Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-05-29

| In recent years the churches have
been hindered and hurt by all sorts Of
movements" Specialists, not to say
faddists, have exerted themselves to
draw all the. churches to the support
/ of their peculiar schemes and plans
| They have inaugurated all sorts of re-
forms and they are constantly calling
for conferences" and conventions" to
! further these enterprises.
These men and their movements"
have become as numerous as the To-
Gusts of Egypt, and they are a positive
affliction to all the churches. They
distract the minds of multitudes of
good people from the essential work of
the church. and divert their energies
/ to unimportant matters.
In a recent issue of one of the re-
ligious periodicals published in north
ern state ] read the following just COM
plant written by a man who was in a
position to observe the evil of these
movements" and who had the courage
| to speak his mind:
There are so many men sitting In
office chairs whose chief business seems
| to be to stare out of the window and
oPiginate schemes that work well on
paper, that the poor pastor has the life
well-nigh harassed out of him tS keep
in touch with all that is proposed. The
preachers need just about one quad
Irennium which will be devoted exclu-
sively to preaching of the Gospel Yes.
that sounds trif1e trite and somewhat
like cant. But it has the advantage
of being true and of representing the
sentiment of the church at large. Give
the regular departments chance-the
Sunday schools, the prayer meeting
and the church itself. Stop TINS ever
lasting interference that wastes the
of ma
LEADERS generally"
We might inquire why this waste?
And a just answer would be. there Is
no good reason for it, 49,
| Many of the men who are thus har-
Iassing the churches would do more
good If they would close their offices
and go into the work of the churches
to which they belong, and show them
selves active and Jealous in that field.
| I, is to be feared that there is mucn
vanitv. if nothing worsS Ia many CT
these schemes. Petty promoters WiSh
to hold office and occupy place IL tie
pubic eye They enjoy running to ana
fro. holding conventions and confer enc .
AMI having their uttererces paraded In
| the newspapers. A subtiS tehptatlo
may penetrate even the best work ano
pride may permeate the noblest en-
deaVoIs.
| The real religious work of the coun-
try which amounts to anything is De
! ing done by the churches, and not Dy
| these movements" and agitations. The
truth of this statement is conclusively
/ shown by the fact that these move
ments" constantly run to the churches
for shelter and support. Without the
churches they would soon spend all
their efforts and perish ANONYMOUSLY.
In truth they are parasites upon the
| churches and fatten upon its blood.
An injurious result which has follow
| ed these spectacular movements" is
| the growing distaste of many people
| for any other sort of work. The prayer
meeting is neglected; the ordinary SER
vices of the church are ignored; the
study of the Bible in the Sunday school
! is abandoned. All these plain and high
| ly necessary things are becoming in
| sipid to men and women who have be-
come enamored of picturesque move
ments" and spectacular reforms. But
without these plain things religion will
| cease to exist in the land. 1t is per-
| fectly obvious, therefore, that the chris
/ tianity of our country. is not promoted
but, is rather injured by these mani
fold movements.
| Hysteria is hurtful always and these
| movements are distinctly hysterical III
methods and spirit. The patron saint Of
every one of them is st. Vitus, and they
enjoy nothing so much as kind of holy