The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-03-15
MY BROTHERS KEEPER.
Rev. C. vi. Sheldon breaches a
Sermon on the Question.
He Calls Attention to COndi-
lions i'm Our Own City. =
Says We Should Remember That
"There is Another Man IN the
Wreck"

The Rev. Charles NJ. Sheldon. pastor
of the Central Congregational church,
he, who a few years ago, with a num-
Der of his church, went through the
dives of Topeka and collected evidence
against them for a sermon to his flock,
yesterday morning preached a sermon
full of good points and practical il
IustrationS to a large audience in his
church. His subject was: Am My
cal conditions in Topeka, not forgetting
mention of the liquor joints, Smoky
Row and other parts of the city which
need reforming.
Mr.. Sheldon began his discourse by
saying:
Am 1 My Brothers Keeper? For the
son of man came to seek and to save
that which was lost. | want to repeat
the story with which 1 suppose you are
all familiar, of the man who was res
cued by a life saving crew from a vessel
that was going to pieces on a reef He
was unconscious when the crew found
him lying on the deck, and after very
great exertiOns they succeeded in get
ting him into the life boat and brought
him ashore
There they worked over his body I'M
til the man showed signs of life. AS
soon as he was able to speak he began
to whisper something with great diff
Guilty, but with great eagerness. Finally,
one of the crew bending over him,
caught the words, There's another man
in the wreck
This is at the heart of Christianity
in the world today. There's another
man in the wreck The whole spirit of
Jesus speaks out in that desire to save
others. Salvation is very small at
fair if we think it consists in man
singing hymns and clapping his hands
while he shouts glory glory! I'm saved!
I'm saved The first great desire of a
man who has really been saved, IS to
save the other man in the wreck. That
is the reason we ask this question:
Am My Brothers Keeper? What re-
lation does my being saved, have to the
other MANI
THE church needs to learn the lesson
of seeking. If the masses will not come
to the church, the church must go to
the masses. 1t must seek them. Jesus
walked all over Palestine. He went
about doing good He went about all
Galilee teaching in their synagogues-'
The church has too often trusted TO it's
pulpit elOQuence, or its Quartette choir,
or it's ritual, to draw men into it. 1t
needs to seek in order to save. Some
times we hear a church committee
that is after new minister, say: We
want a preacher who can draw. 1t
would not be bad for some churches to
have preachers who could be drawn
out of their pulpits to seek the other
man on the wreck.
What business is it of mine that
young men and boys are running their
lives and wrecking their homes and
breaking their mothers hearts through
! My Brothers Keeper? They are not my
boys. 1t is not my business to look at
| ter them Or, what business is it if law
| and order are defied by a class of men
who want to make money regardless of
! the right of humanity in the case
| Shall 1 do anything? What difference
| does it make to me If whole crowds of
| colored boys and girls grow up in ig-
| norance and vice, and live a life that
| hands down to others inherited vices
that threaten the safety of a whole
city? They are not of my nationality.
| They are not interesting. They are not
! worth saving. At least, not if 1 have to
| give up anything to try to do it.
| Does this sound harsh or untrue ?
| But let me ask you, Mr. Average Citi-
| zen, if it is not true that very many arc
| shrinking from their duty to the other
man in the wreck? 1t is so easy to sit
and sing My soul is redeemed by the
| blood of the Lamb, or to say, is we fold
| our hands in comfortable religious &C.
| stacy, I thank Thee o Lord, that am
| not as other men are. I go to church al