Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-03-22
AND
WOODWORKING
IN THE CHURCH

In St. Paurs farewell address to the
Elders of Ephesus, assembled on the sea-
shore at Miletus. is preserved a saying
of the Saviour which is not found in the
Gospels, but which is of the utmost
value, and which has manifold applica-
tiOns The Apostle said remember the
words of the Lord Jesus. how he said, 1t
is more blessed to give than receive
The primary application of these words
is doubtless to the giving and receiving
of material benefits, but the principle IN
volved in them is applicable to higher
things than money or any thing that
money can buy. 1t is not the most
blessed attitude for one to assume to
any good when one is always seeking to
get rather than to give. To receive good
is well, but to give it out is better. The
life into which all good pours, but from
which little or no good issues becomes a
sort of moral dead sea for lack of a
suitable outlet.
Herein is the source of no little trouble
in the churches of today There is
dragon in the pews demanding to be fed
with services and sermons from week to
week with no purpose beyond being fed
with what it calls for. There is an over
feeding and an underwriting upon the
part of thousands VINO call themselves
christians and who rest their claim to
be called christians on the fact that they
habitually attend public worship. Moth
ing seems to come of the sermons which
they swallow so voraciously except the
demand for more sermons more highly
spiced with piquant sayings and enter
tanning novelties. No agoniZing purpose
for loftier living is sprung by the dis
courses heard and no quickening of zeal
on behalf of the salvation of others
arises from what is spoken from the pull
pit
Multiform are the evil effects upon
both preachers and people which spring
from this sermon guzzling habit. 1t re-
duces the preacher from the position Of
a servant of God to that of a mere en-
tertaineE. This explains the painful and
pernicious effort to be always saying
something new which characterizes many
preachers Some fall to discussing the
shifting theories of science or the muta-
BILE speculations of philosophy in order to
be fresh" to their people. Others af-
feet literary airs as If the pulpit were a
lecture platform. Still others attract at
tention by playing the part of censor
morum of municipal officers and political
affairs, prating much of what they are
pleased TO call civic righteousness.
And there is. another class who use the
pulpit for the treatment of current events
as reported in the newspapers, making
themselves leaders in what might be
styled a current topics club"
All these men are to be more pitied
than condemned. They are more weak
than wicked. They have abdicated their
high functions as ambassadors for Christ
at the bidding of an imperious demand
that they be entertaining or get out of
the places which they occupy. They
speak not with authority, for they have
ceased to have authority. They are be-
fore their people like walters in fashion
able cafes to take orders for palatable
products.
If the result is bad upon the ministry it
is far more hurtful to those who fill the
pews They become peevish and restless,
and all their religious convictions become
unsettled by an eager desire to be enter
tanned rather than edited. They do not
attend church to find guidance and help
in Christian life, or TO be the better fur
nshed for christian work; but to be
pleased with, the performance of the
day. There never has been and never
can be but one outcome from such hab-
it's. In the days of the prophet Ezekiel,
six centuries before Christ, this sort of
thing became common, and the effect
then was what 1t is now. We read these
words of the Lord to the prophet: Thou
son of man, the children of thy people
still are talking against thee by the walls
and in the doors of the houses, and speak
one to another, every one to his brother,
saying, Come, pray you and hear what
is the word that cometh forth from the
Lord And they come unto thee as the
people cometh, and they sit before thee
as my people, and they hear thy words,
but they will not do them: for with their
mouth they shew much love, but their
heart goeth after their covetousness.
And 10 thou art unto them as a very
lovely song of one that hath pleasant
voice, and can play well on an instru-
ment: for they hear thy words and do
them not" Ezekiel xXxiii :30,31,S2). This
evil habit of turning a prophet into an
entertainer and perverting preaching into
a pastime resulted then in moral paraly-
sis as it does now.
Among the heather nations there were
no prophets, but there appeared among
them great philosophers and moral teach
ers. OF all places Athens was most cele-
brated for such men; but when the Ath-
enians went to hear them simply to be
diverted by them the Athenian character
became frivolous and shallow. and Ath-
enian morality persisted. In the Acts Of
the Apostles st. Luke gives us in one
brief sentence the root of their f1ippancy
and their moral degeneraCy. He says,
"All the Athenians and strangers which
were there spent their time in nothing
else, but either to tell or to hear some
new thing" (Acts Xvii:2D. After that
statement we do not wonder at their
treatment of St. Paul, the greatest
preacher of the ages. When they first
heard his message of Jesus and the
resurrection" they hurried him unto
Areopagus, saying, May we know what
this new doctrine, whereof thou speak
est, is? But when he called them to
repentance and pointed them to day of
judgment when God would Judge the
world in righteousness by that man
whom He hath ordained" they Knocked
him. From that city of novelty mongers
we read of but two converts by name.
The impression made by the narrative of
ST. Luke is that in Athens the great Apos-
tie made few converts. How could it have
been otherwise? There was not enough
moral earnestness in the city to take hold
of Pauls message of unearthly truth.
The only use they had for him was t.
tell them something newsy. Such men
would turn the harpers of heaven into
minstrel troupe or an opera company.
One OF the worst things which comes
to pass with such people is the impatiencf
HOY to with all those