Norwich bulletin., 1916-10-30
BAYS CHURCH IS
 NOT LOSING GROUND
Central Baptist Pastor Answers Cur rent Day Question at Sunday Even- Ing Service.

At the Sunday evening service at the | Central Baptist church the pastor, | Ftev. Joel B. Slocum, D. D., delivered ] the third in the series of special ser mons on current day topics. His sub | 5ect was Is the Church Losing Ground l and his text was Luke. 1s-5. When the Son of Man Cometh Shall He Find Faith on Earthf In part Rev. MT. SIocum said; Jesus was teaching lesson of the persistent prayer. He gave. as an ex- ample, the case of psor widow who was bounded by an unprincipled aI- versary and who sought to escape from the adversary by applying to a Judge. The judge himself ESas unjust and sell hsh and turned at first deaf ear to her request. But he yielded, for he did not welcome the growing ffe- quency of the interruptions that din- turbed his peace of mind and his lux ury of body. So he granted her re- quest on those purely selfish grounds Then Jesus turned from His parable to drive home the truth that man ought always to pray and not to faint; for instead of having an unjust judge who will hear their requests and answer them because he wants to get rid of them, they have a loving Father who will hear and answer because He loves the petitioners and sympathizes with their need. But immediately follow
 
 question contained in the text.
 There has been considerable discus sion from time to time as to just what Jesus did mean by these words. I do not wish at this time to enter into that discussion. It is not exactly gernain to our purpose.
 Jesus had already prophesied that at His second advent the disciples would find themselves in a world giv- en over to a world1iness in which God WnIlld 10 fnrprOffaY1 nr7 casion. He had declared propheticaI1y that on account of the prevalence O. iniquity, the love of many shall wax cold. Then on this occasion frcm which we have the parable already re- ferre dto, Jesus, looking about Him and anticipating the hardships that are to test His followers. seems to ques- tion as to whether faith would hold out Would the widows faith con- Iinue?
 If Jesus thus became temporarily pessimistic as to the outcome, it was because He had vision so much keener than His most far~seeing con- temporaries; it was because all tke weaknesses of human kind in all tne show centuries since His day were as patent to Him then as are to us the pages of a book
 If Jesus raised that question in His day, is there any wonder that in our day, after nineteen centuries of Christianity. men should be asking: '1s the church losing groundT'
 There have always been those who arc ready to announce the failure Of Christ and the church. From time tnmemorial there have been critics who have relegated Christianity 10 the limbo of out-gTown things. Age after age have witnessed conventions of atheists who have voted the Bible and Christ and the church out of ex- lstence. And yet these great realities nf i-ff .inue to abide long after they are ex- terminated by the councils of men.
 This question that I wish to dis cuss tonight and all that goes with it has become especially acute since the outbreak of this war. The apparent failure of Christianity to make any real headway in preventing or in stop ping this war has seemed to justify use conclusion at which so many people have arrived that the day of th, chuch has passed: that Christianity it. self has met it's Waterloo.
 l have no doubt that many statis- tics could be marshalled that would seem to make out bad case against the church. You can prove almost anything by statistics.
 For one, am not ready however. 10 say that the church is losing ground II would be difficult to prove that as sertiCn in view of the multiplied ac. tivities of Christianity in this present day The avenues by which the gos- pei of Christ is finding it's application 70 the needs of men are simply count- less. They ramify into every possible area of society and they affect all the movements and conditions of men.
 If it is true that the church of the present is doing scarcely more than to mark time, it is also true that the church of the future will have to do something more than mark time if fl Is to maintain its existence. The church is not yet losing ground. but the deadlock cannot long continue
 If the church is to win, it will have to bridge the chasm that too long has existed between it and the masses. It will have to disabuse the people Who entertain preiudices against the church, of their unfavorable impress sion. Undoubtedly the church has not been entirely without blame in the alienation of the masses. It has re- elected the masses and on the nthe: hand the masses have misunderstood the church. There are thousands and probably millions of people who aye hostile to the church and yet who are friendly to Jesus. Bishop McIrtire said: "The working folk have for gotten that it is only in Christian na- tions that they rise above serfdom and receive fair wages for their toll; that Christ was a mechanic and Paul as well: that Jesus golden rule is the charter of their rights and that His snrit alone will secure a fair share of the good things they produce.
 Dr. Washington Gladden. said: "The coming reformation will be signal!ed by Q great change in the attitude If the church towards the toiling classes It will recognize that it's welfare is bound ur with them that it must make them believe that the church of Jesus Christ is their church; that 1t neAt1s them quite as much as they need it; thta it is 9 monstrous thing to con. oeiNe that a church of Jesus Christ could exist as a class institution with the largest social class in the com nlunity outside of it"
 And I for one believe that the church will awake and meet her ta sl; A brighter day is coming and the sI<, is already red with the primise of the dawn. Industrial democracy in bor1l to arrive. Shall not Christian democracy also arrive? The coming ethics will be the ethics of Jesus There Is only one programme. for the new or der and that Is the programme of Jesus The best minds of our day are anticipating the coming of the better day. Some of the most signifcan. of