Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1910-10-29
WHY
ATTENDS
CHURCH.
BY REV. ALLAN cRABTREE


have been suggested in this column
as to why church should be attended
regularly on the Lords Day, permit
me, out of a sympathetic heart fol
those who make many excuses, to
mention only three of them and at
the same time show that the excuse
why the house of God should not be
forsaken.
First Many make the excuse that
the churches are full of hypocrites.
The word hypocrite implies that
there is such a thing as true chris,
tian. Perhaps those who are not
christians and make such an excuse
for not attending church, Invariably
say, I know my mother, my father,
my sister, is not a hypocrite. Is this
not one Of the best reasons why you
should become a true christian and
show your faithfulness by obeying
the plain Bible command in regard to
public worship? If you are a chris
tian you should understand that there
are tares among the wheat, which
means hypocrites among true chris
tians, but for that reason you, with
the true people of God, should be
found faithfully doing His will as
commanded in His inerrant word re-
garding church attendance. and thus
not permit the hypocrites to make of
you q higher critic, who hurts the
wheat and not the tares, by nom
church attendance.
Second. A large number of people
make the excuse that the churches are
not doing as much good as the lodges
or secret societies are doing. If you
are saved man or woman you know
that the church is the only Divine
institution in the world, and is not
that one of the strongest reasons why
you should be SO faithful to the
church that it cannot be said that it
is partially your fault that the church
is not doing as much good as are the
human organizations? If you are not
christian, you should remember that
the lodge or secret order is a
good humanitarian and philanthropic
institution only, and that it does not
claim to be of Divine origin, and there
fore II has no authoritative message
concerning human destiny, though its
ritualistic ceremonies are beautiful
and teach good moral lessons The
church alone, which is composed of
humble believers on the Lord Jesus
Christ, when any number of them as
semble together to worship the triune
God and testify the gospel of the
grace of God, is spiritually, perma-
nently and eternally, blessed, and all
other blessings are the by-products,
though the world is not cognizant of
this fact; therefore no human organi- |
cation, however good, should be SUBJ
stituted for the church, either by a |
christian or a non-christian, and all |
lodge members who have named the |
name of Christ should maintain this |
Divine distinction by a rigid regular
tty in church attendance for worship |
and testimony to the truth.
Third. 1t is a popular excuse that |
the churches are out of harmony with |
society, and many well-to-do chris /
tians do not attend church because
they are of the society caste If you
are really christian at heart you |
know that the church is not select |
people of style, culture or education, !
but rather selected number of peo-
pie, who are poor and rich, learned
and unlearned, and they all take the
guilty sinners name and the guilty |
sinners Savior claim, and they are ex-
pected to walk humbly and prayer
fully and obediently to the extent of |
unsympathy with any class of society
that does not WELD an influence for
the Lord Jesus Christ This being
true, your excuse should be turned
into real reason for every society
christian to take his and her place
In the church and to personally draw
the line as the Lord drew it with all |
world conformity. If you are not a
christian and you are making the
similar excuse, you are to be pitied
because of the professed christians
with whom you associate, and for that
reason you should become christian
and rebuke those who make the empty
profession, by obeying the Divine
command, which says: "Forsake not
the assembling of yourselves together,
as the manner of some is; but en-
courage one another: and so much
the more as We see the day approach
ing, when every one of us must give
an account of himself and of herself
to God"
Will you not attend church and
show your faith by being faithful to
the Divine command?
The pleasant purgative effect ex-
perienced by all who use Chamber s