The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-02-03
Speaks on Changed Method
of the Work Done By
the Church
DENIES CHARGE
OF INEFFICIENCY
Because Church No Longer Works
Directly, Work Is None the Less
Hers" He Says-Era of
Brotherly Love Here

day before a very large congregation
the Rev. Middleton Stuart Barnwell,
the new pastor, preached his first SER
mon. Dr. Barnwell took as his text
Isaiah xL-9, 20 Jerusalem that bring
est good tidings, lift up thy voice with
strength Say unto the cities of Judal1
Behold your Cod" F" He said:
For thousands of years from the
lips of prophets and priests that cry
has sounded in the world, and for
thousands of years so many of Gods
children have not heard their Fathers
name; have not seen their Fathers
face.
"The days in which we live are prac-
tical days 1t is an age all but mad
dened with material prosperity; OBJ
sessed with a passion for worldly sue
cess. Its watchword is efficiency; its
twin guiding stars are dividends and
profits 1t is a good watchword; its
guiding stars are good stars by which
to set our course, If only they are
understood in broader and more in
elusive way. 1t rs an age that takes
nothing for granted, when every in
stitution must give a reason for its
existence There Is no respect for years.
or for authority that has passed When
once our task Is finished and given to
the world, the world accepts the good
of our work, but IL our usefulness is
ended thrusts us into the background
to die of neglect, IL indeed We are
spared from immediate destruction. We
are judged, not by what we have been
nor by what we hope to be, but judged
by the profit we bilng, as we are to
the world as 1t is today. That is the
standard by which the world is meas
uring; that is the standard by which
we must be Judged.
Now, suppose you apply this test
to the church. Whore do you find 1t to
stand? What is the message that 1t
has to bring to the world that the
world has not outgrown? Grant that
in the days of King John the church
was the bulwark between the freedom
OF the people and the tyranny of the
state; grant that in the dark ages she
saved to us the treasures of ancient
learning, and that through all the ages
she has instilled into our hearts those
principles of justice and brotherhood
on which the laws Of nations are rested,
Yet we have grapsed these blessings,
and made them fully our own; have
safcguarded them in constitution and
college. Is there any further thing that
the church has to Gffer? Has she any
stock in trade for the market of the
world save an imperlshab1e hope Of
better things to come? Has she mes
sage still to bring to US which We
cannot find elsewhere, and which We
still are needing? If So. says the world,
save 1t. If not, cast IL out along with
fuedalism and other systems of bygone
days, which have lived their lives and
done their works and passed on to un-
remembered graves.
Past Achievements Nothing
"The message of the church to the
men of today: BY the value of that is
she judged. To the world at large. past
achievements, future promises are
nothing worth. Gathered at the bar of
Judgment, with their thumbs turned
to earth are the children of the world
i'm ever increasing numbers, rejecting
the church which has but a hope to
offer them. And her servants think
upon her stones dn1 il pitieth them to
see her In the dust
THAT the cnurch has had prac-
tical message, no student of history can
deny. There was a time when she had
message of healing, restoring health
as Christ restored Monks and faithful
friars followed the armies of contend
ing Europe and ware as angels OF low
ing mercy to the sick and wounded.
| Every hillcrest was crowned with a
monastery, which was church and hos
pital and college in one, and the
! broken souls of men found surcease of
! pain in these quiet havens of rest. But
! with the exception of certain mission
fields, this work is no longer ours.
The Red Cross Is following the armies
of Europe; skilled physicians and dis
! trict nurses are ministering to the
needs of suffering humanity more ef-
| fectively than the church Is able to do.
This message of healing which once
was hers has passed on to other hearts
and hands That is the popular judg-
| menti
"With learning, the process has been
the same The church taught the chill
! dren. and the children through the
| centuries developed into enlightened
states, and now those states teach the
/ children. Endowed universities carry
on the search for truth in more scien-
tific way than the church can WORK.
The church is no longer the teacher.
That, again, is the popular Judgment
"Now. here we come to the broader
| understanding of that word. efficiency
| TO a fairer and more Just appreciation
| of what profits and dividends mean.
+, In your mills 1t is not the whirhn z
/ spindles, or the roaring of the furnace.
or the crashing of the steel that brings
| YOUR profits. These things are but the
outward signs. The real driving power
| In your plants is not the flashing cur
| rent or the Kissing steam, but the
! ouiet. patient working of the master
| mind of man, which harnessed these
| forces and gave to them orderly d.
| rection and guidance. Your furnaces
| and labor and ponderous rolls would
| he but chaos. idleness and loss unless
| thev had behind them that directing
and inspiring nina. Your mills are
more than dead inert masses of iron.
Thev are the visible embodiment Of
tbe human will. They are living ideas
| transformed into straining steel. They
are but the unseen mind of man. Wis
| ibly toiling. Efficiency. dividends,
/ profits-these things are not in your
machines, but in the master mind be-
| hind them, and which brought those
machines to birth. This is the truth
the socialist overlooks when he Judges
| the world of industry; this is the truth
| the world overlooks when II condemns
Iinefficiency in the church.
Human Welfare Dividend
| "Human welfare is a dividend. The
relief of human pain Is profit The