Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-03-19
In The Religious World
(REVIEW SCHOOL LESSON.l

| best brains of earth are today engaged
| in promoting human welfare; which is
| to say, they are servants of the king.
| dom.
Nobody who expects to hold any
rating as thoughtful person now des-
pises the day of small things in the
kingdom. The shallow and supercil-
ious scepticism of Ingersoll no longer
has any vogue. Everybody perceives
that the tree which today affords shell
ter and fruit to the weary millions is
of Christs planting. The essentially
Christian character of the present So
cial reform Is admitted. Jesus Is &C.
claimed as the real leader of the hosts
of progress and his songs sung in DO.
litical conventions.
Leaving Out the Church.
A new note Is being sounded in the
present discussions of the deeper ten
deEcy Of our time. Most persons ad-
NIT that our day Is fundamentally re.
liglons. Men and women are hungry
fol- spiritual satisfactions. But ques-
ton was raised in recent important
and suggestive sympo SUM in The
North American, Philadelphia, wherein
leaders of thought made answer to the
inquiry rs a revival of religion i'm.
pending?" Most Of the replies gave
Judgment that something like revival
is either coming or else is already
here. But. some discerning men quer-
led us it not coming outside of the
church," Broadly speaking. has the
church abdicated her religious leader
ship? Is not the world running ahead
Of her spiritual perception and pro.
gress? Are the new expressions and in !
terpretations of the days religious
mood vocalized by others than the
leaders of the church, the men who
are supported by the church and whose
whole time belongs to the church?
That was what had happened in the
time of Jesus. The ecclesiastical lead
ers crucified him because he did not
conform to their encrusted methods
and interpretations. but was living
voice Of vital truth--and truth is ever
expanding and growing. like the king ,
dom which is it's custodian. More than !
once in her long history. human
thought and human service has outran |
the church. and it has needed cat
aclysm to bring the latter up to the !
times.
Very searching is this kingdom idea.
~ PCACLiol TIC COuoSlCuSCo vi ali
alert church officials and members |
The kingdom is ever growing. and TAX |
ing on new forms and enlarging its ap-
proach to new conditions: is The !
church? Consider how instinctively
down town churches amid altered /;
neigbborhood conditions. seek for an
endowment fund. in order to perpetu-
ate the old order. If. as some con- '
tend, and as certain English endow-
mcnts clearly illustrate, an endowment |
is the hand of dead past on a living |
present, would it not be better to turn |
some of the energy that the church
now spends in raising endoWments in
to vitalizing the present membership?
A really live church is always equal to
the problems of its own age.
temporaneousness is a charac-
teristic of Christ's gospel. 1t IS always
up to date. He is sufficient for each |
new emergency. BY Him all fresh con-
tingencies can be met.
Il know of land that is sunk in |
shame.
Of hearts that faint and tire;
And I know Of Name, Name.
Name.
Can set the land on fire.
It's sound is brand. it's letters
fame.
But I know of a Name, a Name. a !
Name.