Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1902-08-22

we'll EEllALA6 diULAEI LAl0AAs NU
not ioiI the church because of the in
consistencies of its members. Some
profess one thing and practice another.
They say Christians ought to be kind
and loving and gentle and helpful to
their fellow church members. Then
they demonstrate that some Of the
worst fights on earth are church fights.
The elder who prays the loudest in
prayer meeting may be the farmer who
never comes out second best in horse
trade, and the gossip Of the sewing
society S just as merciless as the Cos
sip at the club or in a ballroom. AS
long as the church is filed with hypO-
critics ! do not want to join it."
Stop my brother! You know that
some OF the very best men in every
community arc members of the differ
ent Christian churches. You know, as
well as / know, that though some of
the church members may be hypo-
critics tie vast majority are men and
women who have banded themselves
together for the purpose Of prayer and
communion with God and of trying to
make their fellowship better and purer
! and truer and more Christlike. There
| are thou sands and tens of thousands
| Of church members who are no more
! hypocrites than your Christian father
and mother, who were also members
of Chr stian church, were hypocrites.
To demonstrate how much you really
respect the Christian church, though
you may not know it, / would like to
ask you question. If you were strand
| ed as a young woman in a distant
city, without money or friends, to
whom would you go for help? To the
saloon keeper? To the rich brewer
No, no! Without doubt you would &c
straight to some Christian minister's
home. You would go to him, just as
many young men and women have
come to me, and you would say. my
father ard mother are members of DR.
So-and-so's church, IN such and sucl
a town. | have 10 money. ! want t
get home. VIII you help meY II
have you realize how much you respec
the church Of the Lord Jesus Christ
would picture you stranded as ship
wrecked sailor upon a strange coast
What would you most prefer to sec
a fortress, Il kings palace. an army en-
campment or the steeple of Christian
church? You know as well as ever,
intelligen. man or woman knows tina
the community which lives under tn
shadow CT the church spire is a Go,
fearing community. The communit.
which does not protect the Christian
church l.; an unsafe community Il
which to dwell, and there is no excep
ton to the rule.
What the Church Is For.
When you criticise the sincerity o
certain church members. you SHOULD
not forget that the church of Chris
was instituted for the imperfect a
well as the perfect, for the moral Grip
pies as we'll as for those who are spir
itually Whole. In the church there ar
to be found members like man whom
, Il friend &C mine was one evening dc
, Tending. Howard Crosby came to thi
gentleman and said: Doctor, how ca
: you like such a man? You know he
not what he ought to be-" My frien
t turned and said: "Dr. Crosby, if 70
/ had little child who had lost an ey
] or was deaf or who was born lam
would yor despise him on account O
} his inirmlty? Well, my friend is
, moral cripple. do not like him be
S cause he las lost one eye and one lie
= and one arm, but ! do love him b,
5 cause by the grace of God, he is try
: ing to struggle against his daily tenn
e tatiOns and his spiritual deformities.
+ So you will find in the church of Go
e today moral cripples. They are strul
Cling every day of their lives again.
e sinful temptations; they keep on stru!
It Cling; keep on praying; keep on reacl
/ ing up to God; keep on staying in til
e church because they know that Chris
T. did not cone to institute church f
- perfect men. He came to heal the sic
d and not the well. The church Of &c
d is the great earthly spiritual hospita
il where Christ, as the surgeon, loves
y set the crooked limbs; where Christ, {
Il the spiritual opthalmologist, loves
lie open the eyes that are blinded Of sin.
e "Well," observes another nearer, ''tl
lie reason l do not join the church is b
" cause l believe u man can be Just
le good a Christian outside the church
p inside" Now. l would not assert tn
b. all men who are nOnchurchgoers a
T, unchristian men. John Newton used
t; say: 'Whel l get to heaven, sh;
ID have three great surprises. One gre
rs surprise will be to find so many pc
to pie there | did not expect to see r
or next surprise will be to find so mai
ID people absent whom l expected to Sc
IL and the third great surprise will be
IS find that s;Ot to heaven myself" Ii
" John Newton, when most Of us rea
to heaven-I fray we may all be there
rd believe we shall be very much s.
ed prised to fnd there some people W
IS never entered the church door a
us never publicly professed their faith
ar- the church altar Mr.. Beecher OF
nd beautifully and POLITICALLY said: Il
at glad that some gospel seeds have bC
We blown over the church wall and Il
'er fruit trees and flowers most pleas;
Sd to the eye are springing up outside
church garden as well as inside, a
though 1 wish they were within
Dst Enclosure, where the boars out of
ev. woods could not waste them and
he wild beasts Of the field devOur the
be- yet l love them and am glad to
ian them growing there"
1st The Spiritual Household,
the But, though there may be Christ
be- men and women living outside of
ere church fellowship, l for one do not
or lieve | could be a Christian and not
iou processing member of the church
Christ. l do not believe that CO
see turn my back upon my church and
IL love my Christ as I love him toe
loc- and. my brother and sister. neither
al believe you can turn your back L
an the church of God and yet give
u" Christ your true and fervent love,
loo cause | believe that, as Christians,
'al- should look upon the church as a
to lection of Gods children. There
res we should accept and love its m
led, bers as our spiritual brothers and
OF tiers, children of God, and we
'nly selves SHOULD long to be of the sp
mes. ual household.
You An old Eoston merchant love
'sus young man from kentucky, who
SINS the friend of his dead boy. This
in Boston merchants only son had Ell
you ed for the civil war. Down at
7 of front in 1864 he was shot WOul
is is unto death, he was carried into
any home of a southern lady and nu
) of there until he died. But just be
was his death he looked up into the s
n