Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-05-28
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PURPOSE OF CHRISTIANITY.
BY Rev. Frank q. Smith. D. D

By Rev. Frank q. Smith, D. D.
And this they did, not as we had
hoped, but first gave of their own
selves to the Lord, and unto US by the
will of God. IL. Cor. 8: 5.
The supreme purpose of Christians,
and of the Christian church, Is or
should be, to take away the sin Of the
world. How true Is this Of the church
in general and how true is it Of our
particular church and how true Is 1t of
our individual Christian lives? Is 1t the
great central thing in our endeavors?
Is all else subordinate to this great
divine purpose? Is there a mighty
hunger in the heart Of the church in
general and in the heart Of our church
in particular and in the hearts Of all
of US as Christians this morning to
take away the sin Of the world? Or
have we fallen into a kind of conven-
tional faith that has not in it the vi
tally Of propagation? Which 1s the
greater motive in the Christian church
and in the Christian heart to-day, to
take away the sin Of the world or to
keep away from the sin Of the world?
There Is vast amount Of difference.
Is 1t the great object of the Christian
to-day to take sin out of the world or
to keep out of sin in the world? What
ever we may hold in theory, in actual
practice I believe a vast majority Of
us as Christians are concerned, not 80
much In taking away the sin Of the
world, but in keeping away from the
sin of the world, and many Of us, l
fear, are not working very hard at
that even.
Now these are serious questions;
they affect the future of every church
just as certainly as the sun affects
the growth of a plant. l believe that,
in theory, at least, the church still
holds that its business Is to redeem
the world; to take away the sin Of the
world. Now If that be true let us look
for a moment upon the tremendous
task that Is ours. Some of the specific
things we must do.
First Of all, we must drive deceit out
of the world; we must drive it out Of
our hearts and lives; out of our
homes; out of our business; out of our
social relationships; how thoroughly it
has entrenched itself and woven Itself
into the very fabric of life; it must
go; God desireth truth in the inward
parts and that means clear to the bot
tom of mans life; his kingdom can
come in no other way; 1t Is built upon
no other foundation. Then again, here
are our cities to be cleaned up; to be
made whole. The great city Of Ameri-
ca to-day Is an entirely modern insti-
tuition; there has been nothing like 1t
in the history of the world; the cities
of the old world are the product of
centuries of slow growth, but here in
America under the whip and spur of
steam and electricity great cities have
sprung into being as If by magic, and
the crowding into those great cities
of millions of people from every coun-
try and every cline, due to causes that
are entirely modern and did not exist
a century ago, this, l say, has created
conditions and offered opportunities
for vice and crime and graft and greed
that are unprecedented. These cities
must be made clean; we must learn
how to live together and live right
eously and sweetly and clcanly and
unselfishly Every question that con-
Germs the city's life must be looked at
from the moral standpoint. Here Is
tremendous task worthy of the hero
ism Of great souls. How are we Chris
tians solving it? BY moving out to
the suburbs; keeping away from the
sin Of the world instead of taking
away the sin of the world. And here
again are all the injustices Of the in
dustrial world on both sides of the
question; on the side of labor and on
the side of capital; the unfairness, the
bitterness the strife, the malice, the
hatred, these must all be adjusted,
righteously and happily adjusted. And
here is the great heather world to
convert to Christianity. 1t is abso-
lutely necessary that this be done, for
every country Is controlled, not by it's
army and it's navy, but by it's educa-
tional institutions; not by it's govern
mental policy, Uut ny It's eTc1lSlOu,
down underneath government, indus
try, education, social customs, domes-
tic habits and everything else we find
the religious ideas Of nation. There
is not thing In China or India or
Africa or any other bit of pagan coun-
try that you know Of that mars it and
makes it place where you would not
want to live but that it has it's roots
in the religious ideas of that country.
Man after all is hopelessly religious.
and it is religion that governs the
world, and If you want to exalt ma
ton give it a clearer vision of God
and of his will and purpose for man
and of mans relation to him and to
his fellow man. You must cleanse the
fountain if you would make pure the
streams, and a nations religious ideas
constitute the very fountain Of its
life. These heather worlds must be
converted to the clearer, sweeter Wis
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