The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-10
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
Rev, William A. Gardeners First
Lecture on institutional
Methods.
Christianity as Practiced by the
Earliest Disciples Of the Man
of Nazareth.

The Rev. William A. Gardner, pastor OF
the West Side Christian Church, deliv-
cred the first OF his talks on the subject of
the institutional Church." last Sunday
evening. a brief synopsis of the lecture is
as follows:
Among all denominations these questions
are earnestly being asked: Glow can the
church DC made more usefuI?" and Glow can
the muses. and the classes be brought together
in harmonious, Christian Ifort%" So long as
there are the hungry 10 be fed, the sick and
the stranger to be EiniStered unto, the proud
and the selfish TO be BUNDLED, and the lost to
be saved, these pcrplextng problems viii pre-
sent themselves.
Tne methods, which, forty years ago, seemed
to our fathers the best, are not always suited to
the present time. With changing circum-
stances. corresponding changes In methods
are necessary. The principles of the religion
of Christ are Interchangeable, but it las taken
centuries to learn the application OF some of
them. One OF the best things done in this the
greatest century in the history OF the human
race has been the clearing away OF the mystic
ism which obscured the practical side OF the
Christian religion.
The principles which distinguish the institu-
tional from the conventional church are not
new. They are as old the teachings and ex-
amples of the Man of Galilee. The history OF
Jesus Christ, as gwen i'll the first four books of
the New Testament, clearly indicates that his
mission was 20 "save all men and all OF the
man by all means" Therefore he declared,
"The Son of Man came not TO be ministered
unto but to minister" He went about doing
good, feeding the hungry, healing the sick,
sympathiZing with the distressed, eating at
the table of the wealthy and asSociating with
the young ana happy e. the marriage 1II,lg supper
ity of which Jesus is the author requires its
adherents to do good to men, - 10 good to all
men-to their minds, to their bodies, to their
souls" The life and precepts OF Mary's son
sustain this statement
Obviously, with Christ, to serve men Is 10
save them. His death itself was but the eX-
preston OF the diVinest love for human bodies
and for human souls The apostles, for The
most part, caught this spirit. The nrst
churches were deeply imbued with the per-
sonal power of the Christ. They were pos
seSsed with the thought OF the dlvlnencSS of
their mission; their love for the church and its
leaders was properly supplemented by their
love tor all men. They went forth with the
sword, The Word, in one hand and the miTacu-
lous power in the other-the first for the soul,
the second for the body. With them deed and
doctrine were inseparable.
Soon after the apostolic days the church
wandered far away into the wilderness of sin.
Love and ministrstion were displaced by
selfishness and ecclesiaStieism.
The radical reformations of the last 300
years have brought the church back nearer the
Christ idea, but it must be confessed the mod
ern church, whose massive editice, darkened
windows and bolted doors froWn q prohibition
TO enter Tor 100 hours OF each week, with its
costly pews sold to the highest bidder, practi-
cally shutting out the poor, is falling far short
OF accomplishing the work for which our divine
Lord established his church.
The organization which Jesus commissioned
his disciples to establish in au the world,
wherein all things he had taught them were to
be observed, was to reach the physical, social
and intellectual. as well as the spiritual ma
ture OF man, and such IS the institutional
church OF to-day intended 10 be. 1t seeks to
be the center and the source of all beneficent
and philnnthropic effort and to take leading
part III every movement which has for its end
the alleyiatiOn OF human suffering and the bet
terment OF the world in general. 1t would
sanctify and use all legitimate means for i'm
proving mAn's condition for bringing him to
God and Tor keeping him there.