Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-05-02

III SIX weeks. OuppOSO tu6f0 were u
great war, and there were 800, 900 SOL
diers, but all of those 800, 900 soldiers ex-
cepting 10 men were IN their tents or
securing their muskets Or cooking ra-
tions. You would say, "Of course defeat
must come in that case. = 1t IS worse than
that in the church. Millions Of the pro-
fessed soldiers of Jesus Christ are cook
ing rations or asleep in their tents,
while only one man here and there goes
cut to do battle for the Lord.
"But,'' says some one, eve are es-
! tablishing great many missions, and
I think they will save the masses" No,
they will not. Five hundred thousand
of them will not do it. They are doing
a magnificent work. but every mission
chapel is confession of the disease and
weakn ess Of the church. 1t is making a
dividing line between the classes. 1t is
saying to the rich and to the well con-
ditioned, eff you can pay your pew
rents, come to the main audience ROOM"
1t is saying to the poor man: Your
coat is too bad and your shoes are not
good enough. If you want to get to
heaven, you will have to go by the way
of the mission chapel The mission
chapel has become the kitchen, where
! the church does its sloppy work. There
are hundreds and thousands Of churches
in this country-gOrgeously built and
pported-that, even on bright and sun
! shiny days, are not half full Of wor-
SHIPPERS and yet they are building mis-
sion chapels, because by some expressed
or implied regulation the great masses
of the people are kept out of the main
audience room.
Now I say that any place of worship
which is appropriate for one class is ap-
propriate for all classes. Let the rich
and the poor meet together, the Lord
the maker Of them all. Mind you that L
say that mission chapels are a necessity,
the way churches are now conducted,
but may God speed the time when they
shall cease to be necessity. God will
rise up and break down the gates Of the
church that have kept back the masses,
and woe be to those who stand in the
way They will be trampled under foot
by the vast populations making a STAN
| pede for heaven.
l saw in some paper an account of
church in Boston in which, it is said,
there were great many plain people.
The next week the trustees of that
church came out in the paper and said
it was not so at all; "they were elegant
people and highly conditioned people
that went there. - Then | laughed out
right, and when I laugh [ laugh very
loudly. "Those people, " said, "are
afraid of the sickly sentimentality of
the churches. - Now, my ambition is
not to preach to you so much. 1t seems
to me that you must be faring sumptu-
ously every day, and the marks of COM
fort are all about you. You do not need
the gospel half as much as do some who
never come here Rather than be prid-
ing myself on a church in front of which
there shall halt so splendid equipages
on the Sabbath day, I would have a
church up to whose gates there should
come long procession of the suffering,
and the stricken, and the dying beg
| ging for admittance. You do not need
the gospel as much as they. You have
good things in this life. Whatever may
be your future destiny, you have had
pleasant time here. But those dying
populations of which I speak, by reason
of their want and suffering, whatever
may be their future destiny, are in per-
dition now, and if there be any COM
fort in Christ's gospel, for Gods sake
give it to theml
Revolution! The pride of the church
must come down. The exclusiveness of
the church must come down. The finan-
cial boastings Of the church must come
down! If monetary success were the
chief idea in the church. then say that
the present mode of conducting finances
is the best. If it is to see how many
dollars you can gain, then the present
mode is the best. But if it is the saving
of souls from sin and death, and bring
ing the mighty populations of our cities
to the knowledge of God, then I cry,
Revolution! It is coming fast feel it
in the air. hear the rumbling of an
earthquake that shall shake down, in
one terrific crash, the arrogance of our
modern Christianity.
The sea is covered with wrecks and
multitudes are drowning. We come out
with the church lifeboat, and the peo-
pie begin to Chamber in, and we shout:
''Stop. stop! You must think it costs
nothing to keep lifeboat Those seats
at the Prov are 81 apiece, these in the
middle so cents, and those seats in the
stern 3 shillings. Please to pay up, o.
else founder on a little longer till the
I1SSlOu UOdG, WuOS0 WOrk IL is TO save
you penniless wretches, shall come along
and pick you up. We save only first
class sinners in this boat. -
The talk is whether Protestant
churches or Roman Catholic churches
are coming out ahead. I tell you, Prot
estants, this truth plainly, that until
your churches are as free as are the Ro-
man Catholic cathedrals they will beat
you. In their cathedrals the millionaire
and the beggar kneel side by side And
hot oh