The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-06-17


mother whose boy goes there. Both preach
the gospel of hope, one IN words and the
other in deeds. A preacher gives a strong
sermon against the saloon and his hearers
! say he rs preaching the gospel. A man
starts cooking class where women learn
to make food so wholesome that their hus-
! bands and sons do not longer have the de-
sire for drink. Are not both preaching the
! gospel of the more abundant life? You
ace what this means. The church ia
preaching the good tidings of love through
every agency which gives hope to men, and
makes thel feel their brotherhood among
men and the Fatherhood in God.
You know the way the churches have
shirked responsibility for this kind OF
preaching, the kind that is effective in our
crowded districts. 1t is one of the saddest
chapters in the history of Christianity.
Churches among our tenements. with few
splendid exceptions, have sold out and
moved up town, with their weather. mem
beers leaving their poorer members as sheen
without shepherd in the Getty wider
ness" One will hunt far before finding
more un-Christian spectacle than the exc
dus OF the Christian churches from the ten
ement districts where the harvest is ready
The reason usually given is the removal of
the rich to the suburbs and the failure of
the poor to contribute literally. So the
poor are blamed for the churchs infidelty.
The church ought to be on the firing line
where the need is greatest. Instead it is
too often found in the rear, caring for the
wounded, no dc bit, and occasionally urg-
ing back the frightened or forward the
stragglers. The crowded districts where
the streets are full of DO and girls are
the church's responsibility To betake it.
self to the suburbs and leave these children
IN the streets, saloons and tenements is to
offend Gods little ones. And the Master
said about such one that it l. bette that
a milestone were hanged about his neck
and he was drowned in the depth of the
sea.
The second hing I want 20 think about
this morning with You is the church's op-
portunity to help the children oe Our
streets.
This opportunity is orly limited by the
number of men and women who are will
ing. to take real interest in the children,
and by the space you have to use Give
these children chance to get ous of the
streets and away from the bad influences
into wholesome environment of real
warm-blooded people and good books and
amusements and fun giving recreations
and the7 will come to the church in a
stampede. Their hunger for ennobling
friendships IS one OF the most pathetic
things | have found in my ministry, and
also one of the most inspiring.
Oh the splendid opportunity for you all
to fulfill your responsibility for these boys
and girls of our streets is here In the
boys clubs is the chance for you young
men to preach the gospel to our lads, not
by speaking sermons, but by manifesting
to them through your manly sympathy
and interest, your courage and your truth
your honor and your uprightness
the Christ you love and follow. Christ
may be preached to these boys with the
boxing gloves, and the fencing foils the
tools and the football teams
with more power than by sermons from a
pulpit. In the sewing school is the chance
for you young women to preach Christ not
by words of religion, but by your beautiful
for the little girls who come in
are unable to give them. In the Sunday
school is the chance for you young men
and young women, and older ones. too, to
gather once week a little group about
you and lead them through the wonderful
story OF Him who came to earth to be our
servant and yet was King Eternal, and
then through the alchemy of the influence
Of your life move them to love honesty.
purity goodness man, Christ and God.
Nor will | admit the older peoples chance
to preach the living Christ. There comes
before me the picture of a scene in mems
club IN a certain parish house where a
professor of political economy met in
perfectly natural way brakeman on the
Pennsylvania road, and both men came to
and had more of the Christ tolerance than
ever before And l know of women who
lave found through the Girls Friendly So
nety the chance to preach the living Christ
30 effectively that girls have risen up and
:alled them blessed among women"
The few hours gwen to such work in
nngle year seem very powerless beside the
Of II orIro l.: al -
both day and night, week in and week out,
n vacations as in working or school days.
But, thank God, a mans life is not an
equilibrium of forces, a resultant of houses
md environments. In every soul is the
hirst for righteousness which can be
roused by bringing it face to face with
ighteous hfe, There is a contagion in
GOODNESS as there is in badness. Arouse
hose dormant faculties in every soul, and
hey, with Christ's help, will counterfeit
ii the influences of house and street.
This is the opportunity of the church to-
lay in our crowded cities. By meeting it
he church will find, what every individual
Who has so met opportunity finds, that it
cts by giving and has firmer hold than
yer on the realities of truth and life
Call such service what you will-though
personally hate the trite phrase institu-
ional, for [ am pleading for a work alto
ether personal, the touch of life on life
nut you must believe that the church
which assumes this responsibility and
meets this opportunity is following the ex-
mpie of tie Master. When Christ came
o earth to lift men up to God He took the
orm of a common man. He might, we
ay, have gathered the Jewish nation into
ONE great plain and revealed His mission
n the sight of all with such glory that all
lust bow the knee before Him. He might
ave come with angels straight from heav,
n and swept men irresistbly into His
rain. What He did resembled neither of
hese, but pei, IS the way for us to follow.
lie WAS among men aS a snrvant Pv He