Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1894-10-02

bAhO lO nOulu ttihC
chances Of an atheist before the bar of
God than those of saved q man who
is not at the same time saviour.
These are hopeful voices. Do they
indicate the dawn of better day?
Whatever may be the changes that
are imminent, no matter what the sur
prise of the future, religion will sur
vive. 1t must, for, as Locke said of
the Bible, "It has God for its author,
salvation for its end and truth, without
any admixture of error, for its subject
matter" We may be sure that
the eternal mold,
Incapable of stain, will soon expel her mischief
And purge off the baser fire victorious.
One thing, however, is certain. The
church will never rehabilitate itself in
popular influence by meretricious expe-
dients. 1t is not to be saved by broom
drills, dairy maid fairs and catch penny
festivals. Neither will it better the sit
uation by complaining. 1t will not fill
its pews by lazily opening its doors once
a week, changing the bells i'll a ding
dong fashion and saying, "You people
out there come in here and be savedw
If sinners ran their business as saints
run the church, they would go into
bankruptcy in a year Imagine Paul
standing in gorgeous pulpit, with a
$40, 900 salary and So, 900 choir, in
church where pew rent is as high as
house rent, with two or three pews
down by the door for the use of the poor,
and attributing the absence of the peo-
pie from such service to total deprav-
ityl
No; the church must interest itself in
practical affairs. 1t must be a leader in
the good words and works. 1t must vim
dicate its right to be by divine helpful
ness. Christ never lacked hearers "The
common people heard him gladly" :"
They went where the crowd was. They
gave out instead of absorbing. Many of
our preachers are like the Bourbons-
they learn nothing and forget nothing.
They are too stubborn to change. Their
type is Saul's chief herdsman, Doeg.
"having charge of the mules.
AS for churchianity, let us hope it is
doomed.
We may devoutly pray for its demise.
ga religion that does not take hold of
tho life that now is" wisely affirms an
eminent preacher, sis like cloud that
does not rain. A cloud may roll in
grandeur and be an object Of admira-
ton, but if it does not rain it is of little
account so far as utility is concerned,
and religion that consists i'll the observ-
ance of magnificent ceremonies but
that does not touch the duties of daily
life, is a religion of show and sham.
To much the same effect speaks Lord
Bacon: "Pythagoras, being asked what
he was, answered that, if Hero was
ever at the Olympian games, he knew
the manner that some came as mer-
chants to utter their commodities, and
some came to make good cheer and meet
their friends, and some came to look ON,
and that he was one of them that came
to look OH. Upon which the great
Englishman remarks but men must
know that in this thcater Of mans life
it is reserved only for God and angels to
be lockers on"
The writer is in full accord with or
thodox theology. He only laments that
orthodox practice is so heterodox, and
he freely confesses that he infinitely
prefers the gospel of the carpenter to
the gospel of the counting room, the
epistles of the tentmaker to the epistles
of the mill owner.