The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-10-13

The annual rally day services were
conducted yesterday in the Elm Park
Methodist Episcopal church. An espe-
cia effort is made on this day to get
all the regular church members and
probatoners to attend, but because of
the threatening aspect of the weather
only fairly large congregations were
present in the morning and evening.
The names of those members attend
ing were taken at both services and
will be entered on the church records.
The pastor. Rev. DR.. G. NJ. Gifin,
preached two sermons especially appro-
pirate to the occasion. His topic at
night was How to Get the People to
Church." and he chose for his text
Matthew. 22:9: "Cio We, therefore. into
the highways. and as many as ye shall
find, bid to the marriage"
In beginning his remarks, DR.. Giffin
referred to the decrease in church at
tendance in proportion to the popula-
ton and said that it could be directly
attributed to the great flood of imm-
grafton which has poured into this
country in the last quarter century.
These foreigners transmit to their chill
dren either an Indifference to all re-
lision or strong prejudice against
EvangelicaL Professionalism. and the
Protestant church has specific duty
towards thein-"the presenting of
sweeter and a truer form of religious
belief than they have ever known"
WILL NOT PARTAKE.
'It is remarkable thing" said DR..
Giiiin. that when a man is physically
hungry he Will not refuse to eat food if
it is offered to him, and yet there are
men all around us who are 50 spiritual
ly hungry that their very eyes are bulg-
ing from their sockets and they will not
partake of the bread of life.
1T is not enough to build ii church
and engage a minister. There must be
souls brought to know Christ. The in
dividual members must seek after the
stray sheep and urge the sweet call
upon them. They must be impressed
with the truth of the gospel of God and
with the urgent necessity of its accept
ance. 1t is surprising how many con-
tented people there are in the Christian
church--people who are content to lie
languidly down when God opens to
them the door of a great opportunity
and bids them enter.
"The great idea to be borne in mind
ii we would increase our church men,
bcrship. is the necessity of impressng
upon those outside the fold that the
gospel of Christ is for downtown and
uptown, for the palace and the hovel
alike, and that the stretch of Gods
grace extends from the highest to the
lowest
when YOU meet man who needs
Gods grace, it is your place to invite
him. not to investigate. 1t is your place
to let him know that everyone is asked
who wants to come and that only those
are expelled who eXpel themselves.
1t is we'll to let them see little
of the feast before they come and to
arouse their imaginations regarding
the beauty of it all.
QUESTIONABLE METHODS.
There are methods and methods for
bringing the people to church. Some of
them are sensible and many of them
are questionable. In one church in
Brooklyn they have large attendance
at an early morning service because a
breakfast accompanies 1t. After one of
the most largely attended weekly
prayer meetings in this country they
serve refreshments, and the large at
tendance is partly accounted for in this
way. They say to the man outside:
You come in, and if you can stand a
half or three-quarters of an hour of
preaching you can go down in the res
taurant in the basement and have a
ham sandwich
Il am inclined to think that this is
eleVatinC the materialiStic side too
high. Then there is street preaching.