El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-09-11

very much to have the working people
come to his church, but that the pain
full fact was that if 200 of the working
people were to come in at the front
door an equal number of his best sup
porters would go out at the back door.
You will notice that this d .fficulty is
not to any cons derable degree found
in Roman Cath Ollie church s. In the
| splendid cathedral the wife of the
millionaire and the working girl kneel
and worship side by side: neither is
disturbed by the presence of the other
Why is it not so in the Protestant
church? Simply because membership
and Worship NTH e same .anctuary imply
with the Roman Catholic no obligation
of social recognition of any kind. The
church is a place of religious worship,
not of social recognition. The fact
that woman enters parish, and is
enrolled as commupicant, creates no
social obligation on the part of other
women of the parish. But in our Pro-
testant churches we harp upon the
merely social element of church life.
We toll and tug over our church
sociahle church teas, and
everything of this kind, trying to
break down the walls of social separa
5iou in the congregation. In our eff
forts to make oil and water mix we
only advertise and make more apparent
he social lines that, right or wrong,
we can not Obliterate. And thus, as
the churches are being run as social
clubs, naturally those of one social sta
ton want a club exclusively of those of
their own station. AS the church SO
ciables, church teas, etc, are held in
the building erected for divine worship,
the church building itself becomes as
ISOLATED il the minds of the outsiders
with social OStracism, and they per-
suade themselves that their presence,
even at the religious services, is I'M
welcome.
It would, perhaps, be regarded as so
rad cal a position as TO exclude the
writer from all further hearing if he
should suggest the abandonment of the
" hole idea Of a distinctive church life,
but he trusts that he may be heard
when he suggests that this 'church
life" with its Accomplishments of
church parlOrs, church kitchens,
church sOciables. church teas, etc, BE-
removed at least five blocks from the
place where public worship is statedly
held, so that it may be understood that
they have no connection with each
Other, and that attendance stately up
on the worship in Gods house involves
no kind of obligatio to be at the
church sociable or the church tea.
Second, there must be deeper person
al interest and more earnest individual
effort in inducing the non church
goer to attend religious worship.
There is no use of public meet iues in
the interest of the non-church going
Masses, with spread-esgle oratory and
long strings of resolutions What we
need is personal, hand-to- hand work
If in any church of 500 members every
member could be induced to see priva-
tely and invite cordially to the church
services every non-churchgoer of mis-
acquaintance, the church would soon
be filed to overlooking. One great Sc
cret of the crowds that flock to Mr..
Moody's service is the admirable use
which he makes of this element of pri-
vate, personal effort. Finally, we must
look to and rely upon the presence and
power3of the Holy Spirit. These non
churchgoers have a'natural aptipathy
to the gospel which nothing but the
power of the spirit can overcome. We
must give up all taffy, and clap-trap,
all sepsationalism all whOop and hur-
rah. We must come back to the Cos
pei in its simplicity and its power.