The Washington herald., 1914-03-01
The "Sermen Barrel and Is ID EGect.-PeopIe Are Beco-
ing Frivolous, Asserts This Minister, and Claims
Amusements Prove the Allegation.

slave trafic. little that would bring
| shame and sorrow into the hearts OF
patriotic Americans.
Il call upon all ministers 70 begin
preaching and to stop reciting. to begin
preaching with power. wisdom, force and
vision as prophets alone can preach And
] call on them to pray. not to mouth
canned prayers or mechanically to repeat
the Lords Prayer. but TO pray with
fervor. energy and faith Mountains car
be moved and valleys filed by the use
of prayer. Prayer win start the blood
booming through a stagnant church. Blu:
sleeping minister cannot awake a
sleeping congregation
why Many Churches Are Dull.
"a live church Is the most active body
Of human beings In any community. 1t
beats n bargain rush at a drygoods store.
The world says that churches ordinarily
are duh places and seem to lack In
cheer and helpfulness- That is because
they are shut up except for a perfume
tory service on Sunday and for a little
while on. prayer meeting night when
Brother Jones recites the same prayer
that he has been reciting every week
for twenty years. All churches, whether
they be In the country, in towns or In
the cities should be open from Monday
HsofttLS ~ . " NtoGh hhCIG oho1Ao Dc
something doing every day or night in
the week.
THE sunshine of heaven and the sun
shine OF the human heart are what our
churches require Throw open the doors.
Call In the children and make them feel
that they are at home and not in a
prison. Give the young people something
to do. Give the men something to think
about. Church work is for men. Put
love. sympathy. fire. truth, and wisdom
into the sermons and the men will i'm
med .ately take notice. Then they will not
have to he dragged to church by their
wives. only to nod In their pews while
the ministers drone out empty nothings
that would make q craven image want
to take a nap"
What have you TO say about slangy
revivalists and their slam-bang methods
/ asked.
Slang and claptrap have no place in
the serious work of calling men from evil
ways. All revivaiists have my benedic-
ton and love. but / frankly say to the
professional evangelists that they are
outside their rights when a they mis-
represent the Gospel and do or say any
thing that is vulgar or unseemly. No
man should be y revivalist unless he has
the Endorsement. the authority and the
scrutiny of some great church. IL is not
decent for a man In order to be an evan
gelist 10 cut loose from churches or de-
and go out into the word
using the slang and methods Of the cheap
politician.
Are the people becoming frivolous
Yes: the picture shows demonstrate
IL. the vaudeville strge proves II. the in
ane novels enforce II. The magazines Of
the country have deteriorated and many
widely circulated newspapers are no more
than bureaus for the writing of catchy
headlines. The headline mind. with
which thousands Of Americans are af-
fiicted. is really one of the serious men,
tai maladies Of the time
why are church fights more bitter
even than fights among politicians?
Because they are generally carried on
by persons who disregard every church