The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-12-04

churches are there in AZ" about Is
SIR" 'Ah, yes, yes, that accounts for il
No wonder you are here. Others vii
follow you. So much seetaf.an rivalr,
disturbs the mentiferous ether 20 sue
an extent that the psyschic equilibrium
| is destroyed"
Now. do not veuch for the philosophy
OF this poor lunatic, but the great truth
which appeals to me is THAI what We
! need is not so much more churches bu
more cooperation and less isolation
among the existing churches. A Vas'
amount of ethical and spiritual energy
is wasted, because so many churches
are working in isolation and frequently
at cross purposes. The difficulty does
not lie in the simple fact that there ar.
so few or so many churches, aithousl
much can be said upon that point bu'
the misfortune is that the religious forces
of our city are not organized as ,ney
| ought to be and can be organized. iners
is great amount of waste from iaSA
of sympathy and co-operatioo.
After centuries of discipline in tears
and heartaches and bloodshed the
churches have learned the great lesson
of federation. The sword OF suspicion
and persecution has been shcathed. Re-
1igious bodies have learned to live TO-
gether peaceably, but perhaps they nave
not yet learned to work together iruie-
fullx. Vow. do not know whether we
have too many or too few churches IN
proportion to our population, put ser'-
ousiy doubt whether the existing cnurcneS
are generally over crowded py attend
ing worshippers. Now, II lie lhnuelee
OF The church is to be measured by at
tendance at church, then it is truly inn
nor.ant for MS to ascertain why the IN
fluence should not be more far reaching
than it is.
Perhaps 1t may be due to the fact tha-
The methods of church work nave no.
kept abreast with the advancing interests
of the day. Pulpit conservatism anu
prayer meeting ecstasy and revival excite
ment should not constitute the boundaries
OF church work. Pastoral visitations are
bainqnl hnt nor all-sufficient. The church
must go forth into the market place anu
street. wherever people are, thither the
sniritllal message of the church shouic
he carried. There should no difference
between the so-called religious ana sec
MA. life All of life should be sacred.
Religion should not be limited TO wof-
ship in its different forms, to phrase
oloev of a theoretical belief, 10 sehtl-
mental expression, to abstract ana ulspu'-
able propositions, TO loose solt Vi SUI
mission to one or the other preVaiiihs
forms of church government
The trouble is that many of us nave
fallen into the mistake to think that any
one is religious if he does what custom
has defined as religious duties, as, Tor
example going to church, worsh1plng ar
cordins TO a favorite form, reading ths
Rible in a mechanical way, repeating fof-
m1llas of belief, etc. And, OF course,
having such notions, we make ourselves
nelieye that religion is progressing IL 1t
gets more and more people to join In
doing such things, and that the church is
growing when it succeeds in enrolling
more members or getting more people 10
frequent its prayer meetings.
If we would widen the influence of re-
licion, we must become imbued with the
truth that the church is not an institu-
ton merely to keep up a round of wor-
ship and bring as many as possible 10
conform to that round. The influence OF
the church will be greater If its scope VIII
no broader, if it will gain in reaching
ont. so as to produce lives that shall eff
feet divine things. The church should
go forth into the broad world. seeking
not TO save man but rather to serve
man: yea to serve them in their various
demands, their individual problems, their
business difficulties, their political asso-
Citations. II it will do this, it may have
to cut loose from some of the methods
hitherto employed; it may have to adopt
the new method of so-called institutional
and social churches, but 1t will better ae-
complish its purpose, which Is TO serve
mankind.