Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-01-27
GO TO Church"
SUNDAY, FEB. 10
Rev. DR.. Dawson Endorses Move
ment, Which Will Be Observed
Here Next Month.

Leaders of the movement in this
city assert they have met with much
encouragement In their appeal. They
are confident that on Sunday, Feb
ruary Is, they will assemle in the
various churches every man and
woman who can be reached by the
appeal
1t is proposed to have every resi-
dent of Newark visit church on that
day. no matter what his religious be-
| lief, race or color, and particularly
those who are not affiliated with any
/ church or religious sect
The movement is to be nation wide
and in nearly every city special
| preparations have been made, but
various dates for the observance have
been selected.
Appeal by Clergyman.
Rev. DR.. William ]. Dawson, rec
tor of the First Presbyterian Church,
became interested In the plan sew
eral months ago. He inquired of the
methods used in other cities to estab-
fish "go-to-church" Sunday. When
the movement got under way here
| he became one of Its local leaders
DR.. Dawson makes the following ap-
peal to the men of Newark to indulge
in religious belief and worship more
! frequently:
Does the church answer any real
need in human nature? Does 1t full
fill any needful function in human
life? Can we Justify its existence?
I need not remind you that there are
many voices which answer each one
of these questions with a negative.
The church Is regarded by some men
as an effete institution, by others as
an expensive anomaly, and by many
more as a negligible factor in human
life.
II know in my own heart how soon
the spirit of devoutness fades when
from any cause 1 am deprived of pub
lie worship for any length of time,
and when I see a youth, to whom
religious worship has been the at
mosphere of childhood, gradually
withdrawing himself from the means
of grace, I tremble for him. I tremble
for him because I have seen what it
means. I have seen the light of as
piration dying out of young eyes,
as the sunshine dies from the cloud,
leaving only gloom. I have watched
character and all the finer part of a
man deteriorate. I have known rich
men whose spiritual decay has been
in the ratio of their worldly success,
and at this hour I can think Of men
me to the house of God to keep Holy
Day, who now lie in Jail and peni-
Tertiary, who are dying in charity
wards of hospitals, who are rotting
and starving in the streets, and all
their misery began when they forsook
the tabernacle of their God.
Claim of the Church.
at say without fear of contradic-
ton that the great calm of the
church upon the world is that it has
grown souls in men, and that these
are the men who have done the most
to uplift humanity. IF that claim be
true, who is there that will dare to
speak of the church as an effete in
stitution or as a negligible factor in
the social evolution of mankind?
you have ceased to go to church.
You have your Sunday golf, your
Sunday dinner parties; you grudge
| a single dollar given to Christ, a
single hour given to public worship.
Oh, do you not see that your own
souls are wasting for lack of religion?
1t is possible that for some of you
there is an inherited instinct of
morality which will hold you stead
fast in right doing for a long time
to come, but inherited instinct will
not suffice for your children. They
will grow up with dwarfed souls,
with spiritual instincts wholly unde-
yeloped and the day may come when
their shame will break your heart,
And even in yourself the symptoms
OF wasted soul will grow more man
ifest with time. Look back through
the years and compare yourself to-
day with what you were twenty years
ago, when you went to church. Have
you not cause to say. 1T was better
with me then than it is now" For
you are richer in sordid wealth but
! poorer in all else, and you know 1t.
1t may be that Christ will have to
say to you poor rich men what He
said to Judas: Thou hast wasted
myself, and what shall it profit a
man if he gain the whole world and
lose his own soul%
Rev. Lewis B. Hills. assistant
rector of the First Presbyterian
Church. is secretary of the executive
committee in charge of the "go-to
church" Sunday movement here. He
declared today that he had never
been interested in a movement where
the appeal to the public met such
generous response as the present cam.
paign brought from Newarkers.
F Leroy Smith, religious director
of the Y. NJ. C. A, of Newark, is also
interested in the campaign and re-
ports considerable progress IN his
work. Another enthusiast in the
work is Rev. Joseph Hunter, of the
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.
"Tll go after the people in my
parish with automobiles. if neces-
sary," said the pastor today. "But it
does not look as if it will be neces-
sary to bring them in by force What
mean Is that if there are any per-
sons who are inflrm and want to
come to church that day I'll hire ma
chimes to bring them here"
Executive Committee.
The members Of the executive COM
mittee in charge of the "go-to-
church" Sunday in Newark are as fol-
lows:
Rev. William H. W. Reimer, of
Trinity English Lutheran Church;
Rev. DIR. William j. Dawson, of the
First Presbyterian Church; Rev.
James H. Mcdonald. of st. Luke's
NJ. E. Church; Rev. Riley A. Vose, of
the Clinton Avenue Baptist Church;
Rev. T. Arid Moffat, of the First Con-
gregationalist Church; Rev. Charles
H. Stewart, of the North Reformed
Church; Rev. Isaac M. Knipe. of the
First United Presbyterian Church,
and Rev. Lewis B. Hills, assistant
rector of the First Presbyterian