Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-05-12

| rations. or asleep in their tents, while
only one man here and there goes out
TO do battle for the Lord.
But. saws some one. I'VE are estab.
fishing a great many missions, and ]
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
weakness of the church. 1t is saving
to the rich and the CONDITIONED:
| IF you can pay yolr pew rent. come
! TO the main audience room" 1t is say.
! ing to the poor man: Your coat is toe
bud and your shoes are not good
enough If you want To get to II eaven
you will have to go by way of the mis-
sion chapel" The mission chapel has
I become the kitchen where the church
does its sloppy work. There are hun
| dreds and thousands of churches in this
country--gorgcously built and sup.
! pOrtcd.-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 ex.
pressed or implied regulation, the great
masses of the people are kept out of the
main audience room.
Now, | say that any place of wor-
ship which is appropriate for one class
| Is appropriate for all classes. Let the
rich and the poor meet together, the
| Lord the maker of them all. Mind you
that 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 a 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 popu.
lations making u stampede for Heaven.
saw in some paper an account of a
church in Boston in which, it is said,
there were a great many plain people.
The next week the trustees of that
church came out in the paper, and said
it was not 80 at all; they were elegant
people, and highly-conditione people
that went there" Then | laughed
outright; and when | laugh, laugh
very loudly. "Those people," | said,
ARE afraid of the slclly scntimentali-
ty of the churches Now, my ambi-
tion Is not to preach to you SO much.
1t seems to me that you must be faring
sumptuousy every day, and the marks
Of comfort are all about you. You do
not need the Gospel half us much as do
some who never come here. Rather
than be priding myself on II church in
front of which there shall halt 50
splendid equipages on the sabbath day,
| would have Il church by whose gates
there should come Il long procession OF
the suffering, and the stricken, and the
dying, begging for admittance. You
do not need the GospeI SO 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 speak, by reason of their want
and suffering, whatever may be their
future destiny, are in perdition now;
, and il there be any comfort in Christ's
| Gospel, for Gods sake give it to them.
Revolution. The pride of the church
must come down. The exclusivrness
of the church must come down The
vi lllt Ciiul vi hlUSL
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 bringing the mighty populations
of our cities to the know ledge of God,
then | cry: Revolution 1t is coming
fast l feel it in the air. | hear the
rumbling of an earthquake that shall
shake down, in one terrific crash, the
arrogance of our modern Chri stianity
| The sea is covered with wrecks, and
mlltitudes are drowning, We come out
| with the church lifcbout, and the pep
| pie begin To Chamber in and we shout:
stop, stop, You must think it costs
nothing To keep lifrboat. Those seats
at the PROV are one dollar apiece, these
| seats in the middle 30 cents. aud those
seats III the stern two shllings, Please
To pay up. or else Houndrr Oh u little
longer till the mission boat, whose
work is to save yon pennies, wretcheS.
shall come along and pick YOU up. We
save only tirst-rlaS, sinners III this
boat.
| 'Vnr talk is whether Protestant
churches or Roman Catholic churches
are coming out ahead. tell you,
Protestants, this truth plainly; That
until your churches are rs free as are
the Roman Catholic cathedrals, they
will beat YOU, In their cathedrals the
millionaire and the beggur ltncel side
by side, And, until that time comes
III our churches, we can not expect the
favor of God, or permanent spiritual
prosperity.
Revolution, 1t may be that, before
the church learns its duty to the masses,
God will scourge it, and come with the
whip of omuipotcnt Indignation and
drive out the money changers. 1t may
be that there is to be "A great day Of up
setting before that time shall come If
it must come, Lord God, let it come
now,
Archias, the magistrate OF Thebias,