Class _MAM_ Book W 2.S Copyright N?. COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. Wbat of tbe Cbutcb ? Mbat of tbe Cburcb ? 3, Sberman Wallace, flll.H., B*S>* professor in tinclfllinnviUe College IPbtiaDelpbta £be (Briffttb & IRowlant) press 3Bo0ton Cbicago St* 3Loute Toronto, Can* Copyright 1911 by A. J. ROWLAND, Secretary Published August, 1911 ©CLA285817 Belong where you are, And be where you belong. Contents J- Page What do you Think of the Church ?. . . 9 II A Church Wedding 29 III A Church Family 47 IV The Problem of the Church 59 V The Opportunity of the Church 75 VI The Mission of the Church. 89 VII The Hope of the Church 105 Wbat oo sou Gbtnfc of tbe Gburcb ? HAT do you think of the church? What is its place in modern civiliza- tion and life? What does the church mean to us men of to-day, and what should be our attitude toward it ? No questions are greater than these. Upon their answer depends in large meas- ure the future of civilization. Jesus said, " I will build my church ; and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it." Did he speak as a fanatic, or did he understand the fundamental needs of human life? This is the great age of investigation and criti- cism. The search-light has been turned upon every existing institution, and it is now resting upon the church. Men are asking, " Of what use is the organized church to the world, and what ought to be my attitude toward it? Is it more than any other society, and has it for me a more imperative call ? " To answer these questions intelligently one must go back and find [»] [i2] Wbat of tbe Gburcb? What the Church did in the Early Years of its History. No other story is so romantic nor so interesting as that of the growth of the church through those first few centuries. Organized by the hands of Jesus and his apostles, it was launched into a hos- tile world. Against it were arrayed all the powers of fanatical Judaism and imperial Rome. Its members were hunted like wild beasts, and subjected to every torture and death which fiend- ish minds could invent. Within three centuries this church conquered the world. It came into a world where infants were exposed to die. 1 It gathered around it those infants, and built for them homes and schools, and created for the little child the warmest place in the bosom of the home. It came into a world reeking with slavery. A favorite slave spilled a goblet of wine on the 1 If children were born of a marriage, the parents did not recog- nize it as a duty and a joy to train them up and form them for virtue, but to their own and the children's injury, left them to the training and management of slaves. To be blessed with chil- dren was no pleasure, but a burden ; and hence people did not shrink from _ infanticide, or at least from the exposure and abandon- ment of their offspring. Even Augustus commanded that the child which his granddaughter Julia bore after her banishment should be taken from her and exposed. This was often done in the hope that passers-by would save the child and bring it up. But if so, what was its lot? The boy was commonly trained as a gladiator; the girl brought up to be a prostitute. Among the higher orders worse things than the exposure of children were done. — "In the Time of Jesus/* by Martin Seidel. English translation. A. D. F. Randolph Company. Wbat fro BOttZEbtnft of tbe Cburcb? [13] robe of his Roman master, and was beheaded for it to the unfeigned delight of the assembled guests. 2 The church thundered no anathemas against slavery, but it called the master and slave to sit side by side at the Lord's Table, and the shackles of the slave fell off. It came into a world where thousands of spectators feasted their eyes upon the battles of the arena. One day when one thousand four hundred gladiators were slain amid the shoutings of eighty thousand spectators, a young man, a member of the new church of Jesus Christ, leaped out upon the bloody sands of the amphitheater, and pointing his finger at the face of the emperor, condemned him and the eighty thousand people with him as murderers. He paid for his heroism with his life, but from that day to this the world has not seen a gladia- torial show. The church came into the world where the streets of the city, and the mountains and deserts, were filled with the lame, and the blind, and the leper, and the insane, left to wan- 2 They were bought or sold, pledged or exchanged, given away or inherited; were according to necessity or convenience destined to handicrafts or trades; for gladiatorial combats or for the brothel; or, indeed, even to be doorkeepers, chained like watch dogs. People punished them at their own pleasure, and often murdered them upon the smallest pretext. The aged were exposed or driven away, with entire unconcern about what became of them; or slain as^ it they were cattle. Nobody could interfere with the master in doing this, and nobody called him to account for it. " Against slaves all is lawful," was a principle of Roman law. — " In the Time of Jesus,'' Seidel. [i4] Mbat of tbe CburcbT der alone and to starve. The church, remember- ing the kindness of its Master, built the first hospital and asylum, and gathered into them the unfortunate of earth's children. The church came into the world where homes were but brothels, and faithfulness to the mar- riage vow was considered a disgrace; where a man was not eligible to society until he was known to bear dishonorable relations with other men's wives ; where wives considered motherhood a dishonor; where married women of high families had their names enrolled upon the police records as women of unchaste character merely for the honor and popularity it would bring to them. 3 Into such a society as this the church came, proclaiming the sacredness of marriage and the holiness of the home. By precept and example, it held high the ideal of chastity and vir- tue. It