The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-05-15
with CHILDREN.
Reformation Of W orld
to Begin With
Them.
DUTY OF CHURCH.
DR.. Moxom's Strong Sermon
at Piedmont Yesterday in
Exchange With DR.. Scott.

Rev. DR.. S. Moxom of Springfield oc-
cupied the pulpit at Piedmont church,
yesterday. in exchange with DR.. VIII
lard Scott, and preached interestingly
from the subject, The problem of the
church" DR.. Moxom impressed the
idea of concentrating the work of the
church on the children, so that in bring
ing them up to be good and useful citi-
zens, the future generation may be
made better one.
The text was taken from Isaiah xi, 6:
And a little child shall lead them"
Dr. Moxom said in part:
The church has many problems. 1t
has one that underlies, in truth includes
all others
1t is the mission of the church to
save the world, nothing less will salts
fly it's Christ given ideal.
The moral ideal is the spiritualiza-
ton and development of human life,
its moral motive the good will that has
it's spring in the heart Of God the
moral power, and unwasting energy of
goodness and wisdom.
1t means first, its message, the love
of God for men; second, its capacity
for service and self sacrifice; third, all
those instrumentalities and methods
by which life may be lifted out of ig-
norance and evil and guided and
trained in health and righteousness.
What is proper for the church?
Anything that will really accomplish
its end
With all the good work going on in
the world, there is a constant produc-
ton of the bad" There are the spirit
less, the incompetent, the vicious, the
drunkards, the tramps, the criminals of
all grades. There exists in all centres
of population this class. The church
works upon it to some extent, and not
'entirely in vain, but with Indifferent
success.
Society is like a leaking ship, the
church is at the pumps but there is a
constant inflow. The great task should
be to sto9 the leakes.
Can it be done? Some say no. The
problem should be attacked in its least
truth a necessary feature of the
problem? That is the question which
thoughtful men are asking more insist
emily every day.
Whence come the bad? They are re-
cruited from the cradle. Are they the
product of heredity?
After adolescence there is compare
lively slight change one way or anoth-
er. We can do much, but not the most
for this adult generation.
What is the comprehensive and
wise enterprise of the church? Care
for all children, from the cradle.
1t will require work? Yes, but that
is what the church is for. not for self
indulgence. But it is expensive? Yes,
all good work is expensive.
Men will give thousands to extract
gold from sea water! But let us look
at this question of expense.
Society must take care of 1.-The bad
and bear the burden of the cost whether
it will or no. There is no alternative.
Prevention is economical. What
mean our charity organizations, courts
and all the machinery of criminal law?
These only partly represent the cost of
neglecting to mold childhood.
1t is cheaper to take care of "the bad
at the beginning. 1t costs less to stop
the leaks than it does to work the
pumps.
There is today a stratum of society
which is practically unreached by any
reformative agency. The church doesn't
reach it. The Y. NJ. c. A. doesn't. To a
limited, very limited, extent, the Sal
walton Army and the Volunteers and
the City mission do. The mission Sun
day school with its day nurseries, does
more. Let the cnurch cOnSecfaIe mel
energies on the children. Save one gen
Grafton and you have enormously sim
plified the problem
What does this mean? We pray for
the coming of Gods kingdom. Tho
kingdom of God will come in the earth
| only through the gateway of childhood
The fate of the world is determined
by the influences that prevail with the
child, from birth to seven years, GER
tainly from birth to fourteen.
If one entire generation of children
were saved, the church would still havs
/ a reason Of being, but its work would
be so easy and so delightful in the con-
seriousness of its high effectiveness.
| All problems go back to the child
corrupt politics, dishonesty and greed
at commerce, drunkenness and incom-
petence.
Now we know much of our labor is
in vain because we are working
against nature. God is calling the
church to begin at the beginning. Tt
meet the demand of the situation. by
conforming to fundamental divine prin-
ciples, is the problem of the church.