The Washington times., 1894-10-14
WASHINGTON, D. C.. OCTOBER IA. 1894
WILL THE COMING MAN GO TO cHJRcHl

WILL TIE COMING MAN GO TO CHJRcHl
IBy Rev Rush r shippen, D. D., pastor All
Souls Onitarian) Church
Or will he outgrow it and leave it behind
as dead superstition of the past5 Why in
deed are SO many Of the thoughtful, scientific,
and the earnest workingmen of our time in
different TO the church. breaking loose from
it, not found in it to-day, as they ought TO be,
and surely would be, if it were the practical
help they could not afford to do without?
Surely something is the matter with the
church.
Three institutions are universal, found in
all times and climes, permanent in essential
substance, though changing in form to fit the
growing needs Of man. They are the home.
the state, the church. The home enshrines
the family. The State organizes the social
polity. The church embodies mans spiritual
aspirations toward the infinite. The home
shelters and feeds him. The State protects
and defends him. The church invites him
mp and on TO eternity. Founded in deep and
abiding instincts Of human nature, never
was man without them; their origin is divine
and their necessity eternal. "The mar with
out q country" a homeless wanderer on
earth, touches the profound pity ot all hearts.
1.-THE man without a church." spiritually
bereft and homeless, might equally well fur
nish fit theme for the deepest pathos of some
gifted pen.
Our critical time challenges the church.
Prove your utility in this working-day world.
1t cannot live by the sentimental forces Of an
cient reverence. 1t must meet the new de-
mands Of the hour. 1t must come to men
here and now; find them where they are and
help them in their life struggle. 1t must no
longer be mere lifebost to rescue them from
a shipwrecked world, or ferry them over the
dark river Of death, but a living force to create
better men and women to make this world
better world TO live in, to bring in and estab-
lish here and now the kingdom of God.
Every true church exists to get good, and TO
do good. 1t is FIRST TO save the sinner, and
then to make him join hand and heart In all
good work TO save the other sinners. 1t is
not private club where the saints may go of
bv themselves and have a good time 1t is
trumpet call 10 the saints to grid on their
Rrmor and fight the Lords battle for truth
ane right.
The church, like many politicians, has been
too busy looking after its fences. Many
churches seem more anxious about their
fences than about the flowers and fruit grown
inside. 1t their anxiety TO fence out heretics
and sinners, they have chiefly fenced in bigots
and pharisees. Fences are well in their way,
but good fruit grown on open prairie is bet
ter than thistles in the most finely fenced-up
garden.
The bigotries, narrowness. and unbrotherly
prejudices and divisions of the church are
the weakness and disgace of christendom
No wonder that large-souled men prefer the
company outside to that which too often they
find inside Let the church leaders lay aside
their narrowress and timidity and brayely
lay holo Of the great problems Of our day.
and the workingmen and the truth seekers
viii alike rejoice to join the great brother
hood Of seekers for the light. whose helpful
fellowship they cannot afford to ignore.
As the nation mourns the loss Of one Of its
most gifted preachers, the poet preacher Of
Chicago. we may well take to heart the word
of his dying message. In a sermon preached
in Chicago Music Hall, September 1G on '.The
lessons to be drawn from the great industrial
troubles OF last july" Prof Swing Wei
says: ''Quite a number OF clergymen have
banded together to preach the Gospel
Of personal righteousness; that Christianity
1s Christ in human life, Christ in
society, Christ in money. and Christ in work
We preachers must all come to that definition
of the church. 1t would seem that
all the Christian clergy, Catholic and Protes-
tant, and ell the ethical teachers should this
autumn enter into new friendshipto to preach
the gospel Of a high humanity. All the in
tellectual and spiritual resources of the pull
pit should be exhausted in the effort to ad-
vance human character. In an age
and in q republic marked by an amazing ef-
fort 10 turn all things, all days, and all life
into gold, our pulpits must make a new ef-
fort to reveal and create in man the spiritual
being; man temperate. man studious. man
lover of justice. man the brother, man Christ
like. To reach result so new and so great,
the pulpit must select new themes 1t must
Gull them from the field where the mob raves.
from the shop whore men labor, from the
poverty in which many die, from the office
where wealth counts its millions God did
not give man this globe that 1t might be made
a desert or battlefield. but that it might be
made the great home OF great men