The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1919-06-05
BUSINESS MAN and
THE CHURCHES
Fewer Churches, Less Dogma,
Better Fitted Preachers,
Urged by Layman Mains

Gently assumed the pastorate of the
Emmett Christian church, is taking
up the work in a practical, broad
minded, business-like manner Recog-
nizing that the church fails to enlist
the wholehearted support and CO.
operation of the business man and
professional man, the farmer, the
laborer, he is seeking to find the rea-
son. So he has planned to have repre-
sentatives of these different lines of
business occupy his pulpit and tell, in
substance, what in their opinion is
the matter with the church.
The first of the series of such talks
was given Sunday night by G. B.
Mains, and his subject was What
Should the Church do to Serve the
Business and Professional Men and
Women of Emmett" As was to be
expected, Mr. Mains's Sermon" was
practical, business-like, plain-spoken.
He expressed the thoughts of very
many business men and women, church
goers and non-church goers, as well
as many ardent church supporters
and workers. The address in full is
given below:
Just why your committee assigned
me this talk tonight | do not know /
think there are others in the profess
sions and business much more capable
of handling it to your satisfaction than
/. By way of preface and preamble,
| want to say to you that the santi-
ments and opinions l express tonight
are my own. They are not based upon
any interviews or expressions sought
from any other business or profess
sional man of this place, therefore
any of these people are at liberty to
repudiate any of the opinions | may
set forth. They. are based upon my
own observations and experiences.
Before entering upon the discussion
of the question assigned me | want
to establish some premises which |
believe are scientifically and histori-
callys- correct and upon which we can
all agree.
l. Physically, we are al animals,
with all the functions and proclivities
of the animal kingdom.
2. That the human race has raised
itself above the level of beasts
through the cultivation and express
sion of his spiritual longings and
beliefs.
3. That this manifestation of spirit
ual desires is the divine spark which
distinguishes man from the beast,
and is found in all humanity.
4. That the expression of these
spiritual longings is called religion,
and ranges from the fetishes and idol
atries of the lowest tribes to the high
est ideals of Modern Christianity.
5. That the religions and philoso-
phies of humanity may be roughly
divided into two classes: material and
spiritual. By this | mean that the
followers of the material cult look
largely to their reward on earth in
the satisfaction of physical desires;
the spiritual school looks to spiritual
comfort and reward.
6. That all great civilizations have
arisen in the wake of great spiritual
uprising; that they have fallen with
lic ucSciiCi dtloil Ol LHeiT reiiSlOuS anu
PHILOSOPHERS from spiritual to mater
ial ideals. Witness the fall of Baby
lon, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and within
the last year the German Empire.
What / have been leading up to is
this: that there cannot be any real
progress for the human race except
through the recognition, education
and cultivation of our spiritual side
That we cannot neglect and ignore it
in fitting ourselves for the duties of
life without leaving out one of the fun
damental principles that has made our
present civilization possible.
Religion has been and will be the
governor on the engine of progress
1t is the thing that co-ordinates and
regulates the great majority of hu-
manity. Remove it and all your boast
ed advancement in the arts and
sciences goes for naught, as witness
the reign of the Bolsheviki in Russia
today and the French revolution ir
the past.
Now some time along middle life
-hese truths come to, or are arrived
at by the majority of the people of
average intelligence and education,
and they shape their lives and duties
accordingly, otherwise we would not
have advanced as rapidly as we have
n the past century. and would not
nave been ready to have made the
sacrifice that has been necessary with
n the past four years to preserve
he ideals of true religion.
To me it speaks well for the in |
diligence of the world that they were |
lble to understand the situation and |
iad the spiritual preparation neces-
iary to meet it despite the fact that |
hey had set aside but one day out of |
he seven for the development of this
most important side of their nature,
md much of this one day was taken
lp in the discussion Of dogmas and
reeds that were not pertinent to the
arger spiritual development
And then the thought comes, would
have been necessary to have msde
his sacrifice of life ard treasure if
be churches, who have cur spiritual !