The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-10-19
Ice; mean. Of course, the long expected


Olty mission as such lapsed. But the
seaIcn after the neglected, and the preaching
20 tne Wayfaring can never be said TO be for
n gostsnn. Inc Bethel church has steadily
| sought after sailors In the f0rcastle along the
wharves and brought them out on Sunday.
Inc Sail Loft meeting has attracted many
VINO do not like a church. The Open Air
| service ON Munjoy Hill has drawn together
TTspgeiaTIy Tpa lyman many hundreds Of all classes.
service In reforming the intemperate and
assisting the poor. A detachment of the
salvation Army, an altogether new cohort of
ot U,t our decade, has arisen to do work among
NAV do AZ waI1 Ienan; which none others
great success. In different region, and
Will IaIge blessings among the young men.
Syer amending II, Is the fruitful labor OF our
ro oung Mems christian Association. They
aLo slaInlng every nerve for a building. Let
| help. "''"in ouh ooiuolS
Inc changes In the life of the churches
arOund US have, some of them, been strIk-
hs ,hns, many OF the downtown churches have
peen erected since the fire, and these have
therefore, known the long struggle with
heavy debt. Most Of them are now happily
relieved. "'P'"'
OF the large council which attended nv in
sIailation, the majority have passed from
eartn. There Is not clerical member alive
who retains his former pulpit. or all the Law
members know Of but one who is living. /
am, think, with two exceptions, the oldest
pastor In any communion In the city. DR..
years, and Rev. Mr.. S0uthworth by few
months. The Second Parish has had five
pastors during my stay with you; the First
baptist three and the fourth Is at hand; the
Eirs5 Parish three, st. Lawrence street two,
the Free st. Baptist five, the First Uniyer.
salist three, the Plymouth church six, State
street three, Willst0n three, the West
Ctapel seven, the Free Baptist six.
Great as have been the changes with our
sister churches, quite as marked are those
Within this church. How we'll l recall the
day when In the former church building |
first surveyed its congregation as my people;
the nlgh pews, the broad aisle. the wall
pews. IL was gathering OF rather elderly.
stapie men. 1t seemed church Of
OF old families, but largely stripped Of the
younger members. There were many visit
tors, but you could easily distinguish them.
Here and there were evidently some peculiar
ones. But everywhere strong faces, settled
characters, 0ld-time manners
There Is no such congregation anywhere
here today. The type Is gone, utterly. But
the persons themselves, where are they?
Were any OF you there, then? Come, sit
once more In imagination In your old seat.
Call up the households In the pews beside
yours and before 1t. l could name and re-
| produce them for you. Look, now, there has
been clean sweep Of them from out your
| sight, NOW and then widow or a child re-
mains, who have taken seats towards the
door. Some have children gone far West.
But two-thirds Of the families have been
wiped out. We have been In this latter
house twenty-five years. But how different
now by reason Of our experience In II mean
while. Today revives the many who are
gone, the good, the beautiful, the true who
used to bow with US in prayer, and rise with
US In praise.
Children. who at this altar were given to
tne Saviour. and whose cherubic faces beam
ing IN angelic circles constitute for US the
vision OF heaven smile upon US again and
reach out as ever their little arms around
| us. Mothers. whose faltering step and
dropping form along these aisles gave us our
nrst deep thrust OF mortality, walk again In
| sanity beauty before US. Holy forms which
stir no rustic and fill no space enter the
pews; beloved sharers Of our joy and parts
| OIL our very souls. With them gone, the
| world has been robbed Of Its glory and life
| itself has become a slow death.
II the removal by death Of so great nun
| Der OF our companions shocks our hearts,
what shall we say OF the changed life Of the
| living?
Ali through this last generation of ours
there has been gradual decline of the spirit
| OF intolerance. Not only the reception, but
the propagation OF negative thought has be-
| come entirely free. Society formerly looked
| on religious freedom with an adherence,
half pious and half pharisaic. Within the
| church there was an ill-concealed suspicion
| Of all liberal thinking. rooted fear Of con
| structive completely with non-evangelical
| communions. Today the extension Of all
Christian courtesy begins to argue no re-
sponsiblllty for other systems Of doctrine
1t Is not looseness with US, but Increasing
liDerality, largsr apprehension and a bet
ter exempllfying OF the very spirit Of Chris
| tlanity. Ten days since, when / expressed
| the desire that all the churches of this city,
| without respect of name, and their pastors
| ana bishops should be called to participate
IA our Jubilee, to my delight, met with the
hearty concurrence and cooperation of every
member of our parish committee. and of our
board OF deacOns. What hath God wrought?
Inc transformation in our thinking has
perhaps somewhat affected the ardor of our
local loyalty and mind to work.
The average parishioner Of the former time
was a regular churchgoer. 1t was once not
| quite respectable not to attend upon Sunday
worship. Other and more varied diversions
have crept in to tempt the ordinary citizen
away and absence involves no sort Of social
| prescription.
A quarter Of a century ago the bstter
| churches were In the charge OF men who
represented the best and strongest forces GO
ing In the community. They manned the
pews, stood In the forefront and made the
church their affair. To-Day the spirit of the
age has filled the mldde-agej man; as he
delegates to others his civil responsibilities
and the training Of his children, so would he
do with the burdens Of church work. He
er. All church relations sit lightly on him
his coming to any particular religious body
grows out Of the social attraetlveness OF
some OF its patrons, or a personal liking TO
their minister. not from an inbred habit of
being the man In every position and calling
of life.
This shrinking Of the more busy and ac-
tive men Of the churches from places of
trust has forced the women and the young
people to assume the abandoned trusts. The
work cries out with importantly by reason
OF Its imperative necessity. II must be per
formed. These. therefore, feel constrained
to attempt 1t. Nothing shows more obvious
ly how fast we move than the very fact that
the majority OF the men Of our churches are
willing to let them do 1t. II your father
were raised up from his grave he surely
would not comprehend you or the situation.
Meanwhile how great Is the activity of the
good women, how multiplied their organza-
tions Wise In planning and self-sacrlficing
Ia labor, they seem equal to almost any
thing. The church Of all the ages has al
ways leaned upon women, however Ii form
erly insisted on their being invisible. But
what would become of the New England
churches now without their single women
and their mothers In Israeli Tney are the
life and strength and enterprise of the hour.
The women, however, are no longer alone.
Which leads me to say, a most hopeful
change within the church Is to be discrened
In the coming life of the next generation.
The former time had but one type of
conversion and but one inflexible formula
OF admission to the church. No wonder
the youth did not fulfill the requisitions and
that the Fathers from their standpoint with
held their sanctions. How strange looks
their behavior to US. How much stranger
our procedure would appear to them.
But facts are unanswerable. The zsal,
earnestness and devotion of the young
Christians here put us to shame. l know
OF many whose purity, spontaneity and like
ness to Christ seems to have the flavor OF
the primitive church. Apostles could do no
better. They are ready for a y sacrifice.
They are clothed with the same awful and
unconscious power of rebuke.
believe similar testimony would come
from any and all who have had like oppoI-
tunity for extended observation. Let the
best Of these young Christians under God
mould the mass Of their companions into the
same spirit, and the latter day glory will be
upon us. The character and work OF our
young Christians Is vast recomDense for
the years Of our mourning and discomfort.
1t Is promise of long and brighter era.
This partial growth whose signs we have
been observing Is not confined to us, rather
Is it the expression Of world movement.
Reconsider what was said moment AGO of
the growth OF our city. The fire forced and
hurried an uptown current. but like tide IL
has all these years been coming, coming, COW
ering over the old landmarks, filling up every
available space, What n mnvin0 hnAuI