The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1891-01-07
THE "SEEK AND 81 We"
SOCIETY

In The column of religious notices
in one of our great dailies there APP
peared, few days ago, the follow
ing announcement: "The Seek and
Save Society of - church will
hold its monthly meeting to-mor-
row afternoon at o'clock. All the
members are expected to be pre-
sent" The reading of this notice
awakened train of reflections. In
the first place, as the name clearly
imports, this is a society organized
for the purpose of seeking lost souls
and bringing them to salvation. To
give this name to a society or
gained with any lower aim would
be of the nature of sacrilege. TAX
ing it for granted, therefore, that it
has been formed for this high and
holy endeavor, the next reflection
that passes through the mind is
that there are in this congregation
two societies, organized for the
same purpose and looking for con
stituency to the same people, The
very purpose for which the Church
exists as Christs representative in
the world is "to seek and to save
that which was lost" So then we
have two societies, the one a divine
organism, established by our Lord,
it's constitution, offices, and modes
of procedure ordained by him; the
other a human society, organized
by the pastor, or the Sunday-school
superintendent, or some good pious
woman in the congregation, with
such constitution and bylaws as
human wisdom and experience sug-
gest The question naturally arises,
why should there be two societies
in the same congregation, organized
for the same purpose and looking
to the same members for constit-
uency? Is the old, original "Seek
and Save" society, that was in
stituted by Christ, superannuated?
Have its methods become ineffec-
tual? Is the new an improvement
upon the old? If so, then by all
means, let us acknowledge the fact,
abandon the old, and throw all our
energies into the new But if the
Church of the living God, the
pillar and ground of the truth, "
still abides with its divine minis
tries and its indwelling spirit, what
rajson Fctye is there for the merely
human organization? If a man
should 90 into one of our ports
where the government has a fully
equipped life-saving station, and
should proceed to organize a volun-
tary society for the purpose of doing
the same humane work, he would Ger |
tainly be regarded as rejecting upon
the efficiency of the service already
at so much expense of
and means. Why should
the Church of God be subjected to
the same suspicion of inefficiency?
And why should good, honest souls
who desire to do their duty have
their consciences brought needlessly
under bondage? For if they decline
to join the new society it may look
as if they are not willing to engage
in an earnest effort to seek and
save he lost and if they do join,
their conduct is open to the con
struc.ion that they think the old
organ .zafion, as instituted by Christ,
wanting i'm efficacy or adaptation
to the times. Why should good,
conscientious people be required to
hug one or the other of the horns
of such a dilemma?
A friend at our right suggests
that Ibis is probably Young Peo-
pies Society" intended to interest
the younger members of the church
in seeking and saving souls. Well,
why do young people need any
other Seek and Save society than
the Church? We can understand
how they may be formed into
societies for various benevolent and