The national forum., 1910-09-10
SHILOH BAPTIST CHURCH.
Rev. ]. Milton Waldron, Pastor, 1884
V Street, N. w.; w. H. Scott,
Church Editor, 1908 Pierce Place,
~ w.

Last Sunday night, though very warm,
our church was filed with an interested
and attentive congregation that came to
hear u special sermon to the working
people of the city, Il special invitation to
this service having been sent by the ofll-
GERS of The church during the preceding
week to u large number of white and
coored labor unions in the District, and
to several hundred individuals. The
Doctor took as his text Matt. 1856, is
not this the Carpenters SOM Luke
1851, The laborer is worthy of his hire"
and Luke 2227, 81 am among you as
one who selveth;" and announced as his
subject, Jesus Christ and the working
man" Among other things he said
Jesus Christ has message to all
classes of men. He came to teach hui
manity how to live and love, as we'll as
how to die, and was Himself working
nali--a carpenter--and the son of car
penter, and in all probability belonged to
a labor union, or guild, in Nazareth, his
native town. For this reason Jesus
Christ ought to be received by working
men and labor unions us friend and
not as an enemy AT the time of Christ's
birth the poor were hated and the labor
ing classes was second and treated as
slaves, and the conflict between labor and
capital was most intense and bitter Un-
til recently the labor unions in this coun-
try and in Europe have regarded the
churches and the ministry as their enem-
les, but we rejoice in the fact that this
antipathy is growing less. The churches
are beginning to awake to the fact that
they have . special mission to, and
message of hope for, those who toll with
their hands, and labor organizations are
turning to the churches and the minis
try as never before; and this service is
held in response to the request of the
American Federation of Labor, and with
the desire to have the working man feel
that Jesus Christ is his friend and only
Savior. Those at the head of labor
unions in this country are showing their
wisdom in seeking the aid of the Chris
tian churches, for since the advent of
Christ into this world, no great and per-
manent reforms have ever been success
full which ignored Him or His followers.
Christ and Christianity are in the earth
and they must be reckoned with. The
disposition that the labor organizations
make of Christ and His teachings will
determine their success or failure; and
the labor problem will never be solved
until both employees and capitalists OBJ
serve the teachings of Jesus Christ, the
carpenters son. We would remind our
hearers that Jesus Christ emancpated
the working man. The laborer is worthy
of his hire The dawn of the Christian
era found the masses everywhere prac-
tically in slavery, receiving for their
work not what it was worth, but what
ever their employers felt disposed to give
them. He enjoined upon the working
man the duty of faithful service and
taught the capitalists the virtue of JUS
tice We would also remind the mem
hers of the labor unions of America that
the hands of the capitalists when they
are not willing to treat their fellow
workers with Justice For whatsoever a
man soweth. that shall heiilso reap. Ili-
most places in the North, East and West
when a colored man applies for a Job he
is told that he cannot get it because he
does not belong to II labor union, and
when he makes application for member
Ship in the union he is told that colored
people are not received as members. This
is rot only an injustice to the black
workingman, but it is suicidal to the
labor union themselves. We have no
hope for the coming of better conditions
in the world of labor and business until
the teachings of Jesus Christ are uni
versally observed, and obeyed by work
ingmen and capitalists alike"