St. Paul daily globe., 1893-05-22
Rev. Vail on the Difficulties
Of Organization on Ira
ditional Lines.
There Is No Room for Com
promise on Any Of the
Older Lines.
Two Views and No Probable
ity Of a Reconciliation
Among Them.


upon church work. He said: The
organization of church on lines
that differ from the traditional ones on
which churches have been organized
since the Reformation is one of the
most difficult undertakings.
1t is difficult because men feel the
stnorgest tendency in religion to fol-
low precedents, not On account OF be-
lieving in the older forms especially;
not Oh account of any particular an
tagonism to the newer forms; not be-
cause they doubt the advisabjlity of
| change, where change is needed; but
because they feel that here is divine in
| stitution, ordained of God, taking form
in the atmosphere of prayer, halloWed
| by thouS and aSsociationS-and this
they feel is something like the laws Of
| the Medes and nS-unchangeable.
To man so feeling church mem ber-
ship means passport to heaven, and
| he does not in any particular way con-
| slider it of value to him to help him in
| his ordinary life, for he would escape
all communication with the wicked
world if that we're possible; nor does he
| think of it as something that he is TO
use to make his city or his village bet
ter; he does not consider that his re-
ligiouS interest reaches to public mat
ters or public people; for while all these
| ends may be valuable in their way, they
are obScured by the supreme prize,
and like the runner in the
| Olympian games who strives 10
gain the chief thing, running with all
| eagerness before the thousands in the
circus, or like the knight who saves all
his strength until the strongest and
bravest man is met, while yet the bugle
is pealing, rides down the lists; SO does
| this man feel that there is prize above
all others (heaven to be won at all
hazards (by having passport through
the gate that stands on the borders, and
he only looks and waits ana tries to
make his peculiar case strong. his call
ing and election sure.
Holding such view is it wonder
men have not been Interested in move
mentS and interests of this present
world, or that the chief method of cul-
tivating the soul-life OF the convert was
by the prayer meeting, by testimony, by
songs OF devotion, by the emotional con-
temptation of heaven and the hatred OF
the world? Is it wonderful, | say, that
church membership should under
| these conditions come to have
this very definite significance :?
Nor is it very strange that in this pecu-
! liar world (where everything has its
atithetic interest, and the Republican
| finds the Democrat. and the Protestant
finds the Catnolic), it is not wonderful,
| | say, that in such a world a strong,
| large and influential body of men are
puzzled, and sometimes antagonlStlc to
! this view of church membership, and it
| is not wonderful that such a sentiment
| exists, becauSe-ey9ry city, i'll every
village, in every country neighborhood
there is
A type of Man,
strong, valuable, philosophical heroic,
and honorable. who does not belong to
| churches. nor believe in their methods.
need not show the endless complica-
tions that have grown out of the diff
| Guilty of trying to reconcile the sentl-
ments of the two views. [ need not
follow the long arguments that have
been brought along to prove that NOR
| ality is nothing worth in the salvation
of soul; nor need l say that the mat
ter is not yet settled, save or partisan
basis, by the great majority of people.
do not think there is room tor COM
promise Oh the older lines, for il MEM
bership is merely a passport and all are
lost who do not have it, the very noblest
men of the world, its heroes aud mar
tyrs who led their causes through sea
of trouble, who. like Moses Of old, en-
dured the dangers of the forest and
tropical heat of the sun. were loSt-nor
have particle of regard for the Uni
versalist minister who would, as one
told me, fight the ''devlI with fire" by
taking orthodox methods just to
get advantage of the orthodox,
nor do L think there is the least
show of any final success unless
we have method of work tnat is not an
echo of some plan nearly outworn in
the church where it originated; no, any
subterfuge. any compromise, any use OF
words to mislead the average man by
iugglery Of phrases is to be deteSted {;
and a thousand times better honest de-
feat, thousand times better score of
honest souls than mulhtude either de-
ceiving or deceived by method of
work that is compromise of principle.
The comprehensive view will take the
truth OF both positions. take the devo-
tional side in an attempt to apprehend
the infinite. Mr.. Smalley once told me
that during the war a man looking at
present conditions hardly dared to pre-
dict the future of Mr.. Lineoln's fame.
|
Seward Now it was Chase. The
air was full of rumor, but in
the sad-faced president there was
that peculiar Observation-Disclosures ething
that marked him for the genius OF all
time. So in every church that is
church there is an atmosphere, subtle.
something that cannot be reduced tC
terms, large, so large that we cannot
understand it Or define (iike the glory OF
the light about Ogden i'll Summer), and
that something is the Infinite, is the
spirit of God in tie world in the life OF
the church. This must be in the church
The preacher said he would have a
church member filled with all the IN
terests common to the needs of human
ity. He sketched the meeting of the
press associations, and touched on the
wide range of interests that the meet
ing brought to the fore. He felt tha
one ought to
Feel the Importance
of all these movements and have voice
and an influence in giving direction t.
the best of them. Closing. he said
Broadly speaking, church member
ship must mean the uniting of men anC
women for the worship of God and th'
service of man. To leave OUT eithe
side is to leave the mangled corpse of al
| attempt at solution that has alway
: failed We must have the apprehension
, OF the Infinite. we must have keen pres
ent interest in all the pulsing life OF th'
, time in which we live, and we mus
, have liberty of opinion. But the cente
of present influence will come in TIN
sympathy of man for man now. as
5 ever has i'll the past. The greatest mel
have been the most sorrowful blaine
Harrison), and no genius will ever Civ
: man release from that. Whatever els
5 man has, unless ne is utterly selfish
be wants your genuine sympathy. AM
. then, in season and out of season. til
; boys and girls, the young and the mid
dle-aged, the successful and the unsuC
f cessfnl. want your word and example t
e make life place OK promise. They d
2 not need your complaints, nor your sal
casms; but if you have some word 0
promise they do want that. Such
church, organized broadly, with wild
scope and purpose, ought to gain al
Il that can be gained by organization. ant