The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1902-06-27

WObbthtV OVON
to you who hear them-I am willing
to admit that the church is not MAX
ing any great inroads into the non
church going element of the commun-
ity; l am willing to admit that the
day of great revivals has declined,
though whether temporarily or per-
manently l know not; l am willing
to admit that the recruits from pres
ent generations that fill up it's ranks
are for the most part those who come
out of Cody homes aud whose par
ents have been God-fearing and
church going men and women. But
what of it? | wish there was a
greater activity in and more rapid
extension of the church in which |
could rejoice but am not altogether
discouraged because there is not.
The additions that are made to the
church in periods of revival and
special service are the result of the
activity of the church upon those &C.
/ might make of all this would leave
"What is the Church doing Here and
EVERY " AoI0i NoW nAu All en0
Timer
The church has more to answer for
than what 1t accompli shes on Sunday
and meeting night and during the
week of prayer. The church is not
week to rise again at dawn on the
next Sabbath; the church does not
bloom and blossom and bear fruit at
AZ q ond lilo
dormant the rest OF the time. 1t
ought not and say it does not. The
church of God exists, it lives; if
you are member of it you are a
member of it night and day for seven
days in every week and fifty two
weeks in every year. The church
building stands as silent sentinel
through cold and heat, storm and sun
shine, year after year. The invisible
institution the church-symbolized
by church edifices; localized and ma
terialized individual church organi-
cations has continuous existence. 1t
is an ever living, ever blooming plant
ana we cannot measure it's accom-
plishment unless we answer the ques-
ton I have propounded "What is the
Church Doing Here and Everywhere !;
Now and All the Timer" and to that
question I would like to make some
answer this morning.
1. The church is standing for some
thing all the time:
Every institution stands for some
thing Schools stand for education.
opera houses for amusement, mills for
industry, dwelling houses for home
and family life, libraries for culture.
And ouaru i'm ti tutiop WORDS ON in.
f1uence and impresses itself upon the
community in which it is established.
Let me be very sure that am max
ing my meaning clear What does a
school do for a communityp 1t pro-
vides education for the children, per
haps, you say 1t does this and yet
this is not all that it does by any
manner of means The existence in a
community of a school actively en-
gagged in its educational work leaves
large; it compels an interest in and
ton. A petty school is a double
education and it does not command
great respect for education; the high
er the standard and the more ener-
R6GlG Uu0 COuCatlOAo1 uOU1fltN uAO
greater the interest and respect it
compels. No community has so strong
an intellectual life as a college town.
The church is exerting an influence
upon it's congregation at it's services !;
it is exerting an influence upon the
community all the time compelling
respect for the things for which it
stands. Notice particularly that last
clause.
2. The church has passed through
the furnace of affiiction and the fires
of persecution it has made q most
heroic struggle against antagonism
and opposition and why has it made
saints and heroes and martyrs? Be-
stand for something; for the right to
live and believe something; for the
right to be something. And now after
it has gained that right it lives to ex-
ercise and maintain it. And the very
exercise and maintenance of that
right produces an effect upon the
whole world. We appreciate and cher
ish that influence of the church; we
rejoice that is being produced we
rejoice that we are part of the insti-
10 ~ anu We
would fight with the same zeal and
heroism to defend and maintain that
right that our ancestors displayed in
obtaining it.
8. A true measure of the practical
worth of the church is taken from the
amount and quality of this influence
that it produces. A church increases
its strength inwardly by it's evange-
listic efforts it increases it's member
ship roll, it's active workers, the
supporters of both its material and
spiritual interests. 1t increases its
strength outwardly by the effect it
has upon the world in which it
exists; it draws to itself respect for
ITSELF it creates and develops and
preserves its prestige 1t can report
good progress if it impresses its stan
dards upon the world steadily and
consistently until it forces the world
to accept them if it breaks down in
tolerance and hostility to the truth
upon which it rests and compels APP
probation of it and acceptance of it
and if from generation to generation
| IL adaptS itcalf tO tho VARYING mead 6