Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-06-16
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
a STRONG DISCOURSE ENI,Tl ED:
!. WHAT CHURCH OWES CHILDREN"

4 STRONG DISCOURSE ENTITLED;
WHAT CHURCH OWES CHILDREN"
The Rev. Howard Melish Talks Whole
s0mely on the Promise of Zechariah
to His Discouraged Countrymen -
Mans Thirst For righteousness.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.-.sWhat the Churck
Owes the Children was the subject, of
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
streets thereof" Mr.. Melish said:
d Zechariah gave this promise as 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 bade them
believe, when the city shall stand once
strength and splendor, blessed with that
greatest of all life's benedictions-chi
at play. E'T"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-
1ation 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
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 startling facts OF
our times.
The city is built! The prophets promise
has been fulflled-the streets are full ct
boys and girls. But what fulfllment!
They are playing in our streets because we
have built our cities in such 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
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 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
for 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.
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, I believe, a new chance to become
like Him in that new city, Jerusale2,
which is not built by mems hands. And
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 o1
mischief into ~the demon of crime. jacob
Riis has told as that between the tenement
and the penitentiary he has found beaten
path, travelled by the feet OF hundreds o.
our boys every year.
It is about this somewhat new and very
serious situation of the children of oul
streets that I want you to think with me
! this morning.
It is often said, as an argument against
| the church assuming this responsibility
that the church's one mission is to preacf
the gospel, and want to say at the star
been more correctly defined. The gospe
is the message of the good tidings tha
God cares for men, that God is love. One
let a man accept that message and let /
sink into his soul that it becomes the prin
ciple of his life, and even though he hve
in badly ventilated house in a crowded
district, surrounded by evil influences, ye
band and friend. Yes, and once let land
lord receive the gospel in his heart and h
will transform his tenement into decen
abiding places If it cosJs him half his IN
come. For the gospel of the Son Of God
the regenerating power in the world WMe
makes all things new. To preach 1t clear
", with conservation and power, IS the su
preme, all important, never-to-be-forgottel
mission Of the church of Christ.
But how is the gospel to be preached i
our crowded cities to-day? 1t is as I'M
portant to know the way as the -destina
ton when one is trying to reach detlnlt
point in the world: Some men fancy tina
| the city needs nOtnlng more CHdn . Coui
} try village-a preacher and a bnilding-t
have the gospel preached with power
There was famous test case Of tha
, preaching on the East Side in Manhattan
A man Of ability determined to preach tn
gospel every Sunday and do nothing eIs'
believing that people would come as the
did before the city became what 1t IS t
day After several years he gave up tn
work as a proved failure. He was a Joh
the Baptist crying in the city wilderness
but unlike Johns experience the peop
did not come out to listen to the voic
. And I believe it is because they were wal
ing for the Christ. Not the voice in tt
, wilderness, but the man to go about doin
good, healing, strengthening, encouragin
j, ! inspiring. Sermons, services and prayt
. meetings are preaching the gospel and q
good. Many of us could not live witho,
; them. But they do not monopolize preacl
ing the gospel. Did Jesus do nothing b,
. preach and teach? The church needs
, learn anew the message of the incarnation
. the truth that life is impaired only throue
,, life. We are Christ's body. May v
prove it by going, as He went, into Il
. highways and back alleys, doing goo