The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1910-12-23
THE CHILD AND THE CHURCH.
Paper Read by Rev. \. Il. Ozanne of
Cresbard. at the Methodist Minis
terial Conference Held at Milbank,
Dec. and :.

Two Ir,hmen in New York were
once dlsputiEg as to which held the
bigger job. Pat. fireman on the "Em-
pire State Express. claimed the hon
ors on the ground that his engine
made sixty miles an hour and stops,
pulling train of "drawing-rooms on
wheels. Mike. stoker ON great
Cunard Line steamer. demurred that
he helped to drive a "lloating palace"
across 5000 miles OF sea. "Och.'
says Pat. that's it; we're only one
among many stollers. beat | IN the
wirole thing. Both sides of the
story seem to apply to the situation
named in the subject of this paper.
The church is certa inly a great insti-
tuition, and if the child is not the
whole thing. he /, unquestionablv the
largest part of the growing problem
Of the church ; future. With a
change of iiguere. the child and the
church Joined are like two great draft
horses harnessed. if they pull to-
gether, they can draw a great load up
the hill of God: if not. they may neu-
| tralize each others efforts or tear all
coupling asunder and drag the burden
of the worlds need downhill to per
dition.
AS we consider these, one previous
consideration seems nece,sar and
| fundamental to the mutual relation
| ship of the child and church. namely
| the relat on OF the child to God
| This may seem almost self-evident to
many, but when such men as Bishop
! Quayle and the Rev, 6. Campbell
Morgan, of Westminster Chapel, Lon
| don, discuss this question. it Is well
| to remind ourselves that the teaching
| of the church is based upon Scripture
In his chapter on 1.-The Pastor and
the Child,' Bishop Quayle says: Only
twr theories are possible touching a
child at his birth. Theory |. The
child belonges to the devil. Theory
?. The child belongeS to God. The
church or the person who would rise
and ma Ike a disqui>ition to prove thai
the child belonged to the devil woulo
| nave a hazardous enterprise. The
common sense of mankind knows
better. The other theory is that every
child belongs to God. was born God 5
child, before he can belong to the
wicked one and arrive at such un
worthy notoriety. Such churches "a
refuse to let little children Join them
and refuse the sigh of baptism, which
is the sign of being Christian an1
Of belonging to the church. must dc
SO if they act logically, on the frs
theory-that children belong to the
devil. But across the path OF suci
thrusts out the jutting crag. For o
such is the kingdom Of God, - II
the light of ,JesuS's authoritative ane
conclusive saving we must frame oul
theories of child as related to God.
and the child as related to God is the
measure OF the child'o relation to The
Christian Church. -
Mr.. Morgan bears out the same
thought from the argument OF PAU u
j Rom. Is. "As through one tre>pas:
the judgment came unto all men t1
condemnation: even so through on'
act Of righteousness the free gift cams
unto all men to justification OF life.
Mr.. MOrgon goes on to say that ever,
child is born under the shadow OF TIN
cross OF Christ. THAT Jesus Chris
upon the cross saw my chlld. ant
loved my child and died for my chill
and by way of His sight and Ills low
and His death-the tendency 70
wrong thatis in my child is atone'
for