The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-05

lowIy, should have become so far above
the reach of the rank and file Of hui
manity as to make 1t impossible for
a poorly dressed man to enter one of
our modern churches without calling
an amount of attention to himself that,
to put it mildly, is very embarrassing.
e~ DR.. Chalmers decided to put the mat
ter to a practical test and settle to
his own satisfaction the length,
breadth and height Of a poor mans
$ welcome from the ushers and congre-
cation of a fashionable religious estab-
lishment. Dof1ng his clerical garb, DR..
Chalmers assumed the clothing of an
ordinary son of toll, and thus disguis-
ed he visited one of Cleveland's lead
ing churches. His experiences he re-
served for modest little sermon de-
livered to his Durham avenue flock.
But it was not to be in the nature of
things that DR.. Chalmers action should
pass unnoticed After he had preach
ed the sermon he found himself over
whelmed with correspondence, some
writer's criticising his action, others
congratulating him. He replied to each
of them briefly and modestly. Many
of his friends urged him to still fur
versus humble religion, but he declin-
ed to do so. He has at last consented.
however, to tell in detail the story of
his very interesting experiences while
on his tour in the guise of a poor man,
and his signed statement follows:
eff this article will be construed as
arraying the poor against the church
, es more than they already are, it will
will no
than wasted. I did not make this visit
to further divorce the workingman
from the church. I made it to see if
the conditions noted in the second
chapter of James were really true, and,
if so, to put the churches, my own
church especially, to process of self
examination which would be helpful
to the church and would prevent our
being respecters of persons in our as
semblies
'I was sick, some in body and much
in soul, because 1 felt that the church
es did not have Compassion on the
multitude, because they tainted and
were scattered abroad as sheep having
no shepherd Matt. tx, &c. felt this in
my own work. 1 was so sick that my
physician told me I could not preach
on Sunday. On Sunday afternoon I
L
was going to see how far the churches
believed on Jesus Christ and whether
or not they believed on him in respect
to the ones with the gold ring and
the gay apparel I would have pre-
ferred to attend my own church and
see how my own congregation well
coined the stranger and the poor man
in poor clothes, but 1 knew 1 could
not do that without being recognized.
II dressed myself in clothes better
than the average man who works on
the street at 81 or SIPS per day can
afford. The clothes were not ragged.
They were not dirty. They were not
the clothes that a man would work in
on the street. They were such as he
might possibly have for Sunday wear.
I went to one of the representative
churches in the city of Cleveland.
don not think this church I visited is
more to be blamed for what followed
than the rest of us. L am dealing with
a condition. The church I visited pays
the pastor $4,000 to $4,000 a year.
think there was on the bulletin board
on the outside of the church, in con-
nection with the announcements of the
regular weekly services, the usual sign
sign: All Welcome I soon found that
this sign was much like the circus
add, not quite fulfilled. 1 found it
was one thing to place on the bulletin
board on the outside Of the church the