The Penn's Grove record., 1912-03-22
Lack Of
the Penitential
Note

TVHE worship of the modern
church Is a many-toned sym
phony. but in many cases one
~ chord is lacking-the peniten-
tial note. The Christianity Of
many people is a complacent contem-
plat1on-not a sorrow for sin and an
agony Of moral aspiration. The creed
of the multitude is: God is in his
heaven, all's right with the world and
u.s.. This mood Of superficial con
tentment is not that with which god
Illness" Is Joined in the beatitude and
declared to be great gain" but is
really a state Of indifference with re-
spect to such ideas as atonement and
regeneration Hence we find that,
while crowds jostle one another OF
the sunny way to the halls Of Gala
phas, or even the Temple courts, the
pathway to dark Gethsemane tempts
but few-here and there a Magdalene
or a contrite publican whose vital
powers have burned almost to the
socket-and yet Jesus Christ spent
more time, at least more congenial
hours, with publicans than he did
with Pharisees, and hardly ever re-
ferred to the Sadducees except to ex-
pose their shallow philosophy and
their still shallower hearts. Somehow
the Bible does strike the p%enitential
note-somehow it's promises are most
ly to humble and contrite souls.
1t is worthy to note that two re-
nowned preachers, both Englishmen
1t happens, have lately sounded a
warning against the spirit Of Snug
Pharisaism which seems to possess
large sections of the modern church.
Thus DR.. j. H. Jowett says: Every
thing Is not right among US. We are
busy, but we are not impressive. We
may interest, but we do not con-
strain. We may tickle mems palates,
but we do not make them feel the
bitterness of sin" So Rev. Charles
Brown rebukes the modern church for
its self-righteausness and "unctuous
rectitude," for it has no ~out-goings of
self-denying and self-giving service to
the people without who need help.
There are churches absolutely des.l-
tute Of any passion in this direction"
he declares. There are m%ultitudes
Of our church members who do not
care. They never give a thought to
the subject. They belong to a church
as they belong to a club. They pay
their seat subscriptions, they expect
their reserved place, they go to hear
their favorite preacher; and it ends
there"
Warning Worth Needing.
These warnings are needed. though
the indictment may easily be made
more severe than the facts warrant.
It behooves US not to berate others
in respect of self-righteousness and
elder brother" for the
prodigals, whether returning or unre-
turned, but to look into our own
hearts to sc whether they are sepul-
chres of pride instead of s~anctuaries
of penitence. Yet we must not be I'M
mindful of certain drifts of the times,
in which the leaders of the church
are in danger of being caught. It
may be, as the Christian World Lon-
DOM thinks, that preachers have al
lowed their personal and professional
interest in the fascinating intellectual
problems of theology and criticism to
defect them too much from the line
of preaching directly to the heart and
mind Of average modern congrega-
tons" 1t is not fair to blame only
the preachers for such loss of the unc-
ton of a prophetic message. for the
churches in the long run, and for the
most part, have just such preachers
as they want and as they make, and
none others. 1t is a time, not for
mutual misunderstanding, much less
for mutual recrimination, between
clergy and laity, but for a general
searching Of heart, for prostration be-
for the cross of Christ. for confession
of sin as well as confession of faith,
and for the taking Of such a docile
and teachable attitude before the
Master of US all as will preserve the
church from either Pharisaic heresy
or Sadducean NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Herald, Boston, Mass.