The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-12-06

IN WHY FOLKS
50 IOc ] !


AL SOuAt SHfAS0S0
koslivered . most Interesting sermon !
Hhnday 1t TIE Broadway Presbyter- !
Ixlsn church, taxing a. hiS subject,
why People Go TO Church" He
ARRIVED his text from the fourth
thapter Of Luke, the 18th verse; and
said IN part:
1.-THE text t.day Is found in LIKES
Gospel, the fourth chapter and the
18th verse. And a. His custom
Was. He went into the synagogue
/, spn the Sabbath day We hear q
great deal about why people do not
! IN to church. Every now and again
s.the magazines take up the thread
bare question. After all 1t isn't
2hard to know WHY people don't 90.
*Usually 1t IL Just because they 90
mot want TO go. 10 Is SO easy not
10 60 il SO much more dimcuit tnat
great argument to stay away. But
10 70 isso much more dinicult that
III requires sound reasons. ] con-
Tess that It is very depressing al
ways to be hearing one side OF the
case. It Ia high time somebody
PSaid something about why people
70. The excuses given are almost
always expressed in tone OF apd-
0gy as II conceeding a neglected
duty, and It is curious to see how 1t
;Rsbraved out by making mountain
.put of a molehill. Every non-goer
has some good scape-goat. Some
times it is the minister. And II Is
often very amusing to think about
the kinds OF goats some folks keep.
Here is one smarting under an i'm
!aRined discOurtesy. As a matter OF
Tact it is SO long since the dear
soul has been to church that NOBODY
Recognized the change OF millinery.
and after all there was nothing OF
discourtesy meant and nothing en-
tertained but the kindliest feelings.
Another found a processing CHRIS
tian who was a hypocrite and SO is
thrown into a state OF chrome
crouch. A sturdy fulback in the
champion football team caught his
foot in a hole in the carpet and
tripped the last time he went and
nearly fell and might have broken
his neck so he will not go again
AID so we may go on indefinitely
criumerating the goats paraded oy
Way, of reasons for not Attending
public worship. -.
- Is Pathetic Side. v
There is a pathetic side. how
ever. to all this because there Is be-
trayed sub-consciousness tha'
they should have been there and tina,
Il would be good for them ant
their families II they had.
isSince it is 80 much harder u
70 let us question some OF the reg
ular attendants at public worship
and let them speak for themselves
VA regular church goer mish
shy, 4 go because | get a liberia
education Granted, of course. tn
habits formed in youth aide. An
II the parents were such as insiste
upon their children's attendance a
church great deal of it may b
explained in early habit forming
Many boy in strange city !
kept from sin and its companion
because he knows his mother woul
l. wish him to go. But when we sa
all about this have not covere
I the whole ground. There is -om
need being met by the public wor
ship of God or people would no
continue to go an a matter Q
fact millions do 90 every S DAY
1t Is in part that their education |
there continued. We 60 thrOag
school and get T. elements OF a
education, or We even 60 to collcg
but the day soon comes VIXEN tn
stimulus to the mind ceases and
man is thrown back upon his ow
resources. He finds that in tn
church service he Is brought int
touch with the worlds great mas
ter minds in music. literature an
philosophy. The experiences c
other men who have touched tn
heart of reality are his. The clas
Of ideas and ideals confuse and tn
line Of demarkation is sharpl
drawn for him, not only in matter
OF conduct affecting domestic an
political life but on the great liv
ing questions that contain mora
tangles. - There the spirit of tn
ages guides in moral conclusion
setting many q mans feet upon
solid rock. Most Of the perplexin
questions of each age have tho,
roots in the moral and spiritual iif
Of the age and 1t is not long befor
a nan finds out that he neds slim
illus to clarity Of thinking an
above all soundness Of feel &. Thi
takes in the whole range Of life -ror
mans relationship to his ;hbo
to his duty to God. I did not un
derstand, says The Psalmist, until
went into the hot 70 of the -.ord
then understood L.
- High Standards Set
"Whatever else the ministr.
might or might rot be. tn grea. his
tordc churches have ;lways Sc
high educati, nal st. .rds t>r thu,
ministry. Above II the ministel
knows Lis bible. That doe. nc
mean the names OF all - kings o
Israel, necessarily. It means some
thing far more. lie / ows tn,
Scriptu. es in the orig !. languas
OF Hebrew and Gree and is able t
catch the precise meaning Of thu
original writer. He en- discovers
the eternal principles that = be
hind the living spiritual experience
embodied in the Scripture. He take.
this principle and disengages 1t aft.
er getting its precis. original appli.
cation then apple it % every ave.
nue. OF life. In doing this he is very
near the heart Of things. While II
isltSue that the gosp is so simple
that a wayfaring man. lthoush a