The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-16
PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY.

PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY.
The plan for a church in Chicago
that will contain roof garden, gym
nasium and a library open day and
night is considered sufficiently mover
to be Telegram pied across the country
and printed as bit of interesting news.
But the conception of Christianity that
it conveys ought to be the commonest
and most familiar of all.
The great leaders and saviors Of men
are coming closer to the idea, long for
gotten or ignored, but the very vital
center Of any worthy faith, that the
religion by which man is to be saved
must be one that is in close touch and
intimate association with his daily life.
Such was, by precept and example, by
teaching and by personal touch, the
message of the founder of1Christianity.
And in all the centuries when men
were trying to make Of religion some
thing formal and apart, something d.
vided by a line of sacrilege from the
avocations and needs and pleasures, Of
ply trying to get away from Him.
The religious organizations which
have proved most enduring and whose
influence upon their followers is most
powerful and permanent are those that
have refused to ignore the human side
Of their work in the world. The live
churches of the day are those that fol-
low this pattern. 1t will be revela-
ton to those who remember the dry
as-dust services Of fifty years ago and
the narrow limitations Of churches to-
read, for example, accounts Of what
DR.. Rainsford has been doing in New
York city. It indicates the quality and
scope Of religious work for the future. :
To the truly Christian church the
| whole man belongs. 1t is not enough
| that he acknowledge formal connec-,
| tion on the great anniversaries and
er reverence upon stated days, but that
| he look to 1t as his home and to it's con-
| ductors as his best advisers and
| friends. The church which establishes
that relation wins hold that nothing
| can shake off, and exerts an influence
I as powerful spiritually as it is pervad-
| ing in the affairs of everyday life.
There is no more reason why a
church should not provide places for
wholesome recreation, places for
healthy physical development, places
| for Industrial education, places where
employment may be sought and found,
places to satisfy all the actual needs
| of life than there is why it should be
| condemned for maintaining Sunday
| school. It is the whole man and his
| whole life that the churches need and
seek; and only in proportion as they
| can lay hold upon it may they feel that
| they are actually ministering perma-
nently to the eternal and spiritual ele-
| ment within him.
Toward this ideal the churches are
| working and will work. 1t requires
/
| immense resources, high executive abil-
| ity and utter conservation. But the
world has them all. If they have not
| always been at the service Of the
| church, then it may be asked whether
| that may not be because the church
has not called for them or believed In
them as it's ministering angels. Just as,
to save the child from the gutter Is to
empty a prison cell somewhere, so to
fashion life on simple, sane and
wholesome lines is not infrequently to
save soul.
1t is not easy to determine whether
the influence of this practical form Of
Christianity is greater upon this life Or
upon that which is to come For the,
sake Of either 1t is the pattern after
which the work of all our churches
should be nodded.