Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-06-24

drift away and be gone forever.
Let Them Have Fun.
am today pastor of church of the
boulevard. / would not conduct my
church any differently from the old
fashioned. conservative way of my
forefathers II could. But | want to
tell the pastors of the halfway
churches" in the boarding house dis
tricts of a great city that il | was
again pastor of such church would
do entirely different from what l once
did. | would change my policy entire
~ and make my church attractive to
the young men and the young women
who live in those boarding houses. My
present principle of raising my chill
dren is to let them have all the games.
all the fun. all the friends. they want
II they will only play those games at
my home. My principle of carrying on
a halfway church" would be to keep
the young people at the church or In
the lecture room all | could. l would
preach on Sunday Jesus Christ just as
earnestly as God would give me pow
er. Then ON week nights | would have
stereopticon lectures. l would have
debating societies. | would have read
ing rooms and libraries and social
gatherings. In other words. as the sa-
looms of those regions fight for my
young men and women at all times
and during all the week nights would
fight for them day in and day out also.
May God today give our halfway
churches" grace enough to throw off
the old hidebound. conservative lines
of church work and fight sin along the
lines upon which alone sin in those
boarding house regions can be success
fully fought. Social utilization must go
side by side with spiritual upliftment
Lastly. remark that these half
way churches" need the very best min
listers the world affords. They need
the ablest in brain power. In organic
ing power. in preaching ability and
in conservation. Our presbyteries
should select the finest young men who
come ont OF our seminaries and say:
Here. young men. we want you for
a halfway church. We will support
you. We will not simply put you in
charge of church and then let you
starvc. We will stand by you after
you are installed. While you work we
will see that you have something to
live upon" Then the strong young
men of our seminaries will enter these
halfway pulpits' and consider they
are on the honor list of the gospel war
riors of the ages instead of among the
unfortunates who are making Il failure
Of life because from an outside stand
point their churches seem to be going
down.
What VIII Happen.
WELL" says some one to me, ''sup-
posing you do not look after these
halfway churches then what will
happen:" l will tell you by reciting
to you simple incident which occur
red during one of my travels. We We're
riding over the hills of Palestine At
one of the villages we entered the word
was passed around, Some Americans
are here: they can cure U.S. Then.
just as in olden times, these people
brought to me their sick. But l can
not cure them" l said. II am no doc
tor" Then turned to my dragoman
and said, What becomes of these sick
people when they cannot find a doc
tor!' oh" he answered, nonchalant-
~, ''of course they die. that is all; they
die" How do they die: The same
as one of my muleteers nearly died
when going through the heavy sand.
After we had been out about ten days
he was taken very sick. He became so
sick he could not sit upon his horse,
but we had to ride on; there was no
place to stop. He would ride along a
little while. swaying like drunken
man. Then he would fall off. We
would put him back upon his mule and
try TO hold him there. Then he would
again fall off. II he died. he would
have to die. that was ALL
What will become of these young
men and women about the halfway
churches II we do not save them? They
will spiritually die. Instead OF being
brought to the feet of the Master they
will drift out and many of them will
become gamblers and debauchees and
drunkards and outcasts. Many Of
them will land up in the degradation
of the slums. Many of them-aye. per-
haps most OF them-will be lost forever.
The work of the downtown churches Is
important. The work OF the boulevard
church is also important. But the
mightiest work ON earth which is given
to any church to do is given to the
halfway church." which touches. for
the most part, class OF young people
at the vitality important time of their
spiritual lives. May God help those
churches and help us to help them in
the name Of Jesus Christ
During the late civil war in a certain
battle the Union soldiers had fought all
day long and were completely ex-
hausted. One OF the Indiana regiments
was almost ready to mutiny and turn