The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-05-01
IS PRETTY HARD
PLACE T0PREACH
This What Eminent Divine Has
to Say About New York
City.
OLD-FASHI0NED SUNDAY
NO LONGER EXISTS
Neglect of Sunday Night WOr-
ship Due to Church Peo-
pie Themselves.
BY D, v. FRANCIS.

G3y Leased Wire to The Tribune.
NEW YORK. April So.-Dr. Macarthur
is always a fayorite In New York. or
course, as a plain, ordinary newspaper
man l can judge of him only as citi-
zen and measure the regard in which he
is held by his fellow citizens by tho In
tcrest which is always shown In his pub,
)isbed nttcranceS OF general topics, Dul 4
think that ministers and lay folk alike
all over the country Will agree with me
that what he said recently in regard 10
his experiences in religious a11alrS IN
New York CITY was quite interesting. IL
is not every minister Of the gospel who
can speak from an experience OF forty
years in one church. and IL is that. that
to my mind gives the special charm 10
the doctors recent interview with o.
representative OF n New York newspa~
per. DR., Macarthur did not Ike the
as the ministerial cemetery and III MS
interview on his four decades of pro-
claiming the gospel In the largest city
In America he said.
III New York is the graveyard of
preachers some Of us are pretty Lively
corpses. StiI I recognize il as n pretty
hard place In which to preach. In GER
tain respects it is harder today than
forty years ago, Sunday Is not observed
today as a time of church-goinS by
church people as it was forty years ago.
Then few thcaters and concert halls were
open on Sunday. Those which were open
were generally In parts OF the city where
foreigners especially abounded. Now
every Sunday Calvary church is sur
rounded by concerts whose prices are
lower on Sunday than any other day OF
the week, There are also attractive lee
lures in the neighborhood These arc
palronized by church people.
Forget All About Church.
"a clergyman near by on a recent
Sunday night paid n visit TO Carnegie hall
after his own service. and he says he saw
more OF his own congregation there than
were in his own church The neglect OF
The Sunday night service Is a severe trial
fulncss that ] can say l have not had
10 suffer In this respect. But I have to
work hard for Calvary's night attend
ance.
This neglect of Sunday night worship
is not due TO those who observe what
is called the continental Sabbath II Is
who deliberately neglect the Sunday night
service. Some of them are trustees
deacons, elders. These same matters
we're discussed forty years ago, when. as
n young man not yet out OF college. I
WAS called TO New York. The night serv-
ice is much more neglected by church
people now.
Sunday Evening Receptions,
To-day they have Sunday evening teas
and receptions, not being willing just to
stay Mt home themselves. but actually
urging their nelghbors 10 stay away from
church, too. These people. therefore. are
bringing up 4 class OF children who do
not care for the Sunday night service.
Ministers ought to put their best effort
on their Sunday evening sermon. Many
pastors have contributed toward the neg
lcct of the evening worship by preaching
any OLD thing that they might have on
hand. or by not preaching at all. They
turn over the service 10 their assist
ant.
This is all wrong. II is rather going
out of fashion in these days for ministers
to make pastoral calls. / found in my
early days in New York that home
going pastor makes a church going peo-
pie. For nine years | had no assistant.
I did 2ll the calling myself. ] spent hours
each day climbing stairs and visiting In
apartment houses and tenement houses.
have made as many as l2o calls week.
sometimes twenty-five an afternoon. Il
can't do as much OF This as | once did
but try TO see each family once a year
and to make calls on all who are i'll ]
believe the man who will do this todny