The Washington herald., 1911-07-17

Asserting that the church has not
kept pace with the fast changing
social and economic conditions,
Rev. Charles Stelzle, who is at the
head of the department of church
and labor of the Presbyterian Home
Mission Board, delivered a sermon
at the Church of the Covenant yes
terday which is certain to attract
widespread attention. He said that
the church must pay attention to
the Chicagoites and Brooklynites of
the present, rather than to the Hit
tites and Jebusites who lived four
thousand years ago, and that the
church, in order to, make good,
must direct religion so that it will
be of social value.
WHAT THE CHURCH MUST DO.
Can the church make good?' His
answered the question in the affirmative,
but he had decided ideas as to the lines
which it must follow. Asserting that re-
ligion was Unborn in every human being,
he said that the church was the outward
embodiment of religious feeling. IT'S ex-
istence was thus justified. But the sue
cess Of the church." he added, lis not
indicated by its great wealth, its enor-
nous membership, its splendid form of
worship. The church, in order to make
good, must direct religion so that it will
be of social value" 1t was the business
of the church, he continued, to convict
men of sin, but he emphasized the fact
that this meant sin in the concrete, rath-
er than in the abstract-"the sin of child
labor" he said, 'of underpay and over
work; the sin of insufficient protection
against fire in a shirt waist factory: the
sin of killing little children with a tene-
ment as we'll as with an AK. This also
is the business Of the church"
Must Deal with Men Of To-day.
DR.. Sickle did not argue, Of course. in
favor Of the church advocating any par
ticular social system. He was content
that it should be the exponent of the
fundamental principles of truth and JUS
tice. 1t is the business of the church, he
said, to inspire men to right living, to-
ward better citizenship and to become
good neighbors. Then he added:
The mission of the church is world
wide. If there is a child in the heart
OF Africa that is suffering unjustIy, the
church must demand justice in its be-
haf So long as single woman in
church cannot be satisfied. The mission
of the church is in the interest of the
whole man, physical, mental, moral and
spiritual. And this interest should be
should be more concerned about the
Chicagoites, the Pittsburgites. and the
Brooklynites than about the Perrizites
the Hittites, and the Jebusites of 1900
years ago"
Does Not Keep Pace with Conditions.
According to DR.. Sickle, the Young
Mems Christian Association, the Saliva
ton Army, and the rescue missions ara
simply evidences of the church endeayor-
ing to specialize itself in order to reach
certain classes of people. He differed.
he said. from a recent writer, who
claimed that the church was not a strong
ally of the many powerful forces max
Ing for greater democracy, although
he admitted that 1t did not always hitch
the big motor of its faith to big enough
Jobs of service, and frequently used
Corliss engine to run mechanical toys.
Tremendous power" he said, 'is fritz
tered away because of lack Of proper
direction and leadership with regard to
great twentieth century problems" He
added that the church had not kept pace
with the fast changing social and econo-
mic conditions, but its hope was in the
fact that the severest critics of the church
were within its own organization. It
was a powerful agency in the work of
social reform If it's efforts were tightly
directed, and 1t must be judged not by
ts worst sins and weaknesses, but by
is best achievements.
In his sermon last night Dr. Stelzle
addressed himself to worry" He char
lcterized 1t as the great American curse,
'ut it could be cured by realizing its
liter. absolute uselessness. IF you were
o spend a dozen eternities In worry" he |
aid. you could not change a single |
act"