The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-13
TOO COLD FOR SERMONS
MANY CHURCH SERVICES WE'RE
ABANDONED YESTERDAY.
Rev. j. C. Smith Discusses New Cate
chism of Free Churches
of England.

The Tabernacle Church was one OF the
few churches in the city which opened their
doors for worship yesterday. Most of the
prominent Protestant houses of worship
found the weather too severe to admit of a
| congI egation listening to a sermon with any
degree of comfort, and, as a consequence,
few of them we're opened.
Rev. j. Cumming Smith preached a SER
mon on an entirely new subject, it being
The New Cathecism of the Free Churches
of England and Wales" He said, in part:
We referred few weeks ago to the ex-
posture of a ritualistic plot in England and
now in the tumult of parties we see the
olive branch of peace between churches. A
new statement of religious truths always
marks an epoch but this last statement is
unique in that it has sprung from sects
that until lately made fierce war on one an
other. About sixty Millions of believers in
all parts of the world are involved in this
last effort to construct some common plat
form as a basis of united effort. Protest
ants have blushed in private over their Sec
tartan collisions and have envied the or
ganic unity of the Church of Rome. All
the more distastefl are these sects when
time has worn smooth all the old points of
fray, when the old fighters have lost their
abreast Of to-day's thousand choral mes
sages are blind to the controversies of last
century, and when, as a fact, our churches
are all blending in the one earth-lifting
truth Of Christ.
But while there has been conscious
conveyance of our best messages, still the
churches marched on under the old banners,
torn in many a hot strife, and every at
tempt to uplift the doctrinal positions of
churches was choked at it's birth. Indeed,
some who put no value on truth itself
round in ethics the last hope of wedding
the sects. Others believed missionaries
would be the instruments in merging the
camps. But. after all, the worlds heart al
ways protests against religious movement
which has not truth as its core and secret
dynamic Both ethics and enthusiasm are
vital ktndling forces, but there has never
Deen crusade in history nor any new tide,
that ever carried uplift and emancipation
TO the millions which did not enthrone some
eternal verify The heart of humanity
thirsts for realities and now the singular
beauty of this recentest effort to league the
sects is that it makes bold to touch the
great ideas of God to bank and build on
the modern worth of those waging ideas
and then to leave in the future the posi-
bility or desirability of some mighty con-
federation.
This catechism was prepared by Calvin
lists and Armenians, and, while conciliatory,
II is not colorless. while catholic and sym
metrical, there is no muffled disloyalty to
essentials. 1t is StdteSmanuko
rather than political and the sword of
polemies is sheathed in a large faith. We
nave not time to dissect the niceties of this
new catechism except only to say it was
born in minds alive 10 our best needs. That
the church is on the eve of a quiet reVolu-
ton we can hardly doubt. Each age presses
nome its own demands on the church. The
uppermost requirement at the dawn Of the
twentieth century is the patient application
OF live truths to our complex social condi-
lions. That the gospel must produce new
MANHOOD is, of course, an ever new and
ever live truth, but the world persists,
and, We think, justly, in it's challenge to
our higher manhood to sweeten and recast
whole lump.
Now. the pulpit must brace itself for this
crisis or 1t must prove its incompetency.
rms is the one imperial desire of the pres
ent time Now, what have the faded con-
troVerles or boar past to do with
this supreme necessity? AS well use old
war ships in our modern navy! or old mus
kets in our modern infantry! Why so many
small ehurches, each starving in order to
StarVe little more each straining every
nerve to wiring moneys from the poor peo-
heavy mortgages! Why all this, when after
all the trouble the work is slovenly, there
Is no chance for specialists and the tide OF
spiritual power is often at too low an ebb!
me reason is that the public is maintaining
Tar too many churches and also as a result
we do not have finances to encourage real
live specialists, as men do in business, in
law or medicine or architecture. The public
Is not getting the worth of its money with
SO many small meeting houses, each loaded
with debt. A church wishes to send forth
surplus Of money and influence in the
realm OF benevolence and missions. Hence
each church. If normal. ought to be large
ought to have a college of pastors should
control the higher education, the benevo-
lence, the reform questions all of which
suffer financial shortage. In one word, if
one has any sane idea Of what a church
was meant to do what it could do if its
strength was not drained in so many pigmy
efforts that beget so many waspish feel
ings and petty methods, then he will see
how far the modern church has drifted from
the ideal Our age is sociological. Its
genius is wise concentration of energy.
Syndicatism emerges. The churches must
waive their minute points of disagreement
and meet the need of the hour. In England
the master minds as well as the millions
seem ripe for large movement. In Canada
for years the churches have mourned the
waste Of energy and the slipshod quality Of
most OF the work done, and recently the
desire for more generous applications stands
at the forefront, The too close rivalries
between churches must really block the
path of their true usefulness There are
too many cocks Growing on the fences and
too small a hatchery. The new catechism
formulated by Congregationalist, Metho-
dist and Presbyterian leaders, men who are
giants both in toll and thought, proves that
truth can be so stated as to match Paul
and crown the truest thought of this great
age. | cannot just here sketch the large
ideal church with its finances and influences.
attempt to reach broad creed full of power
and hope for one time. Take such questions
and answers as these:
"Q.-What must we think of God?
"A.-God is the one eternal spirit, Crea-
tor and sustainer of all things. He is love,
boundless in wisdom and power, perfect in
holiness and justice, in mercy and truth.
"Q.-What does Jesus say about himself?
"A.-That He is the Son of God whom
the Father in His great love sent into the
world TO be the Savior from sim
And as the cateshism sweeps a large
field and although its style is chiefly for
youth cannot forget that we are all
children in the realm of the unseen"