The record-union., 1899-10-01

The church must do business as the
world does it, and must raise money
just as Systematically as individuals or
corporations do This is a point of vast
Importance. because there are too many
Christian people to-day who have an
idea that personal piety of the unob-
trusive, and we may add Of the recluse,
sort, is the only kind; that the church
endangers its spirituality by too many
societies, too much gregariousness, too
much emphasizing of the ways and
means Of business sustenance. 1t is
not that they are unwilling to contri-
butte OF their substance, so much as
that they are personally prejudiced
against the application Of complex
metnods In congregational activity. But
churches are subject to the laws of
the land as regards debts and general
pecunlary obligations. Salaries must
be paid, fuel and lights provided for,
ana something, at least, must be done
by every healthy, growing, earnest con-
gregatlon to speed the work of domes-
tic and foreign missions. This is not
the age in which, like Isaac, we may
simply walk with God in the fields at
eventide.''
"Of the duty of every Christian to
extend as far as possible the sphere
ana influence of the Sunday-school
there can be no doubt" says the New
York Evangelist" Pres.). Even those
parents who prefer to keep the relig-
lous instruction of their children un-
der their own supervision recognize that
for the majority of children the Sun
day-school is a religious necessity. In
fact, 1T is precisely this class of parents
VINO, appreciating most deeply the
sacfedneSS of the religious rights and
needs OF children, should be most for
ward to make sure that those children
whose parents cannot or will not care
for these needs and rights, find a sub
stitute for this care in the Sunday
school. There is in our opinion con-
siderable reason to doubt whether the
twent1eth-century movement is the best
possible way of meeting the emergen-
cleS of the present time, described by
DIR. Worden as "a time when the great
adversary is sweeping thousands and
tens OF thousands of young people out
of the Sabbath-school, alluring them by
specious arguments and Devices If
the attendance in our schools is de-
creasing, it may be quite as much in
order to inquire what is amiss with
the schools, how they may be made
better to meet the actual conditions,
as to attribute the deficit to the great
adversary"
When one hears the pessimists, who
are so numerous, pointing out, with a
sort of lugubrious exultation, the de-
fects in our modern civilization, the
blemishes in social life, the hindrances
which Righteousness in politics has to
encounter, the shortcomings of Chris
tian believers, and the occasional ebbs
in the tide of Christian progress on
large scale, it is worth while to STOP"
says the "Congregationalist" of Bos-
ton, and consider what advance the
Gospel of Christ actually has been max
ing among men during recent times
He who will thus spend a few mo-
ments in reflection will be convinced
that, in spite of whatever evidence of
retrogression may be apparent, the
course of Christianity has been
straightforward and unvarying on the
whole. In Christian nations a higher
type of conservation has become plain.
There are more persons than ever be-
fore who evidently make serving God
the real business of their lives, who
use time, means, and opportunity with
distinct reference to their relation 10
their Creator Little by little, but
surely, righteousness is permeating the
commercial and social the civil and po-
litical life. He who believes the world
TO be going to the bad utterly and
rapidly needs only to compare with
candid fidelity the condition of society
fifty or 100 years ago with its condi-
ton to-day to be convinced of the
great advance in the right direction
which has been made
''The present time is plainly one of
unprecedented opportunity and strug
gle for pecuniary profit, and of unex-
ampled accumulations provoking to en-
Wy and to ambition says the New
York Outlook" THE master passion
is cupidity for larger holdings, larger
returns, and all ranks of society are
equally pervaded by it. But not even
in the church is the warning note of
the Master adequately uttered: Take
heed and keep yourselves from all COW
etousness.' .Covetousness is described
by ST. Paul as idolatry. Writing to the
church at Colosse he blacklists it to-
gether with the crime of fornication.
1T certainly is not so severely treated
in the modern pulpit. In fact, it is
now so disguised, under such good
names as economy, frugality and thrift.
that it sits incognito in the prayer
meeting and at the communion table.
In joins in the liturgical recital of the
Tenth Commandment, but finds in the
antique phraseology nothing that
touches conscience with reproof. What
is now urgent is that Christian teach
ing should do upon the Tenth Com
mandment that work of illumination
that Jesus did upon the sixth and sew
enth, when he fixed the brand of muir
der upon the thought of hatred, and
the stigma of adultery upon the lust
fulr Imagination. There is no lack Of
material in the New Testament for
such a work"
The Two Topics.
All along life's crowded porches,
Summer evenings, as we stop,
Still the women talk of shopping.
And the men are talking shop.