The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-08-15

lrSI cenIuTle5 Gne IeupOTdl pOWeI
took the church under its care. The
State became sponsor for the church
and its power was evoked to sustain
and support the church. Indeed, it
was thought that without the. power
of the State the church could not be
sustained and kept to its work, and
this is believed by the larger half of
the church today. Only the Protes-
tant wing of the Christian church
holds to complete separation of
church and State even in this "year
of grace"
But the great power that has sus-
tanned and energized the church for
near fifteen hundred years of its ex
istence has come from "other world"
considerations. OF course other mo-
tives have been used, but these con-
siderations have been the great pow
er. The world was pictured as a
wreck fastening to perdition and the
church as a "life boat" into which
one must get in order to be saved.
1t was the ark of safety out of which
there was no escaping the awful
doom. In it, there was escape from
endless woe and the sure possession
of endless joy, while out of it, there
was not only the loss of the latter
but the sure inheritance of the for
mer; while this joy and this woe
were to large degree SO presented
as to have no legitimate and natural
connection with the work of the
church. The joy did not grow out of
what the church did for the soul, but
it was something added as reward
in another world for entering the ark
in this world, and the woe was pen
atty inflicted for not entering. The
other world joy and woe were exter-
nal to the church and used as mo-
tive to "run" the church. The engine
was outside the factory but here was
generated the steam to run the fac
tory. These, then, have been the two
great powers that have sustained the
church up to date, the temporal
power and other world considerations.
But in the van of the Christian
army these powers cannot be used.
Here the temporal power is not so
much as thought of, while these ether
world considerations are not avail
able. Along this advancing line of
Christian progress the church caunot
be used to save men from an external
hell or secure for them an external
heaven in the next world, simply be-
cause here these things are not be-
lieved and have no power.
The question then, is, What can the
church b. used for7 Evidently the
church can be used only for moral
and religious education, for the grow
ing of the character. Hence, the
problem, Can the church be sustained
as such an educational institution?
Can we find any motives powerful
enough in this view of the church to
keep it going? Can we make charac-
ter appear so valuable to men that
they support the church merely for
its ability to grow that character?
Whether we shall ever answer this
question in the affirmative or not, it is
certain that we have not so answered
it yet. We have not made the mo-
tive of character so strong that it
alone is sufficient to support and suf-
fcie ntly run" the church.
This is evident from the fact that
the liberal" churches, which legiti-
mately can use only this motive find
that they must resort to something
else or they can live only at "poor,
dying rate" 1t is a fact not to be
denied, that the church that aims
to be only moral and religious edu-
Gator and inspirer has hard work to
live.
Hence the tendency to seek help
from other directions. On the one
hand sensationalism is resorted to.
The concert, the lecture, the "pic-
lures" are brought in to keep up the
interest and make the church go. On
the other the church is turned into
charitable institution. 1t is sought
to make it popular and successful by
using it as a means of feeding the
hungry and clothing the naked, in
fine by turning it from the work of
teaching and enforcing the Gospel to
serving ''the tables" of material need
and comfort.
These tendencies show that the
problem is upon us with all its pow
err. They do not and cannot solve
the problem, but they make evident
the reality of its pressure. They are
expedients resorted to for immediate
relief, and the relief they furnish will
very likely cost the church more than