The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1909-05-21

Il
they do all in their power to promote
the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ
here on earth as preparation for that
kingdom which is to come hereafter
Other doctrines they discard so far as
the rank and file of the church goes as
non-essential or as included within
/ these named.
| ask you, as the pastor of this
church, are you attuning your lives to
| this ideal, are you mapping your course
| in life in accordance with these pledges
you have made? The world is demand
| ing of the church that she live up to
her pretensions and so far as you as in
dividuals in the church are falling
short, just SO far are you keeping the
church of Christ from fulfilling her
claims and commanding the respect of
the people at large.
The working men of today are
charging the church with insincerity.
| Is there justice in their charge? When
| was working some years ago in a
paper mill tried to interest the men
there in the church of which | was a
member. Some of them attended a
few of the services. AS one of the
officials of that church they found a
and impure in his life. He ushered
them to their seats, he passed the offer
ing plate, he was member of the
board of trustees. The Sabbath even
ing on which several of the men went
to church, some of them had seen him
that afternoon in company with a no
torious woman in foul beer garden.
MY first work in the ministry was as
the pastor of chapel in South Bend
which was branch Of down town
church. In a revival held there num-
Der of working men were converted. l
asked them to come down to the
mother-church to be received into
membership. They refused. Why?
Because their employers were members
of that church and they knew that in
their dealings with their men these
employers were doing not as Christ
would have them do. But | do not
condemn alone the membership of the
church. Yes, we as ministers are
largely at fault for the condition of
things that now exists. A short time
ago | was speaking with a man con-
cerning one of our own churches in
neighboring city. This man was not a
man given to criticism and who in his
own town would hesitate to say what
he said to me. When | asked him why
he never attended church he told me
that the minister in that church was in
his opinion the biggest sham in the
city. He told me why. | could say
nothing. How many ministers today
are following even afar off in the foot
steps of Him who Is their Master and
should be their example; how many
are faithful to rebuke selfishness and
sin without avoiding or smoothing over
those forms of seliishness and sin that
are particularly prevalent among the
supporters of their own churches. How
many are not influenced by the fear of
offending some of "the powers that be"
and thereby reducing or imperilling
their subscription rolls. The greatest
need in the church today is ministry
that fears only God and an accusing
conscience.
BY their condemnation of existing
evils in the church the people of today
show that they are looking to the
church for leadership. 1t is because of
this recognized need of the church's
leadership that men are demanding
that she get right with God and with
men and lead. And if the church is to
lead she can do so only by the develop
ment of three things that are absolute
ly essential. These are Self-sacrifice.
Character and Courage. 1t is the first
of these that goes to the quick of the
problem,
Jesus Christ, who came to this world
to win men back to God and to right
eousness, blazed out the path in which
we must walk if we are to do His work
4 ..v.. 20 hnf l.oN
path was not along the line of power
of wealth or arms. 1t was rather by
laying aside power and scorning wealth.
1t was not an easy road to travel for
the King of Angels had to become the
servant of men, the Lord of Heaven,
the lowliest of earth. In following the
pathway of duty He marked out for
Himself, He was met with the love of
a few but with the hatred of many.
He received the homage of few and
the scorn of many. At the end of the
road He found Gethsemene, an unjust
Judge and Calvary. Thus did He sac
rifice himself. AS the prophet Isaiah
saith-"He is despised and rejected of
men, man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. He was despised and we
esteemed Him not; He was wounded
for our transgressions; He was bruised
for our iniquities; the chastisement of
our peace was upon Him and by His
stripes we are healed. He was OPP
pressed and He was afflicted, yet He
opened not his mouth; He is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before his shearers is dumb, so He
openeth not His mouth" Gods way
to win men was by the sacrifice of
Himself in the person of Jesus Christ
and by that supreme sacrifice He trans
formed and transtigured mankind. So
today the only way the church can do
the work of God in the world of man is