The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-02-10
F. F. tombstone & Co.
Cotton Merchants and Exporters
Cotton Bought in Alabama and Mississippi
Branch Offices Troy and Dohan. Ala. and jackson Miss

count of legislation and organization,
! the doiugs % leaders and bishops and
the people pass into the background.
/ The church now becomes an institution
and begins to wane In religious power.
People want pastor that can draw.
that can raise the collections, that can
build up q church. But pastors are
l'beginning to want churches that can
draw. The average sunday service Is
SO formal and stiff that nobody ak
poets conversions. Probably the only
religious word that IS said in nine out
OF ten OF the average church meetings
| Of today Is said BY the pastor. There
is little heart-to-heart fellowship
among members and no effort to help
anybody into the Kingdom. And IL an
earnest seeker after God is courageous
enough to venture N and join the
church. he is received formally. en-
rolled, and turned loose to go on as be-
fore, no man apparently caring for his
| soul.
What, therefore. is church member
ship worth to thesAverage man or wo-
man, outside of its social advantagesY
And IL the down and outs should
come 1T would be exceedingly embar-
RAISING, both for them and for the
| members. The Salvation Army proba-
bly, has more conversions in any city,
| in any average month, than all the
churches combined. And in the coun-
| try the calendar rather than the call
determines when men shall be saved.
If we are making church membership
worth so little. we are making 1t cost
too much. Taking the s109.22s paid
pastors and presiding elders in Louis
lana last year. the 2.102 additions on
profession Of faith cost $51.96 each. II
! we add per cent. interest on the ST.
! fs5,7s4 worth OF property invested and
the total amount OF $33s.122 spent in
the State last year for all purposes.
the new members, cost $is4.7o each. OF
not here included as wen as untold
blessings that cannot be tabuiated.
When was president Of your minis
ters meeting here raised the ques-
ton, Tn what definite way does your
church touch and Influence the city for
good?" And the answer was. Elm no
way that we can see." OF course the
indirect influence Is great. The church
should be ansaggregation Of evangelis.
tic workers that GO everywhere all the
time in search of opportunities for SER
vice. an aggressive force rathor than
a passive field. It should DE a tre'ncn-
dous power house whose connecLiGps
are with every business and social CEN
\ ter as well as every dark corner, and
whose machinery Is going day and
night, carrying light and power to
every soul in reach. Instead of that,
1t is often a hospital in which the
preacher is doctor, nurse, porter, JAM
itor, treasurer. and even housemaid. He
is expected to give the bottle to per-
petual babies in Christ every day and
so run the whole institution so as TO
please everybody, especially the rich,
and attract money enough to pay the
bills. It Is nothing that the ambulance
intended TO hasten to the, cry Of the
sick, the wounded. the dying out on
life's firing lines or in the forgotten
mobile to carry the dignified directors
and patrons to and fro and drive the
| few chronic cases through the parks.
So that the great REVEALS seem to be
thing or the past.
\ ain the multiplicity Of details we are
taking the main issue for granted. Not
only are there few conversions in our
churches, but there is all too little
personal evangelism everywhere. We
have not the old Wesleyan passion for
souls. A city pastor was called to a
dying woman in charity hospital the
other day land replied that he was too
busy to go. The old time circuit rider
would have gone at midnight through
hail storm. not in an electric car,
but II need be begging knee deep in
mud every step.
Wherever the ancient apostles went
they had one theme. salvation. Asbury
sets the type. He says, Il met with
w. B., a man who has great regard
| for us, but seems to be too much taken
up with worldly cares. But speaking
faithfully and closely to him. 1 showed
him the deceitfulness of riches in pro-
ducing a spirit of independence to-
wards God, hardness of heart, and pride
In its various forms, while they prom
Use us safety and happiness" Benja-
min Abbott, spending the night with
family held family prayers three
hours. Under the singing of the hymn
three fall as dead, one of them the host
ess, and during the prayer several 9TH
esr are Frustrated, and the back slid
ers are prostrated.1 In the home none
we're allowed to escape the personal
probing of these itinerants. Pedicord
is riding through the woods singing,
not supposing anybody near. and Ware,
afterward a leader, hearing him, fol-
lowed to hear more until he stopped at
a Methodist home. Ware, supposing
he would preach that night, came and
was converted.
A stranger talks to a gaudily dressed
woman in a hotel lobby until the tears
tfdckIed down her painted face on her
| silks ana SaLlnS. aeE uuSpdnu, ESIuEH-
ing and hearing what Lorenzo Dow had
been saying. asks, s'Wife, why didn't
you tell the intruder to go about his
business?" IF you had been, here you
would have thought he was about his
business" was the reply.
| Freedom Garrettson, staying all
night at a hotel prays night and morn
ing with the landlord alone, for he re-
fused to call the family. What Asbury
said of him might have been said of
most of them: brother Garrettson
will let no person escape a religious
lecture that comes hrs way. Sure he is
faithful. but what am I?'
How are we, the successors of these
men whose shining moments have
lighted the way to the highest these
hundred years, measuring up to their
standard?
A leading member Of another church
a railroad President, once said to me
MY pastor is a clever gentleman. and
like him. lie comes to my house, to
my office, chats pleasantly, does not
hesitate to ask for money. for passes
for anything lie wants. and l do not
hesitate to do what he says. but he
| does not seem ever to think or care for
my soul. He never mentions religion
have been touching preachers of all
| denominations and stations in the work
all my life and do not recall but three
who ever spoke to me about my per.
sonal religious experience. l ask again
Are We not taking the main issue for
| granted? Are we not putting more
stress on building up churches and
strengthening institutions, and these
are necessary. than upon saving souls