The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1895-02-16

years OF the nineteenth century, ana
what can he learn from the character?
II may he all we'll enough to hold up
this young man OF the Bible assAan ex-
ample of reformed unrighteousness to
an audience Of Five Points vagrants,
in New York City, but What possible
link Of sympathy IS there between this
character and the young man Of re-
spectability and honorable motivesl
No clergyman has right to assume
that because 4 man does not 60 to
church. or attends church al intervals,
that he is a prodigal from his Father.
And yet this is precisely what these
sermons seemed to infer. It may be
far more in the spirit Of present things
to say that the young man does not go
to church because he feels that he
derives so little benefit from what he
hears.
Nor is the mistake 20 attract young
men with a series Of talks on manly
sports" lesser one. In the first place,
the young man knows more about the
sports Of the day than does the minis
ter; and, in the second place, he has
Just enough discrimination to recog.
nize that the subject is simply chosen
to attract him, and he feels, and right.
ly 90, that the theme is one which has
no place in the pulpit. He knows the
wrong and right side Of sports and
amusements quite as we'll as does the
minister, and, in the large majority oi
cases, he is within the prope" limita'
tions. All this ayoung man knows; he
does. not go to church to hear his
sports brought into the pulpit and dis.
cussed. His ideal is higher, and cor.
rectly so. Nor does he ask, nor desire
that special ''series of sermons for
young men" Of any sort shal, be pro
vided for him.
What he asks for is precisely what
is lacking in hundreds, yes, thousands
Of pulpits throughout America: u CON
nonsense religion, Il vigorous affirma
tive religion to help him meet the re-
qnrelnents of his daily life. He car
/ generally solve the problems of hit
! play-time, but he cannot always meet
those which come to him IN his work
hours. He wants to feel when he goet
to church thai there is Il man in the
pulpit who understands him, who
knows and appreciates what are the
Problems which young man mus
face. md who tells him in II clear
honest, practical manner, how he must
solve those problems. He does not
need IT, he told that he must not sweari
that he must not drink; that he mus,
not be adulterous. His own self-re'
spect has taught him that. He does
not want to be told what he must moi
do; his soul thirsts and hungers to be
told what he must do. He wants an
affirmative religion; not negative
creed. His active liiasand bis assoeir'
tion with men and women Of the world
bring him face 70 face with social and
ethical problems which he does not
understand, and when they affect his
own welfare he knows not how to meet
them. This is what he expects the
pulpit to build for him-not the ground
work for Il goody-goody boy, but the
strong. honest, fundamental principles
upon which he can rear sterling
character. In my own personal case
know only too we'll how often has Sun.
day come to me with some moral prob
lem,uppermost in my mind which a
luck Of years and experience has made
me incapable Of solving. I have gone
to church morning and evening hoping
that some side-light might be thrown
upon my problem from the pulpit
And have I received it? No, q hun
dred times no! That which I had a
right 10 expect from the teacher In the
pulpit was withheld.
The discourse OF the average minis
ter is absolutely uninteresting to the
great run Of young men. However
much dislike personally 70 say this, 1t
is true. Sunday after Sunday the
same ground of statement and argu-
ment is threshed over and over. II is
the one point turned over and ever:
BE good. But what a good life means
Is either left TO the hearer's inference,
or Is explained in such a prosaic man
ner al to leave nothing tangible in the
mind. What reflection OF the age In
which We live, Of the problems with
which we have got to grapple, is there
in the average sermony Dry statement
follows trite maxim. Look into the
faces of the average congregation, and
1t Is surprising what little real a:ten-
tion is bestowed upon what is being
said.
The modern pulpit Is sluggish and
stagnant. Old church-goers have
again and again confessed TO me that
''Mr. - was little dry this evening.
and the temptation to shut my eyes
did come, I grant you Now this IL
why young men will not attend ninety
nine out OF every hundred religious
services: they lack interest. ! mus.
not be- misunderstood and have thrown
ut me the accusation that the young
man Of to-day is a paragon Of wisdom,
and that he thinks he knows IT all.
He Is not a paragon Of wisdom nor any
thing else. The assertion that he IL
too salf-assertivu comes principally
from those whom he, In the very
nature Of things which preiers young
manhood to old age, pushes to the
wall. He does not claim to be any
better than was his father as y young
man, but neither is he any worse. Az
the same time, while he differs only In
the minor sense that each generation
must necessarily differ from the pre-.
ceding one, II ID unjust to ask him TO
accept, In 1894, the methods III vogue
Ia 1924. With changing conditions
come different demands, spiritual 81
we'll 90 material. H
N Ills said BY some that this iact