The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1915-11-04
In the Religious World
Overlooking the Prsae her.

4 EVi tou8 tlmc Ming JOaSu JIlou
TO have the temple repaired. but
without success. He was slow In
finding out the reason. which was
nothing more or less than that he
had followed very modern fashion
OF trying to have the priests do It
all. He wanted the priests to pro-
vide the money and to do the work.
but that was more than even the
patient preacher could stand. Not
until Z business syktem Was intro
duced. sud burdens distributed. and
the lay workers called In each 10 do
his own part. was the big Job of
temple restoration put through.
There are good many objections
to the present popular program Of
loading all the work OF church on
to the preacher. One II sufficient
to point out. II does not succeed.
There never was preacher big
enough to carry a whole church; and
there never will be. Those congre-
cations who are asking their minis
ters to be errand boy. parish visitor.
property committee, financial agent,
church supper organiser, delegsteto-
everything. and general factotum
and roustabout. are guilty of sew.
eral blunders. the cardinal One be-
ing sheer stupidity. The only way
church Is going to thrive IL for
everybody to bear his part. The
minister's tasks ought to be to
preach the Gospel. instruct the peo.
pie and TO be pastor Of the flock.
The officers OF the church should
have gumption enough to see that
he does this without neglecting II,
and that they 90 their own share OF
the work with equal fidelity. The
priests fitted beautifully into Joash's
scheme when Joash came to his
senses, and developed a business
like scheme for the enterprise Of
temple repairing.
| Money and Religion.
II has been said that the quickest
way to dampen the enthusiasm of a
prayer meeting IL to talk money.
Nevertheless. as Of. old, so today,
money IL needed for the work OF the
church. To secure 1t from proper
motives and In adequate amount. Is
one Of the greatest single dihlcul-
ties of organized religion. Somehow.
the church has not a. keen Q hnan.
cial sense as she had In the days
Of Joash. There Ia more pettiness
exhibited In the financial aspect Of
religion than In any other manifesta.
ticn of Christianity-and that Is
saying a good deal.
Anybody who has ever sat on
church board has Witnessed the
strange phenomenon Of business
men, who are accustomed to doing
practical things In practical way,
and to conducting large enterprises
In broad spirit. going about
church matters with an entirely new
state OF mind. which is chiefly char
acterized by It's smallness. Who,
can explain why IL Is that when
business men 80 at the financial
side OF the church their ideas imme-
diately become peanut size? Men
who pay generously In the chamber
Ut commerce. or In their social clubs,
count pennies when II comes to the
church.
There Is many a man with an In
come OF thousands Of dollars q year
who Is total stranger to the expert.
ence Of giving az much as one hun.
dred dollars In single year to the
church. A whole crowd of epigrams
and stories have arisen. concerning
this well known condition. One is
Some men give according to their
means, and others according to
their meanness." Some Chris
tians are % stingy that when the
minister gives out Old Hundred
they start to sing Ninety and Nine
In order to get one per cent or"
II Christian has not religion
enough to give generously. proper
tionately and systematically to the
church, he has surely not religion
enough to take him to heaven, or to
any other Christian goal. The first
evidence Of revival In religion In
many a church would be an increase
In the pastors salary. and the re-
pairing Of the church. have OBJ
served in heather lands that at the
entrance TO the temples there 10 a
large chest-Joash fashion-for the
receipt Of offerings. The first act Of
worship in heathendom is to make Q
| gift.
Now, as Of old. the grave problem
Is one OF putting the church into ut
condition on her material side, and
In her spiritual strength, to meet
the crisis that Is now open tire
world.