The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1897-02-03
THE RELATION OF TIE CHURCH TO
SOCIAL PROBLEMS.

THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO
SOCIAL PROBLEMS.
The conditions Of the present time are
causing the church to take stand On
one side CT the other Of social questions,
and however ioath it may be TO declare
itself unequivocally the time is at hard
when it must fairly and squarely take
its position.
No other organization has such an
opportunity to- be a power IN rightlng
wrongs. Every social question is at
heart religious question. A religion
which is gcod to die by is good TO live
by, and the religion which does not en-
ter into the everyday work OF man.
which does not impel him to live hon
estly, to deal fairly, to be just to his
fellows and to do his duty toward estab-
fishing Justice in the land is out of place
in the church.
Applied Christianity should be
preached from the pulpit. 1t should
sound forth the duty of man to his fell
low men. The church ought to stand
I for the oppressed and demand their de-
liyerance.
No paddock on the pulpit! Let truth
be preached, and the application of it
made to the work Of the six days in the
week when church members mingle
with each other and with the world s
people in business and social relations.
Religion, real religion, is no seventh
day affair. The masses are hungering
for the truth for crusts Of spiritual
comfort as we'll as for literal bread.
They feel the need of the God power,
the sympathy of the Crucifed, the cheer
ing, inspiring word of the lam.
Here and there We find ministers
alive to their opportunities and privi-
leges, and forth from their pull comes
The voice of warning AMI of entreaty.
They sound an alarm." They speak
truth ssas one having authority and not
as the scribes. = And believe that this
word of truth, is even. the sickle"
which is. being thrust in'' now, in
the ssharvest time'' of the gospel age.
dividing the wheat from the tares.
One duty of the church is to awaken
those who sleep among its members.
81 know thy works, that thou art
neither cold nor hot. / would thou vert
cold or hot. So then, because thou art
1ukewarm and neither cold nor hot {
will spew thee ont Of my mouth. Be-
cause thou sayest, / am rich and increas-
ed with goods and have need Of nothing,
and knowest not that thou art wretched,
ard miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked. .
Rev. Dr.. Rainsford Of New York
wrote this to religious paper: tThe
infdelity really dangerous today and
lastingly hurtful is not the inidelity
that yon find outside the, Christian
church, but the infdelity you find with
in 1t; the in6delity Of those who, while
processing to believe in the Fatherhood
OF God, deny the brotherhood of man.
While processing to be filed with en-
thusiasm for the unseen God, they know
-lifHesor nothing Of enthusiasm for his
child. -
1t is this infdelity in tho church
which has been recognized by the toll
ing masses. They could be led to believe
ina practical Christianity. Theoretical
Christianity has no charms for them.
And so they go on struggling to change
the present. unjust order Of things. The
church owes God sacrifice in the cause
of truth. If itexpects to reign with him.
e must also suffer with him. It must
stand for justice and for Righteousness.
H must preach loye-lcve which is
} the fulfilling Of the law. Men cannot be
fulfilling the. law of love while grasping
everything possible from their fellow
men in mad scramble for wealth.
Men cannot serve God and Mammon,
too, and they need to be told this fact
once IN awhile, and the pulpit is the
place in which to tell it. The church
should be the mouthpiece of Gods de-
nunciations of sin as well as of his prom
ises of pardon and salvation from sin.
It's light is great, its claims greater,
and greater stih is its great responsible
ity in all the great questions affecting
the welfare and progress Of the human
race. JOSEPHINE RAND.