Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-03
CHURCH AGAINST
ALL INJUSTICE
NOT INDIFFERENT TO WRONGS
OF W0RKINGMEN
Pastor Prlchsrd at Central Presby.s,
rlan Church Argues That Capital
lists DO Not Control Eoole-
slastloal Organization

THE Church and the Laboring
Classes" was the topic of a Labor Day
sermon preached yesterday morning at
the Central Presbyterian church by
DR.. A. B. Prichard, the pastor Dr.
Prichard took for his text Acts 1873
And because he was Of the same craft
he abode with them ana wrought, for
by their occupation they were tent
makers" He said In part:
The incidents Of this verse and Its
connection serve to emphasize the
four points of contact which chiefly
bind to each other These are the ma
tional, circumstantial, industrial and
religious.
"At present 1t is alleged that our in
dustrial and religious systems are ar
rayed against each other. At least 1t
would be fair to say that a consider
able portion of the Industrial class re-
gard the church as hostile to the in-
terests they represent.
Not Hostile
us this true? My contention is that
it Is not and that the so-called breach
between the two s more assumed than
actual.
TT is complained that the church Is
Indifferent to the wrongs suffered by
the workingmen and their. families;
that the church Is run by capitalists
and In their interests, that church peo-
pie are characterized by pride, luxury,
selfshness and hypocrisy and that the
church wants money only.
But over against these complaints
set certain we'll known facts: That
the attitude of the church has been and
Is now against every form of injustice
and, Furthermore, she has ever been a
pleader in behalf Of the oppressed and
the poor Of every genuine reform.
There are in the United States
som thing like seventeen million Prot
estant church members and probably
nine million of members of the Roman
Catholic church. 1t is idle to assume
that a governing proportion of these
are capitalists.
Support Is Poor
Then, too, IL this were so the church
would be better supported.
That there are pride and other vices
in the church Is not a matter of pleas
ure but of real sadness to every one
who loves the church. 1t Is an out
cropping of the evil in fallen humanity
which the church Is everywhere strug-
Cling against. Perhaps, too, there Is
not more of these vices in the church
than in organizations outside the
church.
And as for the desire for money,
even the labor unions require 1t as
we'll as other organizations.
THE entire amount spent by the
churches of the United States In a
year scarcely equals one-seventh of the
amount annually consumed for drink.
Even so, Christianity is far cheaper
than heathenism and the church ex-
pends what 1t receives for the benefit
of the community
"The religion of Jesus Christ is
propagation.
Reflect the Spirit
But other facts reflect the spirit Of
the churches The Old Testament
ECONOMY was a religion for poor men.
The glorious founder of the church,
Jesus Christ, labored as a carpenter;
appealed to the common people and in
vited all that labor and are heavily
laden to come unto Me- The teach
ings of the gospel, the classes most in
f1uenced by those teachings, and the
benefits conferred as their result upon
the world bear witness to the fact that
the church courts rather than dis
countenances the laboring class.
THE Presbyterian church has sought
to meet the present exigency by the
organization of a special department
of church and labor as one of its mis-
sionary agencies.
In Los Angeles
"Of twenty churches of this denomi-
nation in Los Angeles fifteen are con-
Quoted and almost wholly supported by
the laboring classes and large numbers
of this class are in the remaining five
Central church is essentially church
of la boring people
"The labor union, socialism, an
archy, infidelity cannot ever be sub
stituted for the church. Today she
has message none other can utter
1t is of the peace of God within and
among men.
She has a true social bond. 1t is
the person of Christ in whom all
classes are one. If the church of Jesus
Christ be rejected and her divine testi-
mony and fellowship despised, then
have men turned their backs upon the
one institution on earth which has
brought light into the darkness of the
past or holds solace for the present or
hone for the future"