The morning journal-courier., 1908-01-06

' est in whatever way it was manifested,
 Tn a building of this kind we are able to read something of the signs of the times The older mmbers of this i church point back to S5 years ago when every Sunday morning vehicles filled i these neighDoring streets, and when people came from far and near in such numbers that the church committee were seriously considering the en- largement of the audience room of the church All this is changed. The pres ent pastor speaks to empty galleries and to pews not always filled ln- stead of enlarging our audience room We have lately diminished its size to make room for this chapel. If this were condition peculiar to our com munity, one might be tempted to ques- tion the character of the people or the quality of the preaching. But it is not a situation peculiar to us. It is gen eral condition
 We wish very much that the world might grow so hungry for the first fundamental truths of sane and spir- itual religion, and that the ministers might become so thoroughly possessed Of the best means of presenting those truths that the churches would prove all too small to accommodate the in- quirers that would come. But we turn from vision to a condition. The worl, that preaching did in former times is performed in part to-day by the press and by the school. While this change has been taking place the church has also been expressing her life through other channels. The decline in the hearing of the word has been offset by an increase in the doing of the word
 The erection of this building goes to show that we are laying more em. phasis upon the social life of the church. The criticism Is often made oi our protestant churches that they are only so many social clubs. This is clearly unfair. It is possible to con. ceive that church might become SC involved in purely social affairs as to lose sight of the real purpose for which it was organized. But we are very far from such state of af. fairs. In church Of this size thert are people who have been coming tC service for years who have scarcely { speaking acquaintance with others across the room. Social intercourse i:
 one of the very best means for pro
 noting sympathy and for keeping dowi
 class barriers which are too likely t,
 assert themselves. Anything that relg
 lon can do to emphasize social like
 ness and to promote social equality
 cannot fail to be of value in a demo cratic country like ours.
 This building also indicates that ou
 generation is laying emphasis upon tn
 processes of education in the religion life. We are having In our midst al evangelistic movment. We hope tha 1t may do much to arouse the indiffer
 ent and to initiate many into their res
 possibilities for their spiritual condi ,. tion. But the emphasis laid on th S
 methods is slight compared with tn
 emphasis we lay upon the m ethods 0 quiet steady growth in the kingdom
 Our problem is to adapt our religiou . teaching to the ever expanding exper
 fence of the individual You tell
 story to child and he is satisfied. Hi
 mind goes no further Ten years late
 his mind is bristling with question
 that must be answered for in the pub lie schools he has been trained tha inquiry is d virture. The church mus
 meet his questions and seek to an
 swer them ratlonally In ten year more he Is man seeking to knoy
 how the underlying principles of re
 lgion are to be applied to the genera activities of life. Here then we hay an educational department seeking t use an educational method We ma not claim everything for this metho perhaps. But it is so sound and S vital that we are hardly able to over emphasize it.
 This chapel has been built for th service of this church and this con, munity. All these years we have bee looking forward to 1t as an end in it self, but when at last it comes into ou possession we find that 1t is only means toward an infinitely greate end, And if we can make it to minis ter unto. the intellectual, the social an , the spiritual life of this place then th means has been worth all the time, tn J money, the labor and sacrifice expend ed. Let us pray God that the grea end for which it is built will never | lost to our sight"
 The death of an aged and well know " citizen. Isaac F Porter orcurrod ,