The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-05-05
PURPOSE OF CHURCH.
NOT SOCIAL SERVICE
DR.. Mills, President of Han
/ over, Tells Presbyterian
Men Religion Should
! Purge Sin From Hearts.

THE greatest work of the church is
TO clean wickedness out of mems
hearts and substitute righteousness in
the place. But the church's function
is not social work. l do not believe
in church engaging in social work or
teaching agriculture. But since l have
been studying the rural church, have
become an advocate of good roads.
The church cannot go into the various
functions in which man is associated
but it can fill him with spiritual in
SEPARATION so that he will perform his
duties in a righteous manner"
This was the keynote of a lecture
of DR.. w. A. Mills, president of Han
over college, to prove that the church
is not dead but is divine institution
with the bearing of inspiration to men
and the supplanting of evil with right
eousness for it's object.
There were about fifty men at the
banquet which preceded the speech in
the hall of the First Presbyterian
church last night when the Mems club
held its last meeting for the year. H.
S. Weed, president of the organiza-
ton, presided and made his farewell
speech asking the men of the church
to work to save the religious enthus-
iasm stirred up by Evangelist Honey
we'll
Churches Lack Spirit.
"The churches of Richmond are not
on fire with enthusiasm, Mr.. Weed de-
clared. "None of them are or we
would know it. Mr. and Mrs. Clase
city today and told me what great
work they are doing at Union City. l
do not believe they are though, or We
would hear about it."
President Kelly of Earlham college,
said in introducing President Mills,
that Indiana has produced the biggest
men heard about in the world. Scien-
tific anthropological study has proved,
he said, that the armies of the United
States contain the biggest men of any
armies of the world and that Indiana
has sent forth the biggest men to that
army.
President Mills is a personal friend
of President Kelly and of DR.. S. r.
Lyons of the Reid Memorial church
At times in his speech, he quoted
passages used by DR.. Lyons twenty
six years ago when DR.. Lyons was
pastor at Hanover college and Mills
was a student there, going to his
church.
Il am sorry Kelly is no longer in
a position to push through legislation
giving high schools the option of in
Producing Bible study as part of the
regular curricula. That's the biggest
piece of craftsmanship in recent
years." President Mills remarked in
opening.
1T has been said that the only
legitimate function of the church is
social service work and that the
church of Jesus Christ is dead and
has accomplished its purpose. This
represents the opinion of many men
now, good men, filled with humanity
and desire to relieve the sufferings of
others.
The church has no right to exist
in it's own state. 1t has right to
exist only as servant of God and
we have to admit that there are a
great many churches which do not
seem to justify their existence.
Some Mems Conception.
Some men look upon the church as
a creation of man, and development
of the wisdom of man, built up like
government. In that group we find
the men with a socialstic trend.
IF we really appreciated our re
ligion as much as we say we do, we
would put more pep in it and more
than half the citizens of indianapolis
would not be on the outside of the
church If there is no tangible ex
hibition of growth in a church, we
feel that it has been failure. But
when Jesus was asked, where is the
Kingdom of God?' he replied, 1T
cometh within In 1888. l was sit
ting in DR.. Lyons church at Hanover
when he said something that stills
clings in my mind. In speaking of the
purity of the lily, he said, And ii
grew out of the foulness of muck
Problems of Inner Man.
"The work of Jesus Christ in heal
ing gives us some excuse for social
work. | believe there is a real place
for the work of the visiting nurse
Labor problems are problems of the
inner man. Trust problems are prob
lens of the inner man. Jesus know
that social wrongs are part of the
inner man.
Economic social, ethical, spiritual
problems are essentially spiritual
questions. Get God into mems hearts
and you have no gambling evil and
no saloon evil l do not believe a
church should mix into politics.
The great educational problem now
is not to increase the amount OF in
struction but to teach them how to use
their knowledge and skill beneficient
Nv ana 1OT LuS SOOu Vi OlucIS hllO "
of nothing more dangerous than a
skilled man with evil in his heart.
feel as college president that l am
under a great responsibility of keep
ing certain men out Of education
"The greatest social work the
church can render is to clean the
wickedness out of mems hearts and
substitute righteousness in place We
should take more definite steps on
some social questions but we should
always remember that the kingdom is
in the heart"