Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-11-21
RELIGIOUS NOTES
Dr. Halls Sermon on the Church
and the City.
sIo Discusses tho Needs or tic cat.
and tho Relation or tho Chnrel
I'horoto Services at o,nr,
Clhnrches,


At Park Avenue Baptist Church sun
day Rev. ]. J. Hall, the pastor, deliv-
cred strong sermon to large au-
dtence on THE Church. and the City,"
taking as his text He Behold the City
Luke, 1924 He said In part:
To meet the city's needs the church
must take broader view of her mis-
sion, and see that her work provides for
the whole man-body. mind and spirit.
Neither can she be Indifferent to the so
cfal, business and political life of city;
but in every direction she should make
political organization; not as a social
club; but as a light that scatters the
darkness, and as high tower for truth
and righteousness.
Go with me to Arlington Heights;
enter the beautiful cemetery; look upon
the graves of the thousands of the Fed
eral dead; see how the flowers are SO
artistically arranged that they spell out
the names of the Generals. Oh! will
the time ever come when the city, in it's
domestic life; its commercial life; It's
social life, yea, even in its political life,
shall spell out Jesus, and the sweetness
OF that dear name shall permeate the
whole?
But this can never be until the church
shall be true TO her mission, and men
and women shall turn 10 her for guild
ance, truth and comfort. Alas, in many
Instances, 1t is not SO now. Canon
\noX-Little, of London, tells of n beau
tllul church, the main entrance to
winch was by a lych-gate. Going up to
thts gate one day he found painted ar
tistically about its arch the words:
This is the gate of heaven" and then
TO his surprise his eye lit upon Il far
'hrser sign below, commanding: eco
round the other way" 1t is Il true pic
ture OF many another church, which,
though no sign may be on 1t, yet Is
SO coid, lifeless and formal that multi
tudcs turn Off and so some other way.
me church must not be above it's
mission, nor stand off from the people.
put Identify itself with them, and glori-
~ the old pagan motto: Whatever
concerns man concerns me-" In word:
me church must go down into the pit
with the miner, into the forccnstlc with
the sailor, into the tent with the SOL
dier, into the shop with the mechanic,
INTO the factory with the operative, in
10 the field with the farmer, into the
countinE-room with the merchant: like
The air. the church must press equally
upon all surfaces of society; like the
sea, flow into every nook of the shore
Inc of humanity; like the sun, shine on
Things foul and low, as we'll as fair and
hlgh; Tor she was organized and equip
ped for the moral and spiritual removal
tion OF the whole world"
The belligerent critical. peace-dis-
turbing member should not be toler.-
ated; the quarrels of the church belong
to past age. Some persons seem to
tnlnk the church an open field for
nrag, buster and bray, and they are
oblivlons to everything else but some
matter over which they can create
trouble.
The church must accept her mission
and perform 1t. No place is too low for
her ministrations and all her members
should find their place in some depart
ment of her Christly work This should
be done in systematic and thorough
way. taking the bread of life to every
furnishing soul: stunning none and be-
ing blessing to all. Dir. Guthrie once
looked down on one of the most wicked
quarters of Edinburgh. and when he be-
held 1T, exclaimed: "a beautiful held:"
and with his noble people standing be-
hind him he demonstrated the power
of applied Christianity to carry pardon,
hope, peace and a physical ana educa-
tional, moral and religious revolution
which blessed the lives OF multitudes
therein The church must carry its
life to the rich and the poor: to the
scholar and the illiterate: to the en-
ployer and the employee, until all shall
feel her power, own her Lord and wor-
ship at His feet
Somewhere ahead of us Is n day OF
moral victory and universal peace and
good will. The past reverberates with
strife; the present is one of weakness
and confusion; but the future is reso,
nant with the chime of many bells. and
they play without discordant sound.
They are making music in holy city;
city indebted. city where sorrow
and crying shall be no more. BY and
by we shall behold this glorious sight.
The struggle will be over; every bur-
den laid down. and Jesus. our Savious.,
shall be loved by all it's inhabitants.
But from whence soundeth the music
of peace, of joy? II cometh from the
Church Of the Living Cod The city
and the church are indestructible in the
purposes of the eternal God.
OTHER SERVICES.
Rev. j. T. Gwathmi, of Louisville,
Ky, preached at the Central Avenue
Baptist Church Sunday, in the absence
of the pastor, Rev. e. e. Dudley.
AT ST. Pauis Episcopal Church Sun