The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1902-06-12
VALUE OF SYMPATHY
DR.. CNAPMANS SUNDAY SERMON.
Some Reasons Why People Do Not
Attend Church Spiritual happ;'
Eess IN Gods Love.

Dur tI!'NtGu, tiS poI'c"i P''''N
ist. who is now preaching 70 overilowlng
consrc cations in this city, has turnished
the following eloquent sermon to the
press. 1t was preached from the text
''And the man said. The woman whom
Thou aavest 20 De with me, she gave me
of the lrae. and | did ea:.' Genesis ): l..
This nay be counted 4 strange text Tor
a seImoa with such theme as tins ana
vet we viii all agree, | am sure, that all
men are the sons OF Adam IN this respect
as wei, as III others, Tor there Is always
disposition to excuse self and place re-
sponSibilitv uDon some one else for wrong
doing and failure. | have sent out letters
through some personal friends asking those
who were non-attendants upon church TO
give NE ,he reasons for their position, ard
/ have been amazed 10 see how many have
found FAULT with the church, and how
very MANY with the ministry and how re
markab,y few with themselves. shall
give vo2 these excuses as they have sent
them TO my friends, and yet doubt not
but il men were perfectly honest they
would say that they were away from the
house o. God because of something IN
their own heart and life which made
church attendance constant reouSe to
them.
This is an important question we have to
consider. More than half the inhabitants
of our country do not attend church; OF
the nor-church goers the majority are
men, and there are actually millions OF
men in tnis land OF Ours who have no con
nection with the church whatsoever a
few of this company attend occasionally,
some of them are employed and cannot
come, but the vast number have become
indifferent. In New York City not more
than three per cent. of the male population
L. DrN+actanF oh
and of the church membership 1t Is said
three-fourths are women. Not only Is this
true in the cities. but in the rural districts
as well. All Classes of people to-day seem
to have become affected with this disease,
for there are ChristleSs rich as well as
Christ'ess poor. 1t is true that crowd IS
not the only thing to be considered in church
attendance 1t is easy to get crowd; a
balloon ascension always draws crowd;
If the minister is sensational he usually
has crowd about him. but there Is this TO
be said about sensational preaching, While
it draws it does not hold, and yet crowd
is necessary to consider, for there is great
inspiration in a great company OF people:
However, let us not forget that some OF
the greatest sermons in the worlds history
have been preached TO the few. Jesus
spent an evening with one man and
preached on regeneration as no man has
ever preached, and Nicodemus became a
child of God. He must needs go through
Samaria and stops at the well curb OF
Jacob because there is one poor woman
there. and she had her life transformed by
His teaching.
Ore cold rainy night in England years
ago a minister said, Il do not think l
shall attend the church tonight, for no
one will be there" and when finally he
did 90 ne found scattered few through
the pcws He was then almost persuaded
to give I'd the preaching; when finally he
did 60 on 4 boy up the gallery heard the
text and began to live, and the boy was
the preacher who led $4,000 people into
his own church and drew a multitude to
Christ the wide world round. His name
was Charles H. Spurgeon: Yet | am per-
suaded that what is needed to-day is not
so much ministers that will draw, that Is
churches that will hold the people that at
tend, hold them by their sympathy, hold
them by their manifestation of the Spirit
of Christ. These are the reasons which
men have suggested to me for non-church
attendance.
First-One man wrote, 'I am out of the
habit OF attending church" 1t is very
easy thing to form any kind of habit,
but if once broken it is difficult to begin
again, especially if it be a habit to do
good. Our large cities are remarkable in
this respect in these days, for with over
thousands OF people in them professional
church members who do not frequent the
church, they lower the spiritual atmos.
phere OF the city and their last state Is
frequently worse than the first.
Second-Another man wrote that he was
not a church attendant because he had
never been trained to it in his youth, and
this is certainly true for the homes have
changed; for while it used to be that the
father and mother and the children at
tended church. now the children are con-
spicuous for their absence, / can remem-
Der in my own boyhood's days that no
one of the children, however young or
however I'D, had the right to stay away
from the house of God. l tremble when
I think of the next generation of nom
church goers unless the church reforms
speedily.
Third-One young man writes that he
has come to believe that it is nos manly
to attend church. That is reflection
upon the family life, for the father of the
house ought to so reflect Christ in his
home life that the children could easily
say, 'Of all the good men in the world
my father is the best, and if church at:
tendance can produce such character L
shall never be absent"
Fourth-"I do not attend church" says
another, because l am too tired,' and in
many respects this is the most reasonable
excuse presented. / believe the time Is
coming when the business life of our large
cities must be adjusted so as to give those
who toll more time on Saturday, thereby
giving them better opportunity on Sun
day to worship God, and yet one of the
it was my privilege for number of years
to be associated, the Hon. John Wana-
maker, who attends church every Sunday
from early morning until late at night, de-
clares that it rests him, and that he be-
gins Monday always refreshed. Rest Is