gathered each household around a com- 3 Pliny (" National History ") affirms that since the censorship of Mesalla and Cassius, modesty had ceased to exist at Rome; and Horace (" Ode,'* III, 6) tells us that womanly virtue was no longer to be found. Tacitus (" Germania," C, 9) praises Germany in con- trast with Rome, because there nobody laughed at vice, and seduc- tion was not the fashion of the time. Fidelity in wedlock was scoffed at; and Seneca (" De Beneficiis," I, IX) relates that in- trigues and seductions were prevalent customs. He who had not distinguished himself by a love affair, and stood in no dishonorable relation with another man's wife, was treated with contempt by women, and regarded as an effeminate person. Indeed, things be- came so bad that married ladies of high rank had their names in- serted in the police register as women of a certain character, in order that they might give themselves up to unbridled debauchery. (Cf. Tacitus, "Annals," II, 85.)— SWde/. TOUbat So gou Ubtnft ot tbe Cburcb? [15] mon table to the family meal, a thing unknown until this day outside Christian peoples. It trans- formed the social life of the world. Within three centuries the empire that despised the church rang with its praise. The rich man and the sol- dier, the musician and the artist, vied with each other in doing honor to the church they had scorned. Great and beautiful buildings were erected, that in time became the storehouses of art and literature. It is true that the new popularity, wealth, and power of the church became its ruin. Offices never intended by its divine Founder were created, and men intrigued and poisoned and murdered for a place in the pope's chair. But not long did the church walk in darkness. Soon the clouds were broken, and the Light of the World shone forth with a new splendor and a new glory, and we still walk in that light. This is the story of the early church. Do we need such a church to-day? We have not those evils now. Why have we not? What does Our Age owe to the Church ? Our age is preeminently an age of investiga- tion, an age of knowledge, an age of the educa- [16] Wbat of tbe Cburcb ? tion of the people. Why did men begin the study of modern philosophy? Inspired by the church to find the true relation between the world and its Creator. Why did men devote their lives to the study of modern science ? Inspired by the church to find God in every part of his world. Why have men given their lives to invention? In- spired by the church to alleviate the burdens of men. Why has the world been flooded with books upon ethics and sociology, why have the people read them with unabating interest? In- spired by the church to find the true relation be- tween man and man, and between man and God. Why have we been born into a civilization where moral virtue is the ideal and pure homes are honored? Because of the influence and teaching through the centuries of the Christian church. There are men who say that a decent life is sufficient, and honesty between man and man is enough. They forget that but for the influence of the church in the world we would know noth- ing of decency and honesty. The civilizations of India and China are older than ours, but the masses there know nothing of decency and honesty. If you are sick or are injured, you go to the hospital where you are cared for, you do TOlbat fro gcmZEblnft of tbe Cbutcb? [17] not go to the church. The world never knew a hospital until it was built by the Christian church. If your friend is insane, you place him in the asylum where he can be cared for and treated. There never was an asylum known to men until it was built by the Christian church. If a man is unfortunate, and has neither money nor friends, he finds a home waiting where he may enjoy every comfort and every privilege. An alms- house was unknown until it was built by the Christian church. Thousands to-day find socia- bility and friendship in the lodge. The principle of brotherhood was laughed at when first taught by the Christian church. We rejoice in the wave of reform that has swept over the social and polit- ical world. This reform was born in the Christian church. Reforms, and morals, and intelligence cannot live divorced from the Christian church. If you knew of one large city in our own country without one Christian church, would you go with your boys and your girls to live in that city? How much would you pay for a corner lot in the residence section for your own use? Our own people, educated, trained for centuries, unrivaled in intelligence, separated from the influence of the Christian church are the most immoral and [is] Mbat of tbe Cbmrcbl debauched people on the face of the earth. The white people who go to the heathen lands for business purposes usually outrival the natives themselves in immorality and sin. What do you think of the church ? The world was transformed by the early church ; the debt of our own age to the church cannot be measured; but the question of supreme interest to us is What is the Church Doing in the World to-day? The church to-day is the mother of nearly all our institutions of higher learning. It is the in- spiration of the intellectual life of the world. Eighty-seven per cent of the financial supporters of colleges in our land are members of the Chris- tian church. More than one-half of the students in the institutions of higher learning, of what- ever kind, in the United States are members of the Christian church. This proves two things: the church inspires its young for intellectual at- tainment, and it is the people in our land who think that are Christians. Do not forget that in general terms it is the uneducated classes who neglect the church. The church is the teacher of morals in the TOflbat fro gouZTbtnft ot tbe Cbtitcb? [19] world to-day. The life of the church is the stand- ard of the world's morality. The church is