The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-02-25
CHURCH SANCTITY
Methods by Which Children's
Respect for the House Of
God is Destroyed.
MONEY CHANGES IN THE TEMPLE
Effect of Entertainment in the
Sacred Eclifce on Youth
full M~inds-Among the
Churches.
MONEY CHANGES IN THE TEMPLE

ments. 1t expresses his views in relation
to the necessity of teaching the young
to have a proper reverence for the
sanctuary. This is what he has to say
on the matter
eve hear considerable in certain quar-
tiers about how people should behave
while in church., and their strict confor-
nifty to the requirements and usages set
down in the Orthodox code to regulate
church department. No later than last
Sunday 1 listened to the fervent plant OF
a well known and aggressive clergyman
who had the courage to speak his mind
in forceful and blunt terms. 1t was a
ringing talk. and it went straight TO the
mark like a rifle shot. He told his
parishioners just how church-goers shouid
behav while attending divine services. A
few days ago / read in The News q
similar forcible homily delivered by a
popular pastor urging proper reverence
for the sanctuary. Probably some of his
followers needed more or less instruction
on this particular point of their religious
obligations. Certainly he touched on "a
grave duty.
The fact of the matter is, notwith-
standing all this passionate appeal On
the part of the jealous opponents OF a
serupulous reverence for the House OF
God. and the attempt to produce correct
ideas of the solemnity of the place and
everything appertaining to it, some people
seen to forget themselves even Whlle al
tending church services.
Nov why is it thus? Probably the
tendencies of the times, and existing cir
cumstances are impairing the sober sense
of the. people and the sound sentiment OF
pious- respect for the church. Then again
may be the people are losing their ven
Grafton for the church because OF the
manner in which it is being used. Me-
thinks this increasing disregard for the
saeredness of the sanctuary can easily
be traced to early training and the IN
fuence of questionable practices carried
on in the name of the church AS carry
conceptions are the most effeetual ana
enduring naturally they continue to shape
the actions of later life.
Now / aIlude in practices that are the
part and parcel of certain schemes OF
church work, and which are in vogue IN
MANY quarters solely because they are
%popular and profitable. They are sane
toned on the haekneyed plea of expe
dieney. Yea, they are permitted TO flour
ish simply because they come up to the
common notion of what constitute up-to-
date church work.
Il surmise that. there are thousands
of children receiving religious i1nstruc-
tion under the care of the church who
hardly get a word of advice on the true
object and the divinely ordained sacred
ness of the sanctuary. h is the con-
sequence? They have no clear IDEA OF
what the church really is, or what II
represents. They do not understand that
IT is the dwelling place of the -ivlne
rpirit. They do not begin to understand
"a real Significance or the high spiritual
e,,:tracter of its rites and eTnblems. They
ave but a slim impression of the IN
erent holiness of it's affairs, or the sa-
csedness of its conseerated precincts
T,.ev see the form but do mot see the
spirit.
when I say this I want to be under
stood that l mean that not sufficient in
struction is given TO impress the plastic
and receptive mind of the Sunday scholar
as to what constitutes the solemnity and
the noble purposes of the sanctuary, as
IL d 7DEtlt dtu - 49, NoNP~
when I use the term sanctuary I mean
the House of God in its truest sense. 1
do not allude to the mere material struc-
ture as erected by the hands of man. l
am now speaking of this sacred place as
/ understand it in its sublimest sense.
That is a place duly eonsecrated and es-
pecially set apart and maintained ex-
clusively for religious exercises and
spiritual elevation; a place where God is
sought. 1 do not care a rap what the de-
nomination may be SO long as the believer
is conscientious in his religious prefer
ences and is a child of God let him adj
here to the requirements and traditions
established by his denomination, no mat
ter what others have to say about it.
sHabitual church attendance, fasting
and other kindred acts of a religious
nature which may be judged Indispensable
for the good of the soul do not make a
church. All this can go on and vet the
church may come short of its high mis-
sion. If a building is erected and estaD-
lished exclusively for church purposes, in
the sense that the founder of the Chris
tian system intended and has emphasized
throughout all his teachings, then II
should be Kept sacred, and the young
should be taught and faithfully admon-
ished to reverence it for its inherent
sacredness. A place that has been dedi-
Gated to prayer and praise and the par
ticipation of the Blessed Sacramen.s
should be left entirely free from sacri-
ligious intrusion, unholy innovations or
questionable doings.
.sTeach this solemn verify to the young.
Impress this cardinal idea or their minds
by wise spreeeptss and wholesome example.
In order to do lthat make the church what
it should be. Rigidly exclude everything
that conflicts with the true idea of its
heavenly s~acredness. The Church OF God
is not a place for social junkets, money
making makeshifts. or any sort of seeu-
lar or mercenary undertakings. ihis is
not because of accepted tradition, or the
~magnifcence, or generous costliness of its
material fabric, but because of the saiu-
tary and al-prevading moral influence
which has ever been deemed inseparable
from its basic divine origin and its in
destructible and pre-eminent majesty. /
would to Coo that every child in the land
had this idea thoroughly and unalterably
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