The Penn's Grove record., 1908-06-05
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. CURTIS LEE LAWS.
Themes: Men in the Church.

DR.. CURTIS LEE LAWS.
Theme: Men in the Church.
Brooklyn, N. Y.-Dr. Curtis Lee
Laws, the new pastor of the Greene
Avenue Baptist Church, Sunday night
preached a special sermon to men.
The service was held under the
auspices of the Mems League of the
church. In the course of his address
he said some very strong things. The
subject was "Why There Are More
Women Than Men in the Church"
He took no text, but at once vigorous
ly took up his theme. He said:
1t is not a fact that our churches
are not reaching men in our day and
in our city. We are reaching men;
we are reaching men in large num-
bers and men from all classes of So
ciety. But it is a fact that we are not
reaching men in the same proportion
and to the same number as we are
reaching women. This is a fact, and
it is a fact to which we cannot be in
~nocently Indifferent. We must meet
the situation fairly, and if the fault
10 III IuS CHuICu We muSl ISIlOf6 IL.
Here are facts which no one will
dispute. Fully two-thirds of the
church members of our country are
women and more than two-thirds of
the people in the church congregation
are women. l doubt very much if we
have in Brooklyn a single church with
mor than thirty-three per cent. of
men in its membership. This is a
startling fact when we come to con-
slider it, and it becomes more start
ling still if church membership bears
any relation to the question of saliva
ton. Few will claim that a man must
be a member of some church to be
saved, but all will agree that the
church is the place for saved men,
and that, generally speaking, saved
men are in the church.
Why, then, is it, that with all our
equipment and zeal, we are not able
to reach men in the same proportion
as we reach women? Why is it that
only a third of our membership are
men, and, that, relatively speaking,
we have so few men in our congrega-
lions? Personally l love men. 1 re-
ioice in their society and fellowship,
and l do my best to interest them in
Christianity and the church, and yet,
broadly speaking, we have the same
conditions in our church that prevail
everywhere else. / come to the study
Of this question with a great deal of
personal interest and after a great
deal of thought.
1t is claimed by specialists who
nave studied this question that the
reason why men are not attracted to
the church in larger numbers is that
The ministry of the modern church is
not strong enough Intellectually to
satisfy men of culture and education.
This Is practically the ground taken
oy a writer in a famous article pub
1shed in n of our magazines. After
talking with hundreds of young men
he writer came to the conclusion that
The modern pulpit is sluggish and
stagnant," and that young men alb
sent themselves from church simply
ecause the average minister is dull
and heavy and behind the times.
Are the men who do not attend
church brainier, more intelligent or
more cultured than the men who do
attend church? 1 would like to see
The men who do not attend church
placed upon the south side of one of
Dur streets and the men who do at
lend church placed upon the north
side of the same street. Then | would
like to drive slowly along the street
etWeen these two groups that l
might study their faces. On which
side do you think l would find the
brains and the culture, and the re-
anement and the character?
Again, when non-churchgoing men
prate about the undressing preach
srs, | always feel that they are cast
Ing needless insults into the teeth of
heir mothers and daughters and
wives and s~weethearts. Women read
lore thai men, and except about DO
litical and commercial questions they
are better informed than men. Not
withstanding their higher culture and
their greater refinement, the women
do not find the sermons Of the average
preacher dull and inconsequential.
Again, it is claimed that the
churches don't seek the mel nor well
come them to the services as they
should. Now, personally, 1 do not be-
lieve a word of this. l have been for
years very closely identified with the
church life of a great city, and have
oeen IN close personal relations with
a greath many of our ministers, and !
tell you that the whole Christian
cnurch Is making a mighty effort to
reach the unchurched men of the CITY.
And wanting them as much as we do,
1t is nonsense to talk about not well
coming them. I have heard that in a
certain section of Maine there is a
church which has out in the vestibule
a nlckel-1n-the-slot machine. All that
a stranger has to do is to walk in and
drop In his nickel and out from the
machine comes a hand to grasp his in
cordial welcome. We do not have
anything like that here, but we a
beat thai in our church, for here
many a stranger gets a hearty hand
grasp and goes away with his nickel
In his pocket.
/ tell you that men are welcome in
our churches; men, Irrespective of the
accident Of fine clothing; men. how
ever dressed and however wicked:
they are all welcome in nine-tenths
OF the churches; and what is more,
they know quite well they will not
only be welcome, but that we are
praying that they may come. Let us
glance now at some of the real rea-
sons why men do not come to our
churches and into our churches, as
their sisters do.
Men are driven sc hard by the work
OF b week that when Sunday comes
many OF them are in a state of col
lapse mentally, and SO they spend the
time In bed, or else they betake them
serves to the parks or to the country
for recuperation.
l know many men who are commit
ting a slow suicide by the work which
they are attempting to do, and I know
that when Sunday comes they snatch
a little rest as their only safety. !
fee that in some way they must get
out from under the burden which
they are bearing, some by choice and
more by necessity or else while taking
care of this life they will by sheer
neglect lose the life which is to come.
Now, women, on the other hand, have
their work for the most part in the