living upon a higher plane; its members are living cleaner lives than ever before in history. It is easy to talk about hypocrites in the church; it is not so easy to find a real one. Did you ever know one personally whom you knew was consciously and wilfully pretending to be what he knew he was not? I have known many Christians who were not perfect; an intelligent Christian never claims to be perfect. I have never known an in- dividual who was perfect in any profession, have you? There are fakes in every other profession, and without doubt there are fake Christians ; for to be a Christian in this world is something worth pretending if one has not the courage to be the real thing. But because you have been cheated by one counterfeit dollar, do you refuse all money? Because you have known one doctor who was a quack, do you refuse all medicine ? The medicine was always right, only the doctor was wrong. Because you have known one public officer who was a grafter, do you reject all government? Because one singer made a discord, have you shut your ears to music? The life of the church is far from perfect, but it sets the standard of the moral [2o] Wbat of tbe Cbutcb? life in every civilized community of the world to- day. The thoughtless say there is no difference in the outward life of the church and the life of the world. They forget that the church has not lowered its standard, but has forced the world to a plane of life so high that the contrast has largely disappeared among respectable people. It is a large part of the mission of the church to establish justice, and righteousness, and decency among all men everywhere. Its very success has made some regard it a failure. There are men who, raised to a high moral plane of outward liv- ing, ignorant of the source of the influence that has made them what they are, despise and rend the helping, lifting hand of the church. The church is leading to-day in every reform movement. Roosevelt, the hero of reform, is a member of the church, and has declared in a pub- lic address that he cannot understand any Ameri- can citizen who has the faintest feeling of patriot- ism and devotion to his country, failing to appre- ciate the absolute need of religion to the welfare of this country. We might call the roll of the nation's men, who have stood and stand above the masses — Folk, Hughes, Weaver, Low, Fagin, TObat fro gou TTblnft of tbe Cbutcb? [21] Fairbanks, Bristow, Bryan, and on through the whole list of them — who are leading in the fight for national righteousness, and we would find that every one of them is a member of the Chris- tian church. The church of Christ to-day is the great leveler of society. It declares there are no moun- taintops and no valleys in human life, but all men are free and equal, and are brothers. It bids the employer remember that his employees are his brothers. It bids the employee remember that his employer has equal rights with himself. It brings the rich and the poor to sit together in the same pew, uniting their voices in the same psalm and prayer, and singing together from the same book. The claim of the agitator that the church is allied with the wealthy class is false. Seventy-five out of every one hundred members of the Christian church in America to-day belong to the laboring class. The average salary of the Christian minis- ter in the United States to-day is about six hun- dred dollars — less than the average salary of the skilled mechanic. These ministers are better educated, live a higher type of moral life, pro- vide for and educate their families better, and work more hours in the day than any other class [22] Mbat of tbe Cburcb ? of men on earth. Go follow any faithful pastor through an average day or week of his life, and know the truth of these statements. The lodge, we are told, is the rival of the church. You cannot find one good thing in any lodge that has not been copied from and cannot be found to-day in the Christian church. We are told that the Young Men's Christian Association is taking the place of the church. God is blessing the Young Men's Christian Association, and it is doing a noble work, but a Young Men's Christian Association cannot be found in the whole world that can show the same results in proportion to the money expended the Christian church can. The Young Men's Christian Association is only an agent, a helper, a feeder of the Christian church. It is conducted and supported by the Christian church. You cannot become a voting member of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion until you are a member of the Christian church. The church is doing more for missions to-day than ever before. It is lifting itself by lifting the world around it. Missionaries of the Christian church opened India, and China, and Japan to the commerce of the world. Missionaries of the TKHbat fro gem Ubtnft ot tbe Cbutcb? [23] Christian church explored Africa. Missionaries of the Christian church saved the whole North- west to the United States. Wherever the church has gone darkness has given place to light. Years ago Captain Cook was cruising among the South Sea Islands. Anchoring near an island he permitted his men to go ashore. Suddenly the natives rushed down upon them, and before they could regain their boats one of their number had been captured. Being unarmed, the men were compelled to sit in their boats helpless, while those natives killed and ate their comrade before their eyes. Twenty years later Cook was again cruis- ing in this same part of the sea, when he was overtaken by a storm and his vessel wrecked. For days they drifted upon the waves until they were driven upon this same shore. When Cook recog- nized the same island where his comrade had been eaten twenty years before, he urged his men to use all their strength to keep the boat out to sea, but in spite of their efforts they were driven upon the