The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-01-31

"How to Make a Church Successful, ,'
 Sunday Morning, Model of Strength
 and Forcibility.
 At Trinity M. F. church Sunday morning the Rev. Levi Gilbert DID,, de- livered a very strong sermon on 'How to Make a Church Successful" He selected as his text the 17th verse from the End chapter, St. John, ''The zeal for Thine house hath eaten me up."
 After few introductory remarks he spoke on the zeal of the pastor and the unfagging efforts which are due from him in order to have the church af- fairs run smoothly. He said the pas tor must also be able to marshall his forces in order to obtain the greatest results He must practise self-denial and make himself a man in every sense of the word, a man of whom the people shall say "He is man of God" He must feel deep responsibility for the care of souls under his charge, and must be ever on the alert that one does keeper is it told that, when asked by young woman "Do you always keep those lights burning, year in and year out?" replied with a look of astonish- ment, "Why do you ask that question, are there not likely to be ships out there, that would go to their destruc- ton if I should fail to do my duty?" "So with the pastor souls may be lost if he alolws his zeal to grow cold or his efforts to flag.
 If the church sees that the pastor is not succeeding, great as may be their regret, they should not hestltate to tell him 50, and even though the pastor be pained, if he has the good of the church at heart he will sacrifice his own feeling and think of the churchs good There are too many incumbrances in the churches today, in the shape of unsuccessful pastors, who if the church did it's duty toward itself would make place for another
 Tn order to carry on the movement we should also keep informed as to the
 
 informed as to the war news during the recent struggle, and if we did and knew of some of the splendid victories being accomplished by our church what a vast amount of enthusiasm we would feel. It is the enthusiasm of the con- gregration coupled with the spirit of the pastor that makes the church suc cessful, but this enthusiasm must be
 
 observable for few months, then to drop out of sight and get cold again. What an exultation of spirits is dis cernable in ones self in going to the shore at the time of the high tide, with the wind blowing fresh and keen and all nature working beautiful but also what a disappointment a few hours later to return and find the drear mud flats. Must it be so in our life, a continu- ous ebb and flow of spirits high tide today and mud flats tomorrow? No! do not let it be so, make your enthusi- asm continuous keep your spirits to the same level, that is the way to make your work successful In university centers I some times think that there is too much ultra conservatism. The professors are all ex- cellent people, but in too many cases | they live the life of the scholastic | recluse, and in the retirement of their | book-life are very apt to become cold | and conservative. The great thing of 1 service to the world is the heart hot l with sympathy, not the cold apathetic | kind, too often in evidence. Dr. Gilbert spoke further upon the l duties of the congregation, and inn pressed upon them the great necessity | of attending the prayer meeting regu- larly of introducing more spirit into the class meeting, and of sending their children to church and Sunday school. He said, 1.-The great trouble with number of churches today is the | shameful lack of young life, due to the parents, for if you don't send you child to church and Sunday school in their infancy they will not go of their own volition when twenty"
 In concluding he said, "Whatever mistakes the church has made, what ever blunders have occurred, bury them deep in the past and then go ahead"