The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1914-03-09
WHY I GO TO CHURCH.

An American statesman, as we take him to be-
has sounded a clear high, beautiful note on the
theme of church attendance, which, if responded
to by all the people would fill the churches through
out the land to overlooking. This Christian states
man is Hon. Claude Weaver, member of Congress
from Oklahoma, whose splendid testimony was
published in Leslie's Weekly. On motion of his
colleague Hon Scott Ferris unanimous consent
was given by Congress to have this extract from
Mr.. Viewers article printed in the Congressional
Record. 1t was an extraordinary procedure and is
itself splendid tribute to the men who represent
the people of this land at the national capital Mr.
Viewers topic was, 'Why Go TO Church." lie
said:
1t is sweet on a summers morning, when the
air is aquiver with the love songs Of the birds and
fragrant with the odor of roses blown, TO hear the
music of the churchgoing bells, an invitation to
the word-wearied to enter God Is temple and find
peace, because the instinct of worship is in the
heart of man and the Church is the temple of the
living God
90 to church because | find peace there, that
peace which De Quincy described as a resting place
from human abors Sabbath of repose, respite
granted from the secret burdens of the heart as if
| stood at distance and aoof from the uproar of
life; as if the tumult and fever and strife were
suspended as if there brooded over dove
like and hacyon calm.
60 to church because / love the music that
hear there, the mighty roll Of the great organ,
mingled with the marvellous symphonies of that
divine stringed instrument the human voice,
twisting all the chains that tie the hidden sOul of
harmony
20 to church because ! delight TO hear the
teachings of the preacher whose soul is dedicated
to God, whose field is as wide as God universe,
whose theme is the destiny of man, and whose
words are the oraces of fate. Marvellous is the
spell of the preacher to whom God has given
genius and conservation and the power of ilustra-
ton drawn from the old, sacred, immortal Book,
and from the miracles of nature less revealed
in the crimson-tipped flower turned up by the
plowshare of Robert Burns upon the soil of Ayr
than in the long reaches of the stargir skies.
go to church because ''the way is dark and
am far from home, and because the church is the
polar star to light my pathway in the rayless night
go to church because the church ministers not
only to the spiritual but also to the material needs
of life, and because it is there that the charities
that soothe and heal and bless are scattered at the
feet Of man like flowers
go to church because in that atmosphere vice
and crime wither and die.
l go to church because | hear the teachings of
the philosophy of Jesus, the incompatible man;
and if you say his teaching is philosophy and not
religion and that he man and not a god, then
the philosophy of that man has redeemed the world
from savagery and blessed mankind with Christian
civilization, and to my mind, it is thing worth
while to hear.
I 90 TO church because | find there consolation
and hope; because l see there the dawn and not
the sunset; and it is better for man, if the hope
is baseless and the vision but an elusive phantom,
to cherish a dream so glorious and beautiful than
to be weighted down and crushed with the quar-
ried mountains of a world without hope and with
out God.