Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1913-09-21
REV. DIR. FREDERIC D. sTURGIs.

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REV. DIR. FREDERIC d. STURGIS.
general and in all countries-in which
1t is claimed that the church is be-
coming inefficient or in other words
Is failing TO make good, goes without
saying. 1t is charged that a spirit OF
competition, even of rivalry though
II Is not recognized by either OF these
terms-on the part OF the churches
stands in the way Of reasonably
united effort for worthy sociologic
and humanitarian causes. That the
proletarian class-men of worth
while calber at work in the world
cannot be induced to fill its pews, and
that the real needs and spiritual de-
sires Of the masses are misunderstood
and neglected. If this can be proved
true then the problem Is Of more than
ecclesiastical interest; the moral and
social welfare OF society Is deeply
concerned with 1t.
On the one side is the church. with
its wealth, its tradition Of helpfulness,
its kind-hearted ministry, and on the
other the soul-hunger and the body
hunger, the sin, the sorrow and loneli-
ness, he longing OF the thronging
multitude for God and deliverance.
Such is the situation as II reveals
itself today And the question natu-
rally arises, what keeps these two
apart, the church and the fellow out
side?" why are they not brought In
To closer and more helpful fellow
ship"
know some people are saying that
the fault lies with the man outside
the church and not with the church
itself. Perhaps so. / am not willing,
however, to admit that, altogether.
But, suppose, for the sake Of argu
ment, that It does, isn't It a fact that
the church as originally established,
was for Just such people? The great
or the fault Of the man on the street
the greater the fault Of the church in
not reaching him with helpful min
istration. If that be true, then the
burden, 1t seems to me, is on the
church. where it was placed In the
beginning.
The Propagation Of Christianity.
But, no matter how we may differ
regarding some features of this ques-
tion, take for granted that we all
agree on this one point, at least: that
the propagation Of Christianity de-
pends almost wholly, II not entirely
upon the attitude of the church to-
ward the individual, and that social
economies, as q natural factor, enters
very largely into the problem.
That we are more keenly alive 20
the needs Of the other fellow. and SEN
sitive to our obligations to society as
perhaps men have never been before,
Is a well-recognized fact. No one can
look carefully into the best religious
thought and social service of our time
and not find there a new and very
powerful sense of social sin. This
sense of social sin, however, means
more and deeper than the
realization that existing conditions
ire somehow wrong; that our civiliZl-
ion is painfully Christian; that
some Of our proudest structures are
,uilt, MS James Russep Lowell said
hey were, "on the bodies and souls
u living men"
Beyond this has been growing to
'learer consciousness a painful sense
hat We all share in the guilt Of these
wrong conditions All through the lit
'rature of unrest one can detect a
note. an attitude Of /
onfession, an acknowledgment that /
he shame, the burden, rests on us all. |
There could not be a better illus I
ration of this truth than Jane Ad- /
lsms' book, Twenty Years in Hull /
iouse" From whatever angle We /
lew 1t one finds himself i'm reading /
his bool-in the presence # such |
pirit as meets him in the last chap |
ers of Isaiah, q spirit that thinks lit |
le of self, but that bears day and |
light the heavy burden of sin and |
misery for which we, all OF us, are
qually responsible.
Thc fact of the matter Is that the |
pirit that forgets itself in service Of |
he fellow outside the church is not /
he spirit to cry cut. what must | /
% to be saved?' But In the face of
ctual conditions revealed I'm the
earchlng social studies OF our time
here rests upon the church heavy
ieight Of responsibility for the sin
nd misery cf the man in tho street
In the synagogue a. N7z2reth.
here he preached his introduc ory
ermon. the ma-tsr stated with clea-
gertrude that he had
ome to preach glad tidings to the
cor. to heal the broken-hcartcd to
i've sight to The blind. to give de-
verance to these that were under
ppression. Was that his object 20
Mt some sunlight mo the houses I
rc poor: TO bring some comfort to
4" vns that wcep; TO give some da.
v,l ace to men that IRE In scrvi-
ide 10 drudacry and toll: 20 give
,me light to tho igrorant. was that
is ub'rc,? The vrr0le teaching nf
he frav-1r is n -la'u - khis point
vat o"~rv crild k~ows It. and It ~
of tUi pt 20 90 'Hgg'ing with his ,
r1s md 80 b'iinr over plain
centres ara twj-t'ng sentences that
re- strai,h th-t we by aav means.
m oct ~-~~v rrc~l them. II
Th1 NJ = t'ir Market Place.
---s --.-. III this HAT |