Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-04-03

Z
ing big business in evangelism In
part because he has so little competi-
ton n that field. If the pastors of
the churches emphasized the spiritual
needs of people as strongly as Mr.. Sun
day docs. better results would be
achieved. ard a general revival of re-
lIgion would spread over the whole
country.
And IL - some such general revival
OF religion that is needed above all
things else in our day. Our people are
forgetting Gcd. and they need TO be
brought back TO Him. They do not rec
ognize sin as sin, and, hence repentance
is as scarce as sinfulness is plentiful.
They regard their misconduct as mis-
fortune and for penitence they substi-
tute Sclf-plty. They do not feel that
hei- lack OF godliness at all disquall-
lies mem for church membership, or
for the handling of the affairs or the
church. Many OF them count the church
as : corporation to be managed WIN
reference 10 what IL can do in the way
OF supplying a sort OF sacred entertain
uent on Sunday and the carrying on
of more or less humane work during
IN, week Why should a man be re-
CURED TO be religious as qualification
for being one OF the managers or such
an enterprise?
When a preacher and his people be-
gin to feel tina. a revival is desirable
they prCceed tc call an evangelist 10
attend to that matter. The evangelist
* speciaIist whom they regard as
particularly concerned with religious
matters in which they themselves are
not very expert. Thus the eVangellsI
is engaged To serve the specltlcallg
religious work CT the church for brief
cor
while the PASTOR devotes himself more
exclusively 20 the schemes of the
church winch arc of a more or less sec
ular or humane SORT
Meanwhile the same worldly spirit
which has prevailed TO the hurt OF the
pastor is beginning to affect the evan
geIist. A very large number OF them
after evangelizing awhile, drift into the
lecture field where the pecuniary re-
yards are larger and more speedily won
ON the lecture platform they appear
generally as reformers, agitating IN De-
half of the temperance cause or move
ment for peace. or on some other me
of popular reform. Even Billy SUNDAY
is beginning to show that he looks IN
This direction. He is beginning to man
tfas. som. OF the features of social
reformer, and unless he restralns MIN
have many other evangelists.
When the evangelists have all De-
come lecturers and reformers, then we
shall have to look to the pastors OF the
rural churches for those distinctiVely re-
Iigious services in which sinners are
called to repentance and led 10 the ga
viour- In fact even at this time the
hest type OF evangelistic services Is
found in the ministrations OF those oo-
scure men who are giving then ANes
TO the country churches. Tner names
are not heralded in the newspapers nor
ar. thew given large funds such as the
popular evangelists claim and receive IoI
themselves, but they are doing the pest
.vznselistic work that Is being done IN
America Moreover, the city churches
ow. these men much; for out or the
membership of the pastoral charges
served by these men, the city cnurcnss
constaufiy derive many Of their most
.ntrttval- ana valuable members. II the
churches In the country and in the small
towns cease to give members 10 the
large city churches for any consloera-
able length of time. the christianity OF
the urban communities would De most
IIsastrouslv affected Urban christian
ity produces few preachers at pest anu
II can not perpetuate itself unless II
can get cons ASFN~AA-~-
from the rural districts.
But the cities are filled with reform
ers. Their strident voices are heard
CRYING on all sides. We have temper
ance reformers, peace advocates. vice
exterminators, sanitary engineers, anti
tuberculosis agents, and maltitudes or
other reformers too numerous TO men
ton. They run to the churches to get
places in which they can be heard ana
they demand imperiously that all the
prearhers shall give themselves to the
constant advocacy of their schemes.
They insist that special days shall be
set apart for the promotion OF the inter
ests which they have taken in hand, ana
when all the special days are subtracted
from the number of Sundays in the year,
the preachers have very few Saooaths
left in which to call sinners to repent
ance or to build up the faith of believ-
ers.
have been called to a special mission,
and that their mission is one Of supreme
inheritance Occasionally their patent
ideas of a mission" get possession of a
pastor. and he forthwith leaves the pas
torate to fulfill his mission" In such
cases IL is observed that thereafter he
becomes distinctively less religious than
he was before, and his accent betrays an
increasing participation in the spirit Of
the world Even his attire changes, and
he assumes the Sarb and manner of
business man"
In all this there is peril 10 the soul
OF these men. and a great danger to
the souls OF the people whom they influ-
ence. To them and their followers,
venture to suggest the careful consider
alton OF the following passage from one
OF the great fiscourses Of Canon MOI
ley:
The View OF rfe as a mission tends
to supersede the view of it as a trial on
probation The mission becomes the
final cause OF life. The generality may
be born to do their duty in that sta
ton or life in which ii has pleased God
to call them, but in their own case the
mission overtops and puts into the shade
the general purpose OF life as proba-
ton; the generality are sent into the
world for their own moral benefit, but
they are rather sent into the world for
the benefit of the world itself Tho
outward object with it's display and ma
chInery is apt to reduce TO a kind Of
-nsi-nificance the inward individual and
If life 1t appears small and common
place. The success of their own indi-
-idual probation is assumed in embark
ing upon the larger work, the less is
included I'm the greater; II figures as a
preliminary in their eyes, which may be