The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1903-11-25

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Rev. Mr.. Krom's sermon is given below
in full.
WHY PEOPLE ATTEND CHURCH" !"
We enter tonight into new feld OF In
vestigation We approach new class OF
people. above all we have TO deal with
new impulses and new motives.
This problem presents difficulties that
4he first did not. There Is a sense In
which we may know a thing too well 10 be
In a position TO speak about IL. The best
teachers are often the men who know
little about their subjects, as whole.
They do not lose themselves in the bye
paths OF the subject but stick 10 the beat
en- highway where there Is always some
thing OF interest. The dry as dusts' In
our colleges are not the instructors but
.the professors who can repeat their sub
feet backward as well as forward and
just as lnteligently.
The man who can tell you the most In
teresting things about people and institu-
tions Is the man who has heard much ana
knows little Gossip is founded on
strictly utilitariau basis.
Consequently there is a truth IN the
statement that the longer a man stands
,in the pulpit the less able he is to ex-
plain why people go TO church. Perhaps II
he could preach in the pulpit and at the
same time sit In the pew the problem
would be more complicated. He finds so
many motives that he is unable to de-
fine one.
Furthermore Il is true that with all
things familiarity breeds a species OF
contempt We dislike some people because
we don't know them and we dislike more
people because we do.
The feelings OF. the preacher are often
tend church, but with the people who
don't In a sense this is natural and not
only natural but legitimate. mans feel
ings may be with the under dog even N
the dog belongs to his disagreeable neigh
Dor and he is as anxious that his own
dog win.
DEAD LINE IN MINISTRY
There is much talk OF the dead line In
the ministry today The editors OF alman-
acs and the lovers of statistics are anx-
ious 10 fix the date Some people love defi-
niteness not for its value but for itself. IL
would be comfortable feeling perhaps
for the cloth IL IL could say on the eve
OF its fftieth birthday tomorrow morning
when l wake up shall be in the ranks OF
the has beens.
To some men, however. this sensation
would be so usual and customary that
they would fell TO appreciate II. We ap-
preciate nothing unless II brings us that
sense Of fear that is coupled with all new
ness. JOY and fear are yoke fellows. II has
been well said that IL Is "the awkward
man whose evening dress does not III
him. whose gloves will not go on. whose
compliments will not come of. who is
really full OF the ancient ecstacies OF
youth. He is frightened enough OF socie-
~ 10 actually enjoy its triumphs He has
that element OF fear which Is one OF the
eternal ingredients OF JOY. Some men
would miss this sense Of newness at fifty
: because II is the condition I'm which they
were born. The dead line is not a
thing Of the calendar. IT is
thing OF the spirit and
every man al 30 has crossed II IL he has
lost sympathy with and feeling for the
people who attend no church. and care
or any other e mans. ms Jesus said. ~ lame nsme
TO seek and to save the lost. came not
TO call the righteous. but sinners to re-
pentanea-n
He ate and drank with publcans and
sinners. not only that he might help them
but because / think he found their com
pany more congenial than some of the
whitened. sepulchre- -pharisacial saints. A
recent biographer has claimed that Pope
was able TO satirize men because he first
Of all had full account of their vir-
tues.
Mr.. Henley fails because he has no,
this. IL is said of Robert Browning that
he Was not content with seeking sinners
Ne sought. the sinners whom even sinners
cast out"
Let us not be less sensible in the In
vestment OF our feelings than we are In
where Il s most Of ous ad Where
will bring in the largest returns.
CHRISTIANITY ON ICE.
great deal OF Christianity is served
10 the world Sn ice. So far we have beer
led TO consider the church and the worlc
as divorced. Language forces us 20 az
come things for convenience sake. Tht
people who come TO church. however, are
the people who buy and sell in the mar
ket place, just as Emerson tells us tha
the city is only the country come &c
town. II we found varying motives e
keep people away from church we shall
expect 10 find the same condition in re
iation TO their coming.
Furthermore since the church is onl,
the world como TO worship and since some
can expect 10 find those motives conceale,
under the Sunday clothes OF the few
There are base motives why people az
things; Just as there are base base .,n mouve We
not all sins of omission. Some peopl,
do not get married for selfish reasons
and TO hear married people talk one woult
suppose that the old maids and the OLE
bachelors we're the only sinners in moderi
society.
Perhaps those very people got marrie'
for the same selfish reason that led TIT
Single -eulprit- remain single.
The church says people sin by not goinl
90 church. But there are people who sli
because they do go. Jesus recognize'
this in his preaching. People lost thei
eouls In those spring time. Galilean day
OF the Gospel. Just as now. not becaus
they heard too little. but because hearinI
they did nSt heed.
All dissipation Is not alcoholic. beggin
the pardon Of the temperance reformers
There are people who attend church an
do IL regularly who are az war with thos'
who hold 1.-The creed that eternity begSn
at 10 o'clock at night and that night