The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1908-08-25

We must not forget that this age
is not the product of itself, but of a
preceding age, which was decidedly
a religious one. Our christian homes
are the partially realized ideals of
christian parents.
We shall now note some of the
pressing demands for the services
of the church, wherein she holds ex-
elusive rights for the reason that no
other organization can meet them.
The state, the stage, the lodge and
the church each have their special
sphere in the great drama of life,
but they do not stand upon the
The state may preserve the social
order among men and thus facilitate
their progress, but there are provin-
ces in the human soul over which
the state has no control. The stage
is supposed to meet the ethical
wants in mans nature, but it must
be conceded that it is more the SER
want of mans depravity, and but for
the preternatural want of a deprav-
| ed nature the stage could scarcely
find support.
The lodge is supposed to meet the
| wants of life peculiar to accidents
and feels that it finds it's highest &C
omplishments in it's alienation of
the wants of the unfortunate
The lodge always points to it's
! charities as its highest ideal of it's
service and the brightest wreath
GROWING it's history. The lodge finds
its adhesive qualities in mans So
cal nature, but it cannot purge the
conscience from sin nor reform the
! fallen.
| These remarks are not given in
any sense of fault-finding, but for
| the sake of defining that territory
in the human life in which the
church is the sole occupant
Is the Church Necessity?
! Yes, first, because the church
stoops lower to lift up the fallen
| than any other organization in the
world. 1t is to the church that the
depraved and the morally desolate
! turn in the bitterness of their souls
for a friendly hand, a kind word,
and a sympathizing heart. man
may be black-balled from every
other organization, ostracized from
society by and for his sins, but he
can turn at last to the great body
for which the Master died. Blot out
our churches and their ministrations
and desolation darker and more
dreadful than poverty will settle
down upon a large per cent of our
population.
Second: The church is necessity
because it is the only organic body
devoted exclusively to the cause of
holy living. The church advocates
righteousness in all things, or the
righteousness of the whole man !;
,other organizations are fighting this
or that predominant sin such as in
temperance, social evils, labor injus-
tice and the inhuman treatment of
animals, but the church is constitu-
tionaliy bound to oppose sin in all
its forms and in all places. Sin is the
great stumbling block to progress
! and the enemy of mans best inter-
est The world needs one great,
strong, united body to oppose sin,
drive back it's powers and lead all
hearts into the sunlight of a holy
life. This is one of the services of
the church for the welfare of man.
No other organization is devoted ex-
/ clusively to this work.
Third: The church is a necessity
because it devotes its energy to the
education and development of this
Iprovince of the human soul, COM
monty called the heart. 1t requires
both the school Hand the church to
educate the whole man, as the is
sues of life are from the heart, spir-
itual culture is therefore more es-
sential to education than intellectu-
al greatness.
1t is in heart qualities that we be-
come most like God and without
which no man can love his neighbor
as himself. The equipment of the
church for heart culture is such that
few who are brought in contact with
it are not refined The church thru
its pulpit reaches the inmost cham
bers of the soul in the most direct
and impressive manner within the
range of human effort Books never
move the soul like living words. The
general could never inspire his army
for battle by reading an essay on
military tactics but few burning
words OF patriotism ringing from his
| lips as he rides along the line sets
every soldier on his mettle and wins
| the day. Dnlifiniapc do not ract ~ n; !,