The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-02-05

y
fine when IL is not.
Our men and our women are tnefn-
Client Our elders. deacons ana stew"
ards and vestrymen. they are all mex
ficient Sunday school teachers are
inefficient. A lot of them don't know
beans about the lesson they teach
They are inefficient Young people
societies are inefficient Missionary
evargelists are inefficient. You are M
efficient. I am inefficient
| II + ~isi Be- lo F IS ana rer n,
world. For every two nominal Chris
ttans there are three that are not even
nominal and out of every two Chris
tians one Is liability. 1t Is fact.
Now, nine out of twelve in the United
| States are not members OF any church
and out OF FIVE. who are mbers,
| two OF them are not any help to the
church--absolutely no earthly good!
| II means the responsibility falls up
on every two church members to win
eight others, in order to win the un-
converted church members to Jesus
| Christ. That is what 1t means. IL you
want to know why l am preaching as
! / am. You Just face few facts II
1 you've got any criticism. you will
| turn it on yourself instead Of harp
| ing about II to me. I am only telling
am not responsible for the facts, am
only telling you what they are. 30 that
you will rectify them.
Now, the missionary and other
| work Of the church, brilliant as 1t has
been IN not what II should be. II
men and women only took religion
more seriously than they do. we'd be
doing a thousand fold more than we
are and the war that Is now waging
. IT, gx. ~ I~$ p q
brought the challenge that Christian
ity is failure.
Oh! that isn't true. II isn't the
failure OF Christianity. i, is the
failure Of civilization that is not
Christian Oh! II civilization was
Christian, ther'd be no war. You
know the wars on, and I am in favor
OF it hate war. but say 1t is not
the failure Of Christianity. It Is the
failure OF civilization that is not
Christian. That Is where the failure
comes.
lust fhe same as the failure OF
many a person In the church to live
up OF their vows, that is not the fail
ure Of Christianity at all, but 1t is the
failure of those in the church that are
not Christians II he In hypocrfte.
that isn't failure OF the church, Ia
lit?
So when President Elliot and lot
| OF others talk about this war being .
failure Of Christianity, 1t ts poppy
cock. II ~ failure Of cfvilizat ton
that ia not Christian. Now. the fall
p, ure of a civilization that is not Chris
tian Just throws the question back a
little farther, II doesn't answer It
| They ask. What has the church
been doing then, for two thousand
years that It hasn't brought about
more corporate Christianity
| Can't Blame Christianity.
you can't blame Christianity
again. God Almighty created free
dom of the human intellect and free
dom carries with II the privilege OF
4 the liability TO sin IL you want to God
couldn't make anybody a free agent
without giving them the right to dc
right or wrong Just as He pleased
That is why they are devils. Every
devil was once an angel He had
free will and ne rebeiied.
And 1 want to tell, you. the long toa-
erance that we have given to th<
abominable, damnahle. hellish inicuit-
GUS, corrupt, vile, contemplate
infamous institution. the saloon. Il
one of our failures today. And tina
throws II into the face of the church
say to you that whenever the day
come that every man, with his name
on church record. Catholic and Pro.
teetant, votes against the saloon. that
day the saloon will 20 to hell. The
saloon exists today because the church
let's it and you can't get around It.
am going to preach the truth Of God
if have to load my trunk on a wheel
through here.
Than baress apcfhsr The fevey
with which we exert a sort Of repres-
stve Influence over the social inf1u-
ences of today the long tolerance thai
we have given to child labor and
other evils, not only things that wen
on that ought not to have existed n
all that we allowed to exist tina
shouldn't have existed: those law
ought to have been on there long. lon.
ago; and then by allowing the BLDG
to be driven out Of the public school.
without fight
| tell you right now. this Is Chris
tian nation and you can't kick TIT
Bible out OF the schools without 8
fight from me, and II you don't like
our country, beat 1t back to whers
you came from.
Another thing. Sabbath desecra
country with their damnable Euro
pean IDEAS OF a Sabbath and then W.
lower the standard 70 let them d.
! what they please. until we have M
Sabbath 1t Seems. These are the reas
ons why we are not what we ought t.
ne.
And then the infidei Influences II
! some of our colleges. wrecking thu
faith OF our boys and girls that we d.
send there to learn and to be laugh
! OF God.
Professor James. down In Bry1
Ma.wr, conducted an Investigation re
Gently. He took Ave thousand. nv
hundred names OF the leading scfent
lists. historians, socialists and from
them lie picked one thousand name
and then he divided them into tw'
groups. Then he asked these profes
sors In the twelve leading institution
in America, do you believe In q per
sonal God!"
; And the eminent professors, seven
ty per cent OF them said. no" ant
of the less eminent, fifty-two per cen
l o. them said. NO"
. Asked Students Question.
Then he took the students, In nine
teen Of the leading colleges of tn
, United States and he asked them tn
. same question. F1fty-Mx per cent o
/. I.S.