The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-08-22
IT is NOT LOSING GRIP.
The Rev. Or. Horton Talks Of the
Position Of the Church.
IN NO POINTS rs IT FAILING
The Ministry is Incrcasing In Power ana
Ability, siso the Membership and the
work Extendiug--Ths Christian En-
dsavor Convention.

The Rev. DR.. Horton preached a very
powerful sermon at the Union Con-
Rregational Church, last evening, taking
for his text: "On this rock have built
my church and the Gates Of He'll shall not
prevail against it,"
DIR. Horton said that while passing
through Philadelphia recently he noticed
in one of the daily papers an editorial
whicn referred to the alleged loss OF grip
of the church. The sermon last night
took up the subject with view to show
ing whether or not there was any truth
in the assertion. which is often heard.
First. Are the preachers leaving the
church because they cannot believe and
teach it's doctrinesf You can count on
the fingers of one hand all the promine mt
and able ministers who have left the
church in the last five years. But the
theological schools are turning out mo re
and abler men every year.
Second. Are the people leaving the
churchf The records show that they are
not, but that the membership is increas-
Ing and the church has stronger hold on
the conscience of the public than ever be-
Has the religion taught by the church
chanQedf While in the march Of progress
some doctrines held by the church are
and ought to be modified, the old faith In
the love Of Christ and the relation OF the
church to him has not altered one whit.
Are you able under the present attitude
q the church TO indulge in habits which
would formally have been condemned
wrongf
No. You know that purer better
ministry and purer men and women are
demanded in the churches.
mho cb,,r~b baa mt Lost IFS hold the
ministry or on the laity, and the religion
taught has not changed.
Has the money contributed for the
church fallen of II people came to be,
lieve that the religion In which they had
trusted was a sham, they. would stop Civ
ing money. but the records show that the
amount of money contributed during the
last year was vastly greater than the year
before, and that the increase was for new
work.
The only place in which the church has
lost grip is over the tongues OF those that
hate it.
Dr. Horton took up the strong editori-
ais of the New York newspapers on the
Christian Endeavor convention as an evil
dence of the position taken by the
best papers. The editorials comment
Cd aa the convention as the
most striking example nTpppL Of of,.t the power er
Shink. !" SAID DIR. Horton, that the church
Is losing its grip"
The speaker dwelt particularly on tho
convention and quoted various papers as
evidence that It showed the firm hold of
the old faith on the people. He also re-
ferred to the statement of the Baltimore
Svps that the strikes would never be
properly settled until settled on the basis
OF the New Testament, as an example of
the position of prominent papers In the
matter.
Mcleod on Faith.
The pulpit of the Benefcent Congrcga-
tional Church was supplied yesterday
Thomas Mcleod of Brooklyn, N. Y. The
text of the morning sermon was lord,
increase our faith" In part DIR. Mcleod
spoke az follows:
The source Of faith Is suggested by this
prayer. The apostles went directly to
our faith 2" / wish this fact was more
deeply impressed in our minds-that
faith comes down from heaven and Is q
gift of God. 1t will save us great deal
of trouble sometimes and will always
bring US comfort.
We all have our days Of dependency
and gloom in our religious life. There Is
not anything we desire more at these
times than q return of the sunshine.
Then come TO us fears and doubts. We
are sad and gloomy. Then we wish for
faith-and why Because we miss the
glow and luxury of things. We long for
Che peace of mind we had once
Let us LOOK at the circumstances under
which this prayer was offered. Jesus
sees in these Disciples around Him GER
tain weaknesses. He tells them about
differences which will arise between them
and others, and breaches forgiveness.
This was new and lofty conception to
them. They said IL this was necessary
for His spirit to rule the world then in
crease their faith.
This prayer offered In sincerity is need
cd as much to-day as IL ever was There
was hardly q time in the history of the
Christian church when this prayer was
more needed. BY faith IL we near that
inner principle of life which makes men
great. good and pure, then it was never
moro needed than it is to-day.
At this period IL may be said that the
greatest enemy of faith Is materialism,
because materialistic science has ventured
on fields where formerly IL had nothing
to do.
Faith is q condition of knowledge. This
means that faith gives to spiritual things
. realization of their being as though
they were worldly things. In this sense
faith is analogous to the sense of touch
Faith is far more than imagination. The
kind OF faith some men have does not
make them more honest or benefit their
characters. Now, the faith of the New
Testament, the faith Christ gives, is q liv-
Ing faith. We need to know God as our
father, Jesus as our redeemer. the Holy
Ghost as our sanctifier and heaven as our