rocks. Crouching for fear in the foli- age, and keeping a sharp watch for savages, they sent one of the men up to the top of a little hill to spy out the land. Cautiously he went forward until he reached the top and looked over. Down [24] Mbat of tbe Cburcb? there in the valley, amid a little clump of trees, he saw the white finger of a spire. With a great joy he turned and began waving his arms, and shouting to his companions, " Come on, come on ; it's all right; there's a church over here!" 4 Why? The church is the one great force in the world that brings men into touch with God, and nur- tures the spiritual or the divine life in men. Not that the church can give that life itself, but it brings men face to face with God through Jesus Christ, and they come to know him for them- selves and to become like him. Being led by the church to find God, they clasp hands with him, and God lives in them and they live in God. Mil- lions of men whose word you would never doubt in regard to any other matter, will tell you they have learned by personal experience that no man can know life at its best until he lives it in union with God. Never before was the church doing so much as it is to-day. Never before were so many men in the church. Never before were so many men at- 4 1 have never seen this story in print. I first heard it related by Evangelist Geo. Robert Cairns. He says of it: "It was given to me by a little book of missionary illustrations, owned by a friend in Staley Bridge, England. I am sure that it is authentic. I have been exceedingly careful in the gathering of illustrations." TObat bo gou TEbinft of tbe Gburcb ? [25] tending church services. " Why do not men go to church? ,; The best answer is, " They do." What do you think of the church ? What ought to be your attitude toward the church? Are you a patriot? You can best serve your country by being a faithful member of that insti- tution that has made our country what it is — the Christian church. Do you believe in a moral life? You can best inculcate morality by being a faithful member of the organization that sets the standard of the world's morality — the Christian church. Do you believe in social order? You can best help your own community by being a faithful member of the conserving power of every civilized community — the Christian church. Are you grateful to Christ for his transformation of the world ? You can best show your appreciation by being a vital part of the church for which he poured out his life. Do you wish to honor God ? You can do it best in the way which he has appointed. Have you an ambition to do things that count, and to serve the world in which you live? You can do it best by working hand in hand with the greatest force for righteousness the world has ever known — the Christian church. Do not say you do not need the church; that [26] Mbat ot tbe Cburcb? you can be a Christian outside the church. Would you have ever been a Christian if it had not been for the church? Could you live the best Chris- tian life to-day in a community where there was no church? You need it. The world needs it. But if you refused to be a member of the Christian church just because you did not need it person- ally, just because it could not help you, you would lack the first principle of Christian character and conduct. The supreme motive of the Christian life is not to get but to give; not to be helped but to help. Why did Paul join the church? Did he need it? Yes; but much more did the church need him in its work for others. Why was Jesus himself baptized ? Did he need the church in his own life and character? No; but the church which he had already begun to organize through John, his herald, needed him. Why does the foreigner become a citizen ? Not only because he needs the nation but the nation needs him. Why does the soldier join the army and wear the uni- form? Why does he not take his musket and go to war on his own responsibility? Why does he not fight the enemy in his own way ? Because for effective service he needs the army and the army needs him. The church asks no favors. It wants Mbat fro gem TLbink ot tbe Cbutcb? [27] every man to come to its services that it may help him, and that it may help him to help others. Money cannot help the church as a church. It asks no help for itself, and in itself cannot be helped. The church is a company of men and women banded together to help others. It has no exist- ence apart from those individuals. It pays no cash dividends to its members. It asks help only in its efforts to serve the world in its own genera- tion. What do you think of the church? Is it worthy your support, your strength, your life? H Cburcb TMHetfotna II HE institution of marriage and the re- lationship of wedded life, the closest and most sacred tie known to men, is used in the Bible often as a symbol of the rela- tion between God and his people. The picture of God as the bridegroom and his people as the bride, and of Christ as the bridegroom and his own ransomed church as the bride, are familiar pictures. But the Prophet Isaiah, as he looked away into the future, the future in which we now live, held up a different picture. " As a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee." He is singing of the future glories of Zion, that which represented to him God among men. Zion was the Old Testament church, the place where God was supposed to dwell as he dwells to-day, in the living church. Isaiah thinks of the church as the holy city rebuilt, something distinct from the people that dwell in it. The new city is the bride and her sons are the bride- groom. If we should doubt that the prophet [3i] [32] wbat ot tbe Ctmtcb? looked far enough to see the Christian church, we will admit that the church redeemed by the blood of our Saviour ought to be as precious to us as the ancient city was to those who dwelt within its walls. Because the