St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-01-15
MINNEAPOLIS.
is RELIGION y FAILURE F.?

need OK cnangeI m6thOdS III the
churches if they are TO represent the
Kingdom of God and extend it. In
addition TO the article there was SYM
postum of opinion upon it by thirty
eminent men in that church, to whom.
the proof OF the article had been sent.
So it is safe TO say every word had
been considered with anxious care. To
this article and symposium Mr.. Willlin-
son devoted his sermon. which evidently
had been prepared thoroughly. He
began by saying: IL honor the mighty
men, long gone 10 rest, who have left
to COngregationalism the glorious her
itage of noble names, which Will be re-
Vered as long as Seif-Sacritice is hon
Grafton had a very profound
grasp of many of the deepest
and most vital truths OF Holy Scripture.
All history can show no men who had
nobier conceptions of the need of an
eYrr-conSciOuS experience of the need of
spiritual communion with God through
Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost; this it
WAS which made the pilgrim fathers the
IN III they are in history. When in the
Inca descent of such ancestors the
SoaS. in their work and plans, feel 1t
neediul to give the world symposium
of views on church facts and needs, it
at once commands the respectful atten-
ton Of educated and religious men who
are Keeping up with the trend OF faith
and work liz the religious world. At the
outset, | may say. have read and re-
read the article by President Gates, of
Iowa college, and, while il is no
doubt true that he sees clearly
many defects in the preSenl
al, =
his plan could be carried ont 1t would
bring in ten fold greater evils than that
which he says has afflicted mis- church.
To change the worship from Sunday to
Monday would not make that day more
sacred, ii would make both 10 become
some more secular.
President Gates writes as if the idea
that the kingdom OF God is confined to
the church is general. That may be so,
but l never met man who held it; he
says the church is not an end, it is a
means, whoever thought the contrary
The church is ladder. an lnfirmary a
wOrkshOp.an army. it is no more an end
than i Scatfold is building. The presi-
dent quotes politician as saying one
saloon Is worth ten churches in politics.
that Is, L suppose, i'll so far as votes go.
a writer of church reform ought
TO have given the name of
tniS politician. for that is not the
view OF political workrrS; he quotes a
minister 10 diSparage the clergy: 1t
would be interesting tO know who he is.
and what he has done. No name is
given, it is too much the fashion to
quote EamelesS men to belitlle men
whose pens they are not fit to wipe.
There IS much 10 mend in churches;
more 10 do in extending the Kingdom of
GOO. but 1t will not be accomplished in
this manner, and by all essay, which
never rises into peacefuineSS, and of
which much is not of second rate value.
We are told by President Gates God
does not need our help in swinging the
planets" It's information 10 hear that
swinging planets is his business. We
have given Isaiah'S view of for
nal worship, i'll President Gates
words. lie appears TO prefer
wording the thought in his
own way. which is hot all Improvement
upon the words of the son of Amor.
Prof. Gates does not place either the
words or facts in the order iii which
Isaiah placed them. Now we come to
the thirty opinions OF the men
of renoWn in COngregatiOnaiism; no
man can read them without at glance
seeing what a change las taken place
in the methods OF looking at theology,
and church activity III the hundred
years last past. 1t is not thlnkable that
thirty leading men, even forty years
since, would have written III that way.
There is not word in twenty letters
which any Unitarian could not
honestly write, and i'll the other
ten not word which Il man
like Claiming or Rev. DR.. futile
would not subscribe to. Go out to men,
change your methods, view everything
as religious, make religion real in busi-
ness and in other life; make little of the
church. much Of the kingdom or God;
this appears to be the goal. The giants
OF Congregationalism, of my childhood.
at least in England, would have said
something different from this. 1 can
Imagine them saying: You ask me how
the church is 10 fill her mission. to build
p herself in The faith, TO convert sin
lers, and so extend the kingdom
# God. l reply, the law by which
jhlS can be done is given in the
New Testament. it will never be
revised, enlarged, abrogated or
become of no effect, it was designed
10 reach the human heart by the God
HhO made tie hearts OF ali men, to
change, uplift and sanctify the life OF
man by Him who is the Lord or Life,
and il will do it. The people who keep
not the law ara cursed. Find what the
law is, obey it, and you shall become
trees of the Lords right-hand plant
ing. God will open the windows of
heaven and pour out a blessing; there
shall not be room enough to contain it,"
The law of revival is in the Acts of the
Apostles. When the church meets, and,
as one man, repents its sins, in mighty
faith prays, it will become
power. Not till then. Machinery
is not life, excitement is not a
sigh Of spiritual power, but the day of
Pentecost Will reach men, reform, re-
generate and save them into noble
Christian living This is the root of the
matter. the source and spring of all ex-
tension of the kingdom OF God. 1t Is its
own defense, roof and authority; the
Eternal God is above it. in it and of it
for evermore. Such religion never fails;
1t cannot.
Empires may fall and sects and states;
This truth imperishable gates
DeEeS each hostile shock,
The Church of Christ will never fall
Strong stcnds her heaven-proteeted wall
IT'S fouHded on rock.
The Jury Can't Agree.
At late hour last night the jury in
e Chamberlain case was still out and
unable to come 10 any agreement. The