Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-11-30
THE PLACE OF THE CHURCH IN
MODERN LIFE.

THE PLACE OF THE CHURCH IN
MODERN LIFE.
"Woe unto you scribes and Phari-
sees, hypocrites, for ye 1.-THE the mint
and anise and cummin, and have left
undone the. weightier matters of the
law, judgment. and mercy, and faith;
but these we ought to have done, and
not to have left the other undone.''-
Math XIII. %.
The scribes and Pharisees had been
so careful in their Interpretation of the
law that they tithed even the insignifi-
cent herbs but they had disregarded
the spirit of the law, even to forgetting
judgment, and mercy and faith. They
created burdens for others, they
robbed widows, they made proselytes,
and for these cruelties, the woes Of
their rejected Lord fell upon them.
These false leaders had forgotten the
ideal, they saw no kingdom of God for
all men, their religion was now an in
strument for selfish gains. Christ
looking into the future saw the church
he came to establish growing into a
great organization, fear came to him,
least the leaders of the new faith fol-
low in the steps Of the scribes and
Pharisee and he cries out Love not
the world neither the things of the
world" The same fear came to James,
the apostle of misunderstanding, and he
writes the friend of the world, is the
foe of God" Paul standing in Ephi-
sus saw the light spirit in it's true
light, and straightway he cried out
The world is crucified unto me and l
unto the world
1t is evident that Christ, James and
Paul feared that the things of life,
rather than life, would master men and
so come to control the church. These
leaders We're face to face with the
question of Jewish ideals, as against
Christian ideals. For the Jew fasting,
tithing, ceremony, was the substance
of religion. The Christian religion has
its source in love to God, which eX-
presses itself in doing good to men,
and so establishing a kingdom of God
on earth.
For nineteen hundred years the
church has advanced from one triumph
to another, until today she is the
greatest organized power in the world.
Churchanity is supreme, but Christ
ianity does not seem to share in her
supremacy. A great leader said recent
~, perhaps one evidence of the truth
of Christianity, is that it has survived
GOODNESS, worldliness, divisions and
contentious, as we'll as creeds and rit-
ualt in the Christian church.
With all her faults the church is the
best thing God has in the world today.
1t is also true that the kingdom looks
to the church for its power, influence
and final triumph among men. But it
must be admitted that'the Church and
the kingdom have not developed to-
gether, they are not one they do not
mean the same thing in the minds of
the people. Yet it must not be for
gotten that the Church is the visible
organization of the kingdom of God in
the earth. The Church has the only
standard by which all things must be
measured, and tested. 1t is when you
measure art, science, literature COM
mercial, industrial, political and re
ligious institutions by the Christ STAN
dard that you realize the distinction
which exists today between the
Church and the kingdom. To under
stand the work of the Church we must
study the
NEW CONDITIONS.
Down to and later than 1900 work
was done by hand by those who owned
both the raw material and the finished
hn II ri Of Lon
ing had come the intelligence which
gave birth to invention; invention
gave us the machine; the machine
created the factory; the factory made
the city and we were in the midst of
absolutely new, economic, and indus
trial conditions.
The twentieth century opens with a
new union of forces educational, COM
mercial, and industrial which makes
possible achievements before impoSSi-
bic. Russia, is placing 1000 miles of r.
Z. in Manchuria, remember that the
L. S. is only 1000 miles from China
while her competitors Russia, Ger
many, France, and England are 10000
Location gives the U. S. 400,0O0,O00 Gus
toners Germany is building a railroad
from Sinope, just beyond Constants
nople to Bagdad, this means 2O,0OO,0OC
consumers, in Turkey, 100000, in
Persia, and several million in Asia
Minor England has completed a rail-
road 100 miles into Africa, this opens a
new course of commercial growth
Now consider the following fact con-
corning immigration.
A circle drawn over map of Europe,
taking in the points from which imrni-
grafton came hither from Europe up to
1882 would have the city of Paris for its
center In 1902 the center would be in
the city of Constantinople. In point OF
number the Italians are first then fol-
low the Russian, Austrian and Hun
garian Jews, then the Poles, then the