, some OF them can't. Notwithstanding
all this. however. a great deal can be said in |