The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-06-26

preacher In London, and in not one of the
sermons he heard, was there any 1y,II more OIL the
Less than hundred years ago q protessed
infidel was elected President of these United
States. No party would now nominate
an ndei for any office iadatw 9od 4pake
his election impossible. Say not then that
the former days were better than these.
The sabbath School has in these recent
called the childrens church, the nursery Of
the Church. the arm Of the church. A more
proper designation would be that II is tlie
Church teaching its children, the Churcn
obeying the Masters command, Feed my
lambs" There are now nearly twenty mil.
lions of children in the Sabbath Schools OF
the evangelical denominations, yet It is but a
had a BEGINNING. it had its origin outside of
the Church and was an effort In the cities and
largo towns to give secular education 10 Inc
children Of the Ignorant d ani of ylctEes tSs ener
prise and made the religious feature the most
prominent one. After passing through seV.
eral stages, sometimes independent OF the
Church, Sometimes antagonis:ic to u, II mas
become, through all its faults. Its incompe-
tent teachers, It's trashy literature, Its dogger-
ell hymns, one of the main agencles IN tne
Church's work of preaching tne GoSpei, saCu
ering children into the Church ana training
them for the duties and trials OF this LIE and
for the kingdom OF heaven. Let US not say
that the former days were better IMAM tnese.
The education of the ministry Is a., I,aetga aoda
great advancement over what 1t was centu-
ry ago. The great body OF the ministry OF
the Baptist and Methodist churches then did
not have all academic, rnuch less a cSiies.iate
ministers had was gotten from the prlVate
pastor. There was not theological seminary
in these United States. The practice Of train.
ing young men in 1nstltutlo1s mnEIs Sihr,cSs SneS
and professors Yhu were competent 10 teacn
by their talents and scholarships, is Lnlng
OF recent date. No denomlnatlon now cEula
expect O respectable ministry without such
seminary. We must not say that the former
days were better than these
In the matter of christian work the cnurcn
has made great advance In recent tlmes
church members have been brought TO see
that they have much more to do than to sup
port the ordinances in their ownlocal church.
Not merely ministers and other ohcers, put
all private members have TO labor IN Ine
Lords vineyard. A live church, one that HIS
its mission and secures promised dressings
must be working church. They are not 10
be " cary in we'll doing; they are to serve one I
another in love; they are TO care Ior LIE tne iat,
len and lost, hold forth the word OF lie ana
seek to bring others to share in Gods rich
grace. OF course the church now is lar De.
hind its duty and interest In this regard, out
il is far ahead Of what 1t was in former umes.
There are modes of christian VOTE Wnich
were once regarded as Of questionable pro
priety by large number OF good people,
which are now seen to have the approval OF
the Master and to be used by him as proml-
nent agencies in building up ms n. hingoOm; goUna
Mems Christian Association ana Ladles 30
cieties. BY the first Of these, thousands OF
young men in the large towns and cities nave
been kept from the paths OF tns v Ih tpa
other great and needed impetus mas peen
given to christian enterprise In all the evan
gellcal denominations. Let us not say tneh
that the former days were better @ tnan Inese; eno
different religious denominations tnere mas
been marked improvement in the past cen
tury. Then our blessed religion was greatly
dishonored by the exclusiveness and bitter
sectarianism that generally prevailed. II
was not uncommon for the members or one
sect to feel that it:had all the truth, that IL
exclusively was the heir Of Bible promises,
the special favorite OF heaven, ana that al
others were exposed to Gods uncovenanted
mercies.
If there was any kindly regard In one de-
nomination for the people OF another IL was
the exception and not the prevalent leenng'
christian fellowship, christian charity, chris
tian sympathy, nnC christian cooperation,
were compressed into odenominational BOUNDS
and not allowed to break through this strait
Jacket The church hadn't then learned the
great fact of christian brotherhood. Sharp
antagonisms and bitter animosities and un-
seemly controversies everywhere abounded;
Presbyterians thought they were doing GOD
service by taking and opposing Methodists
and Methodists were equally Jealous In set
ting themselves against Presbyterians, neither
of them had then learned the lesson OF WIS.
dom in this little story. This story was told
last summer ut Mr.. Moodys College, in North
Some blind men were once taken to men.
agerie. They had gone round the animals
and four Of them were allowed to touch an
elephant rs they went past. They were dis
cussing afterwards what sort OF creature the
elephant was. One who had touched its tail
said 1T was like rope. Another VINO nau
touched its hind leg said 1t was like the
trunk OF q tree. A third one who bad touch
ed its side, averred that IT was like wall.
And the fourth, who had touched Its ear said
an elephant was not like any OF these things
but certainly like leather bag. Now men
sec parts OF truth and they imagine they
have seen the whole In reality we can see
very little at time and we must learn 10 be.
lieve that others can see parts OF q truth as
we'll as ourselves. People see even religious
truths from different stand points,. and OF
course diverse Impressions are made upon
the minds Of the several inQuirers. The
truth is really much bigger thing than an
elephant and when we come to look at IL we
were much binder than these four blind
men.
Now, people take comprehensive views and
have some largeneSs OF heart and there Is
now only just llLLle OlBOtTy leIL perhaps
moiety in all the evangelical denominations
like patches Of frost which we see here and
there sometimes after the sun is well up. 1t
would be an ugly thing to unyeil the .exclu-
siveness that has been so ripe In the religious
world since the reformation of the sixteenth
century.
OF course we all regard what Samuel Butler
said In Hudibras about Presbyterians as a
caricature and q libel, but never read 1t
without feeling that the poet was pretty
good painter and that on that occasion he
drew good likeness. But 1t Is matter for
special graduation that all this Is past and
gone and dead beyond resurrection. And the
several denominations are now seen to be
but different departments in one great army
moving on under common leaders, with COM
mon arms, against common enemies for COM
mon ends. They are realizing that they are
oil brethren, doing the work OF the same Mas
Ter and that the field is the world. Whether
the convert shall connect himself with this
or that denomination Is seldom matter OF
conviction, sometimes OF convenience, but
more general of education. And when he
prays "Thy kingdom come" he certainly does
not mean that that king dom is monopolized
in any sense by the sect to which he belongs
The comparison of the former days with
these in this regard is surely not discourag-
ing to all true christian people.
a comparison Of the pulpit OF to-day with
that of a hundred years ago would open a
wide field for discussion which 1 can now
only glance ut the long sermons and long
PRAYERS of the former times, the multiplied
divisions reaching often TO seventeenthly and
twenty-seventhly, the classical quotations
and classical allusions which the common
people could not understand, the philosophi-
cal and metaphysical discussions that were
equally unintelligible to plain people were
strlkingly dltferen from the best lively, force
full presen tation of truth, the appropriate
Illustrations, the prominence of the practi-
In fhanrntipll abstract