Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-04
MINISTER SPEAKS OF
BAD AIR IN CHURCHES
REV. C. C. PIERCE PLAINLY
GIVES HIS IDEAS
Clergyman Declares He Would Lose
His Religion If Forced to Sit in
a Funeral, Musty House
of Worship

"If 1 had to sit down in some
churches such as 1 have seen, dark,
gloomy funereal, musty and with all
| the foul air within them Whlcn mas
been breathed over and over again by
unnumbered generations of so-called
| worshipers I should either lose my re-
ligion. have a fuss with the authorities
or kick out the sides of the houses;
Give me fresh air and sunlight and
| plenty of both"
These are the utterances made by
Rev. c. C. Pierce, pastor of Memorial
Baptist church, yesterday morning IN
his ninth annual sermon. He TOOK ioI
his text the words: "Other foundation
can no man lay than that which Is
laid, which is Jesus Christ he SAID
| In the course Of his sermon:
zone essential element in the church
| which 1 like is that 1t shall be Dullt on
the one and only foundation or q
church, and this foundation is Christ
and his truth. Nothing can be right
unless the foundation is secure. give give
me this and 1 will give you good deal
| o. latitude as to the superstructure
Your plan may not entirely suit my
| fancy. and some of the gingerbread
work which some like may not DC
pleasing to me, but If you like 1t shall
not seriously object. 1 should IKE TINS
| church to have plenty OF windows IoI
|
! the pure air in and letting the llghl
from the church to stream out.
| Sunshine Is Good
my church is not afraid Of the sun
| shine and we are not idiotic enough &c
suppose that all the atmosphere In
| closed by this church in the dim past
ages is all that God ever made for his
people. And then, too, the light OF the
church ought to stream out into the
world very brightly. There are so many
gloomy churches in the world and sc
many places which injure and destroy
men. which are brilliantly lighted thai
| I often wonder II the devil has q
monopoly on the electric lights OF oul
city.
"And then the church that like shall
| be built down upon the ground and moi
up In the air or in the skies. In othel
| words this church shall not be so DusI
dreaming of heaven to come that Il
shall have no call upon 1t to rid tht
world of the hells which are all about
us here and now And this brings ms
| to speak of one of the ante-chambers
| of hell that we have had a little oppor-
tunity of peering into right here in Los
Angeles during the past winter.
Condemns Race Track
| "I refer to the race track and its at
tendant iniquities, crimes and tragedies
| When I think of that inestimable in
| iquity, of all it's effrontery, insidious-
ness and nameless crimes, when L think
| of the lives it's venomous power has
throttled and the other lives that have
been ruined, all during this last winter
while we good people have been so busy
getting people saved and singing our
psalms and hymns and speculating
about the end of the world and the
second coming and all the rest, Will
lconfess that I for one hang my head
for shame. If the united churches CO.
operating with all the decent people OF
| this city who are not members of any
church cannot drive this damnable
| crime breeder from our state then we
ought to go out of the business for our
| incompetency and unfaithfulness. But
| I want to tell you that two years or SO
ago, when there was great movement
| on foot to do away with this thing,
| coming though it did at the close OF a
great series of meetings which were
said to have stirred the entire city,
| the few earnest men who sought to
arouse public sentiment against the
race track and inaugurate a movement
| for It's speedy overthrow went to a
great many of the leading business men
| of this city seeking to enlist them In
the cause, and while in most instances
| they would quietly contribute some
| little money toward the expense of the
movement, in almost every instance
were too busy making money to dc
this greatly needed thing and declined
to become actively identified with it
| The church l like and all it's members
are ready to get out on the firing line
when a thing like this demands atten-
| tion.
'And finally the church like has g
steeple. not necessarily regulation
spire with the traditional weather vant
on top, but it shall be church which
ever points to something higher an6
better both for this life and the life
to come