Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-12-08
DOES THE CHURCH
COUNT? ELLIS
International Sunday Sea- j
Lesson Is ''Faithful,s
Unto Death
Lesson for December 10 is Faith
full Unto Death" - Revelations:
Chapters , and ..
(By William T. Ellis)

(By William T. Ellis)
Many persons to-day have no time
for the church. and they are brainy.
moral and pub1ic-spirited persons,
too. That unpalatable fact is COM
monty lodged by church folk. I'm
deniably though there is large
group of social reformers who do not
take the church into their thinking.
They do worse than oppose it: they
ignore it. Now what shall the open
minded christian say to this condi-
ton?
The question is pertinent in the
Hight of the present Sunday School
lesson, which deals with the seven
churches of Asia - for, although only
three churches are indicated in the
assigned passage, the study would be
lop-sided unless it considered all
seven city churches, established in
the great centers of Asia Minor, in
the seats of Roman power and cul-
sture. The wonderful achievements of
the new gospel are apparent from the
simple fact that within the life time
of one man, the Apostle John, who
had stood by the cross of the crucitied
and apparently defeated founded of
the church, the brotherhood has be-
ccme a real power in all the imperial
centers of Rome's dominions. So fully
matured has the church grown to be
that we find John now warning it
against danger and decline. Certainly
the christian church was not neglig
ible quantity in the first century of
the christian era.
The Church Before the City
This author, who was translating
messages straight from heaven, did
rot write to the seven cities in Asia.
Any worldly-wise author would have
dcne so, as any statesman. Great and
proud cities were these beautified by
the art of Rome and Greece - Ephe-
sus Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira,
Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. Every
one was city of distinction, a factor
in, the life of that Roman Province
known as Asia, now called Anatolio.
The student of hi,~ory finds a wealth
of interesting material in the mere
facts of the rise and progress of these |
seats of dominion.
Yet the inspired writer addressed
these centers as churches. To him, ,
the body of believers was more than
the marble theaters, the statue-adorn- |
ed forums. the temples or the other
great works of architecture. Not a |
word do we find in this book about
the dignifed names associated with |
these cities, some of whom ignored |
and despised the little community of |
christians. These little groups were
the one essential and abiding force
from Johns standpoint. The church |
in Ephesus meant more to him than
the city OF Ephesus itself, for these
groups of believers were representa- |
tiVe of a permanent and ever-increas- |
ing spiritual force, and the Kingdom |
that outlasted the sway of the Caesars. |
That Is why living church is the |
most important force in any city. 1t
represents eternal values It's work
is done with and upon human spir-
It's. In sense incomprehensible to |
mere materialists it is shaping des-
tiny. The church lives in and for two |
worlds. 1t is not merely an inter |
national corporation, but also a uni |
Eersal corporation, with its largest |
destiny in the world which lies beyond |
the present life. All it's most import |
ant transactions and traffickings of |
il1e nave to do with the things which |
are eternal
Why Watch the Church?
Herein is the big blunder of the
men VINO are not interested in the |
chureh and who are formulating pro |
grams for the amelorating of the |
worlds evil conditions without a con
sideration of the christian church |
Despite all her shortcomings and tbe
material -mindedness of many of he,
leaders, the church is shaping life
aunaanentaily, and for both time and
eternity. She alone has ADEQUATE
motives to bring to bear upon hrman |
nature. No other program but hers
undertakes to make over the essential
character of mankind.
60 the person who goes into church |
work sets his hand to the biegeet
task of all. He is serving the wor1d i,
the ways that count most. becausa he
is building for eternity. The higbast
expression of human capacity is found
IN the man who is working most no
tently IN and through and for the
Because the church Is so ,i+oI oil
VINO love her should be fearless in
suarolng her against wrong tenden-
Ctes. l. is sorry day when the mon
ol church settle down in smup
@ @Soilplacency' content to be mere mem
oers OF an organization that is s,,c
cess, when measured nv uo,.Ieii,
standards. This lesson is the NO..
dramatic of all appeals for solicitnde
1or the church. Heaven cares for
aao unutch on earth, and holds her
work. The church militant "a enu Ler
the supervision of the cburcb uiiagr ~,
nmphant. uich tfl-
seven Spots on the Man
When John, the aged, wrote tbo
s,-iIi - ailu mysterious PASSAGES that
81! L To-Day be studied by millions of
nJ,nday SUNG school members, he had in
real c,fies seeh -r real churches in seven
put on the map. His feet had +rod "a
gen their streets. He knew their
CHRISTIANS by name. Even now. thoupb
war mas closed all of Turkeys eates
traveller may look forward to Wis
ulng the sites of the seven act,IoI
cities, 10 whose churches the second
and third chapters of the ReveIatinr
were directed. 'ioh
All OF these cities are now in ruins
except Smyrna, which is a great rner-
cantile city, largely dominated bv the
cLrlstlan creeks. but at present in