Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1902-06-12
SPIRITUAL HAPPINESS
Sunday Discourse by DR.. Chapman inc
Noted Past0r-Evangelist.
WV Men Do Not Attend Church - Some
Reason Given by 'Goers-The
Value OF Sympathy.

New YoRK CITY.-The Rev. DR.. J. Will
bur Chapman, the popular pastor-eyangei-
list, who is now preaching to overlooking
congregations in this city, has furnished
the following eloquent sermon to the
press. 1t was preached from the text
land the man said. The woman whom
Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me
of the tree, and did eat" Genesis 3: II.
This may be counted a strange text for
a sermon with such theme as this and
vet we will all agree, ! am sure, that all
men are the sons of Adam in this respect
as we'll as in others, for there is always q
disposition to excuse sell and place re-
eponSibiity upon some one else Tor wrong
doing and failure. | have sent out letters
through some personal friends asking those
who were nori-attendants upon church to
give me the reasons for their position, and
/ have been amazed to see how many have
found fault with the church, and how
very many with the ministry and how re.
markably few with themselves. | shall
give you these excuses as they have sent
them to my friends, and yet | doubt not
but if men were perfectly honest they
would say that they were away from the
house of God because of something in
their own heart and life which made
church attendance {. constant rebuke to
them.
This is an important question VIC have to
consider. More than half the inhabitants
of our country do not attend church; or
the non-church goers the majority are
men, and there are actually millions OF
men in this land of ours who have no con-
ncction with the church whatsoever A
few of this company attend occasionally.
some of them are employed and cannot
come, but the vast number have becomc
indifferent. In New York City rot more
than three per cent. OF the male population
are members of the Protestant churches,
and of the church membership it 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
Christess 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.
One cold rainy night in England years
ego minister said, II do not think |
,hon ottcpl ihn onnrpb tO-pioht
one will be there" and when finally he
did 60 he found scattered few through
the pews. He was then almost persuaded
to give up the preaching; when finally he
did go on a boy up the gallery heard the
text and began to live, and the boy was
the preacher who led 1900 people into
his own church and drew 4 multitude to
Christ the wide world round. His name
was Charles IL. 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-churcll
attendance.
First--One man wrote, 81 am out of the
habit of attending church" it is a very
easy thing to form any kind of a 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'
phore OF the city and their last state is
frpnuent1V worse than the first
Second-Another man wrote that he was
not a church attendant because he had
never been trained to il 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 remcm,
Der in my own hoyhood.s days that no
one of the children, however young or
from the house of God. | trcmbe when
] think Of the next generation of non.
church gocrs unless the church reforms
speedily.
Ihlrd-Onc young man writes that he
has come to believe that it is no' manly
to attend church. That is a 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 a character |
shall never be absent"
Fourth-"l do not attend church says
another. because | am too tired" and in
many respects this is tho. 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
busiest men in this country, with whom
it was my privilege for a number of years
to he associated, the Hon. John Wanna
maker, who attends church every Sunday
from early morning until late at night, de-
c'arcs that it rests him, and that he be.
gins Monday always refreshed. Rest is
not idleness, but a change. OF occupation,
Fifth-One man writes that he had rath-
er Sleep and read than attend church, but
that is pure unadulterated sefishness. A
selfish man is one who is out of proportion.
] have no right to consider simply my own
comfort. | am a citizen and | am respon-
siblc for the morality of my city. I
ought to be willing to do anything that
would make my own life better or my
brothers life better
SIXTH do not attend church because
the sermons are too long" said another.
and yet he confesses that he has not been
in church for years. | am we'll aware that
the sermons used to be long. have sat
many time through an hour sermon with
my father, but as a matter of fact very
few men preach long sermons to-day, and
yet strange to say the very men who oh.
ject to long sermons could sit through
hours of a theatrical performance which
would be crucilixion to come OF us.
Seventh"1 am fed upon dry huskS when
] attend church, writes another, and that
is true in some places. There arc so.called
Christian churches where men preach any
thing but the gospel. They are a disgrace
to the profession and a dsbonor to Christ.
1t is, however, my privilege to know as
many ministers as the most of men, and
] know comparatively few in all this great
company who preach anything but the
gospel of Christ. It Is true, however, that
the world feeds upon dry. husks. Remem.
Der the story of the prodigol.
E;oht-"I am met ne rood "a thn ,nom-