The Penn's Grove record., 1904-06-10
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
A STRONG DISCOURSE ENTITLED,
WHAT CHURCH OWES CHILDREN"
The Rev. Howard Melish Talks Whole
somely on the Promise of Zechariah
to His Discouraged COuntrymen -
Mans Thirst For Righteousness

To HIS discouraged COuntrymen -
Mans Thirst For Righteousness.
BROOKLYN. n. Y.-"What the Church
Owes the Children was the subject of a
strong sermon preached by the Rev. How
ard Melish, rector of the Church of the
Holy Trinity. A number of requests for
its publication have been received and it is
herewith given. The text was from Zecha-
riah Wits: "The streets of the city shall
be full of boys and girls playing in the
streets thereof" Mr.. Melish said:
Zecharlah gave this promise as a word of
encouragement to his discouraged country
men when on their return from their exile
they were trying in the face of enemies
and great obstacles to rebuild Jerusalem.
The time will surely come, he babe them
believe, when the city shall stand once
strength and splendoP, blessed with that
greatest of all life's Observation-Disclosures
at play. ""he streets of the city shall be
full of boys and girls playing In the streets
thereof"
One of the wonderful stories which our
last census told was the phenomenal
growth of the American city. Briefly, the
story is this: While the population of the
country in the nineteenth century was
multiplying itself fifteen times the poPu-
lation of the cities and towns was multi
plying itself $50 times. Whereas the popu-
lation of the farming community has been
multiplied by two in fifty years, that Of
cities has been multiplied by ten; in 1900
one man in every twenty-five lived In a
city. To-day it is one man in every three.
The tremendous concentration of men,
women and children in our cities is one of
the most significant and sta~rtling'facts of
our times.
The city is built! The prophets promise
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boys and girls. But what a fulhllment!
They are playing in our streets because we
have built our cities in such a way that
there is no ether place for them to play.
In our tenement districts especially the
houses stand so closely together that there
is scarcely space for light and air to enter
rooms, not to mention courts, back yards,
play grounds and small parks. Within a
short walk of where we are to-day are
hundreds of families living in one or two
small rooms to a family, rooms often
gloomy at midday. OF course, the chill
dren are in the streets.
And what places the streets are for these
little ones! Look over the pages of our
papers day b. day with the children in
mind and you read the sad story of this
little child crushed by a car, of that one
manned for life by some wagon. Go into
the Children's Court and see boys OF
twelve and fourteen arrested for crimes
which would send men to the penitentiary
for a long period of years. Between the
crowded tenements and these injuries,
deaths and crimes, there is the relation OF
cause and effect. The tenements drive the
boys into the streets, and there they are
forbidden by the police and prevented by
traffic to play games which kept me and
my boy friends from going to the devil.
Mol / don't mean that insinuation. The
good God won't let the devil have those
boys. They may become impertinent
criminals, and die like the hardened thief
on the cross, but conditions shaped them
and God will give them, IN my heart OF
hearts, l believe, a new nance to become
like Him in tina; new city, Jerusalem,
which is not built by mems hands. And
yet true it Is that in our cities boys who
are denied the healthy amusements of boy
life drift into the crap games and form
street gangs which terrify neighborhoods
and brutalize boys and turn the spirit OF
mischief into the demon of crime. jacob
Riis has told US that between the tenement
and the p~enitentiary lie has found a beaten
path, travelled by the feet of hundreds OF
our boys every year.
1t is about this somewhat new and very
serious situation of the children of our
streets that l want you to think with me
this morning.
1t is often said, as an argument against
the church assuming this responsibility
that the church's one mission Is to preach
the gospel, and l want to say at the start
that the purpose of the church has never
been more correctly defined. The gospel
is the message Of the good tidings that
God cares for men, that God is love. Once
let a man accept that message and let II
sink into his soul that it becomes the prln'
Ill. L. Ifo o.I ouor1 4ho1sOh ho lu1C
in a badly ven Hated house in a crowded
district, surrounded by evil influences, YET
he will be a good citizen, son, father. hus
band and friend. Yes, and once let a land
lord receive the gospel in his heart and ht
will transform his tenement into decen'
abiding places if it c.. IS him half his in
come. For the gospel of the Son of God |
the regenerating power in the world whlcl
makes all things new. To preach 1t clear
", with conservation and power, is the su
preme, all important, ever-to-be-forgotte
mission Of the church of Christ.
But how IS the gospel to be preached IL
our crowded cities to-day! 1t IS as I'm
portant to know the way as the destlna
ton when one is trying to reach a definite
point in the world. Some men fancy tina
the city needs nothing more than q coun
try village-a preacher and a b~uildlng-t(
have the gospel preached with power
There was a famous test case OF tina
preaching on the East Side IN Manhattan
A man Of ability determined to preach the
gospel every Sunday and do nothing else
Believing that people would come as they
did before the city became what it Is to
day. After several years he gave up thu
work as a proved failure. He was a JOIN
the Baptist crying in the city wilderness
but unlike Johns experience the peopl
did not come out to listen to the voice
And l believe it is because they were wait
ing for the Christ. Not the voice in tn
wilderness, but the man to go about DOM
good, healing, strengthening, encouraging
inspiring. Sermons, services and prayee
meetings are preaching the gospel and d.
good. Many of us could not live withou
them. But they do not monopolize preach
ing the gospel. Did Jesus do nothing bu
preach and teach? The church needs t.
learn anew the message of the incarnation
the truth thatlif is impaired only through
a life. We are Christ's body. May W
prove it by going, as He went, into tn
highways and back alleys, doing good
bringing hope to the discouraged, httlnI
up the fallen, taking little children int
our arms, and so assuring them as Chris
assured the world that love reigns en-
throned above this world of pain, sorrow
and hardship. When the church is a man
Hesitation of Christ among men, as Jesu
was of God, not merely by speaking an
singing and communion, but by living
working, helping in the world the gospe
of Christ will be truly preached.
Let me specify. One man may stand L
a pulpit by telling of Gods love, give hop
to some poor mother who is almost in de
spair over her boy. Another man, an,
mated by Gods love, may furnish a clu
room where young men may spend thei
evenings apart from the dangers of the 50
loon, and by so doing give hope to tn
mother whose boy goes there. Both preac
the gospel of hope, one in words and til
other in deeds. A preacher gives a stron
sermon against the saloon and his nearer
say he is preaching the gospel. A ma
starts a cooking class where women lear
to make food so wholesome that their hus
bands and sons do not longer have the d.
sire for drink. Are not both preaching th
GOSPEL of the more abundant life? Yo
see what this means. The church j
preaching the good tidings of love throug
every agency which gives hope to men, an
makes thea feel their brotherhood anon
men and the Fatherhood in God.
You know the way the churches hav
shirked responsibility for this kind {
preaching, the kind that is effective in on
crowded districts. 1t is one of the saddles
chapters in the history of Christianity
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