Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1922-09-04
HE SEES NO SUBSTITUTE
FOR MORNING SERVICE
Sunday School Cannot Take
Place of Church, Says
DR.. Maclachlan.
SPIRITUAL DANGER INVOLVED
"Church " Temple. Within whose
Hnlioved Walls May Tic Discerncd
Ascending Flame of Lives Touched
by GUd's Fires"

| Ascending fihine OF Lives Touched
hy Guds E'ircS.'
Fires that Must Never Go Out"
was tho subject Of Rev. II. u. {.
Maciachlan, d. p. the pastor. in
Seventh street Christian Church
yesterday morning. lie spoke, In
part. as follows:
Fire is very general symbol OF
The presence and power Of God.
! When God appeared TO Moses In the
desert OF indian. II was In the burn
NIX bush. Said Elijah 10 the proph.
rs Of Baal The God that answers
| ~ fire. let Him b" God The Zo-
"nstrians have been mistakenly
allied fire orshipcrs because tho
scendng fame is their symbol OF
fo,y. Neither is the ordinance of
| II" perpetual fire peculiar to the
Jewish ritual. It was common
enough in the heather temples. Per
fnniai IRE burst on the altar of the
peiphic Apollo. from which all the
have been lighted, In the temple
of Nesta. a. Rome, six virgins were
| charged with tho duty OF Keeping
| the IRE on the altar perpetuallv
burning lest disaster come upon the
city.
In our Christian days. the sym-
nols or altar and fire have not lost
their Appropriateness. There Is still
| an altar whereof are laid the sacri-
Aces OF lowlv ard contr;te hearts
There is sam a fire that consumes
the dross and the clay and rises In
iambent flames OF prayer and praise
"a It's original source in God. And
me divine ordinance that provided
for the perpetual burning OF that
fire has lost none OF it's bindingness
OF the individual Christian or tho
church.
More Thnn Meeting House.
Let MS take the latter first. Tho
local church Is more than a mere
meeting house. Indeed when the
Anglicans refer to the churches 90
tho nonconformists as meetin..
houses. there is point however un-
deserved. in their sheer. 1t is not
merely place for shaking hands
and listening 10 preaching. II Is
more even than symbol OF COM
mnnal prayer and praise II is "a
temple. II is. In peculiar senae.
Gods presence chamber Not that
we cannot meet with Him else
where: IL we do not meet with Him
: elsewhere. we will not recognize Him
here but the contrary Is equally
true. II YOU do not meet with Him
| 80 VIZ N''di'H' lut OGQS are all
against our recognizing HIN any
where else. And where God is. the
aTar and the nre and the sacrifice
are. The very being OF the church
depends upon that No hre-no
Colon church. There may be
eloGuence and beautiful music and
an ornate service and all the .archI-
tectural appointments OF a temple.
but the God Will have flown, and
tho City Auditorium is not more
secular than the church building on
whose affairs the fires OF the divine
presence has been allowed to go out
The Romanists are not altogether
wrong when they speak of the sac
ritice OF the mass. Christ. our pass
over. is sacrificed for us perpctually.
and the soul OF all Christian wor-
ship Is the laying OF our hearts MS
sacrifices on the same altar. We miss
much OF the beauty and power of the
Protestant communion when We re-
duce IL altogether to the fellowship
OF common table. 1t is a table but
II is also an altar. 1t is tho symbol
OF the great sacrifice and all the
lesser sacrifices OF the faithful which
are carried TO God by the flame OF
the same fire OF conservation. kindled
first by God Homself, and kept alive
by tho prayers and aspirations OF His
saints. And the spiri. OF the com
munion service is that so beautifully
voiced In the verses OF Frances Rid
ley lIavergal.
No Substitute for Service.
There Is no substitute in the Chris
tian life for the morning service OF
the church. would not say any
thing that would i'm any way throw
damper on the adult class move
ment but It would be foolish to shut
our eyes to the spiritual danger in
VOWED in the fact that so many OF
, the members OF these large classes
make them substitute for the ser
vices or Gods house. They como TO
Sunday school and hear a fine homily
better some times than the sermon
! they Will hear In the church-and then
return to their homes or go about
their business thinking they have
done their duty But the Sunday
! school Is not the church. The altar
: is not there. The sacrament Is not
there. The church Is more than n
school: II is a temple. within whose
hallowed walls may be spiritually
disccrncd the ascending fame OF lives
touched with the fires Of God.
But the soul OF the individual
Christian is also a temple Know We
not says the apostle. that We are the
temples OF the living Code And in
, the temple there must be an altar
, and fire thereon. Or. to quit met
aphor, the life OF the Christian ia
one OF conservation The derivation
, Of that word should teach us some
, thing To 'consecrate means 10 set
apart for sacred ends 10 dedicate
to God 1t is sacriaclal word
{ Just in the shadow OF the cross Jesus
, said: For their sakes 7 consecrate
mysclf-this conservation was the
I cross. Conservation is sacrifice. Like
spirituality there !s no word more
! niisused. Conservation Is not re-
t ligious emotionalism, il is not the
ability 10 rray in meeting IL is not
tho use OF pious phrases and atti-
tudes. X is not critical attitude
towards those who. we feel are more
worldly than We. II ia the giving or
self To God. tho dedication OF our
' lives to His service. the doing OF the
daily duty humbly, SCIENTIFICALLY, the
taking UP OF the daily cross the
breathing OF the daily prayer. the
g lifting up OF the daily confession ~
, san and weakness. the endeavor. in
word. to enter into the :uilneSs
OF the experience expressed in that
mighty word of ;hs Master 'whosoevrr
= shall save his life shall lose IL but