The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1921-10-06
Bishop Charles Wesley
Burns Address The
M. E. Confer ence

1nunlry OF religious unity. 1t was the
great McCheyne who said "we must
keep faith with the dead" We should
be keenly alive to the new social move.
ment, and hold our fingers steadily
supca the pulse Of the new social con.
science, but the minister is nothing
apart from his Church Social vision
\ that leads minister to lose sight OF
his own church and to scatter his min
4irtry for the betterment of society is a
blurred vision.
sour task is to see that the social
and religious problems are not prob.
lens of institution, not problems OF
things, but problems Of folks, prob
lens of hearts, It is our high task to
completely drive out the saloon but we
shall never drive out the saloon until
we have driven the saloon germ out OF
the hearts of men. It is our high bus
mess to drive out the slum, but we
shall never annihilate the slum unit!
we drive the slum out OF the folks
hearts. The only social solvent is the
spi5rit of Jesus Christ. The final So
luton is not social but. spiritual.
s# ''The motive Of the future---econom-
ic, social, religious ais in the cradle
in the kindernoon. in the school. aere
is not only the new physchology OF the
day written, but the new sociology ar
the new Christianity. 81,
We are told that the creat!c-- - =.
bows made the world interesting. 1t
is these twin-six, ninety-horse-poWelr,
lads, these "tadpoles lof archangless,"
and these chrysalises of seraphs who
constitute our greatest asset OF the ~
[ture and our greatest present prop
lem. The challenge is to translate
,that pyramided problem into a power
!, "The modern challenge to the
church. therefore, is that it shall work
for and with its own youth. Inc e,a caa;+ J.
lenge to the Sunday. School IS tnae -
shall be tightly linked to the churen;
ssupplementing secular training 'wltn
RELIGIOUS values. The pubic scn0ol
challenges the church to match secular
Education with spiritual educ alton. II
nav not name God. The Bible IS a
closed book now, more than in the l6th y
Centi1ry in Germany before the Luth-
c~an Reformation. All sacred history
* ignored, even Biblical ethica may
Re taught only by indirection. Inc
Let ~ is UNEQUAL. The qublic school has
i've davs and five hours each day. Inc
sunday school has only one day ana
one hour in that day-it is twenty -hve E
:, one? The church has but a hand1ul
- m;nutes as against twenty-five
,,ours. Shall the church and SUNDAY
school be able to meet that cnaAehge
and hold it's youth for God Inat IS
the unanswered problem OF the t"eh-
tieth century. ,,;aon+
that religion is not only an exper-
;once. Il is also an educational pro-
coss @ we do not ask our public schools
~ o9 tn~ Il religion; we demand that Sney
w w not overthrow it. We do not ask
hat M there be developed in the minds Oh o.,
ch;ldhood sense Of God, we only ask
th.t the sense of God be not stllleu
IN T tho heart of childhood. We 90 not
ask that religious sense snall an}v Ie ed aslx
nhasized in psychology. we only ss. asn
that the religious sense IN psycioiosSf pyn y
ha % not banished from the trontles o. ~
knowledge. The tragedy OF thousSnis Sal >
Of If Youths lies precisely here. l lnelr
od,,cation so-called and their rellgl9us
traininp run upon divergent tracks;
The faith of childhood is destroyed !e 1r9Sea
, ith nothing better to take its pace
4 4 cleavage between science, phllos-
an,,v ~ . and religion is made with no one
opi.yI' o. rIo1, ~,4 that Faith IS accented by rea-
SON. .@&.f .4,+o
With the public schools and state
colleges free Of religious obligation
the responsibility Of the church is IN
creased a thousand fold. :,
ut is very significant that though
1obn Wesley wore a cassock and gown:
always even when preaching in the
open air. he did not button his collar
backward. It is also significant that
few ministers today wear their collars
buttoned in the back. It tends to
nroduce a backward looking mode of
thought. The present face Of the
church must be toward the front.
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