Christ loves the church as the bridegroom loves his bride ; because he gave himself for it that he might sanctify it, and cleanse it, and present it to himself at last a glorious church without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish; surely it ought to be dear to those who compose it, even as a bride becomes more precious to herself because she is precious to her husband. Since the relation between the individual mem- ber and the church is as the relation between the bridegroom and his bride, several things become at once apparent. When a young man comes to me with his maiden to be married, I say to them something like this, " If it be your desire to take each other as husband and wife you will please declare the same by uniting your right hands." When they have done this, I say to the young man : " Do you take this woman, whose hand you hold, to be your lawful, wedded wife? And do you solemnly promise, before God and these witnesses, that H Cburcb Iiaie&&lna [33] you will love, honor, and cherish her; and that forsaking all others for her alone, that you will perform unto her all the duties that a husband owes to his wife, until God by death shall sepa- rate you ? " The young man answers, " I do." " As a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee/' sings the prophet of the church. From this it is plain that the relation be- tween the individual member and the church is a Voluntary Relation. Notice the first part of the ceremony, " If it be your desire to take each other as husband and wife, you will please declare the same by unit- ing your right hands." I do not unite their right hands, they do that. I do not choose the bride for the bridegroom, he does that. Every individ- ual member has a right to choose for himself the church to which he unites his life, and he has a right to say whether he will unite himself to any church or not, just as a man has a right to narrow his life by remaining an old bachelor if he so de- sires. In China the parents unite the bridegroom and the bride in infancy, but we do not in this country; neither did they do it among the Jews c [34] Wbat of tbe Cbutcbl in Isaiah's time. " Do you take this woman, whose hand you hold, to be your lawful wedded wife?" If he says "No," that settles it. No one can become a member of the church until he does it voluntarily, " as a young man marrieth a virgin." The marriage relation is A Relation of Love. " Do you solemnly promise, before God and these witnesses, that you will love? " If he says " No," the ceremony ceases. No sensible minis- ter would marry a young man to a woman if he would not promise to love her. Marriage is a re- lation born in love and sustained by love. With- out love it is a farce and a crime. " As a young man marrieth a virgin." How the ancient Jew loved his holy Zion! Does the bridegroom hold precious the very house in which his loved one dwells ? Hear the Jew, " How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Jehovah of hosts. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of Jehovah." Does the bridegroom long for the presence of the bride in the home? Listen, " One thing I have asked of Jehovah, that will I seek H Cburcb MefrMng [35] after; that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah and inquire in his temple." Does the bridegroom think an hour by the side of his bride is more to be desired than days in the presence of others? Listen again to the song of the Jew, " A day in thy courts is better than a thousand ; I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness/' Does time hang heavy, and does the bridegroom pledge his faithfulness when the bride is away? Listen to the cry of the Jew when he is an exile in a for- eign land : " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her skill. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." If the Jew loved the temple as a bridegroom loves his bride, surely we ought so to love the living church where Christ dwells ! We ought so to love the church that the very building which is its home should be dear to us. The bridegroom loves the home because within it he meets and abides with the bride. There are members in every church who can hardly go past their church building during the week without going inside. This is right. The building is dear because of the [36] TOat of tbe Cbutcb? fellowship of the church that meets within it. Ihe bridegroom so loves his bride that he finds it a joy to build for her a home. Every loyal mem- ber so loves his church that he finds it not a bur- den but a great joy to help build for her a fitting home. The bridegroom loves to toil for the sake of the bride he loves, and every true member of Christ's church finds his greatest joy in doing the work of that church. Do we so love our church that we look forward as did the Jew to dwell in the house of Jehovah? When separated from our church do we long for her as a bridegroom for his bride? Some of us do. A woman told me that she lived all of each week just for the com- ing of the Lord's Day. A young man marrieth a virgin expecting To Honor Her. " That you will love, honor," runs the service He expects to honor her by his faithfulness to her Her desires are to be the inspiration of much that he does. He expects to honor her by being true to the vows which he has taken at the marriage altar. To be unfaithful to those vows is to be untrue to her, untrue to himself, untrue to the H Cburcb Me^Mng [37] social order of which he is a part. He expects to honor her by the way he speaks of her, and the way he permits others to speak of her in his presence. He expects to honor her by keeping all his appointments with her as faithfully as he kept them in days gone by. If he permits her to pre- pare a dinner with invited guests, then fails to come and sit down with her and with them, he does not honor her ; he dishonors her before them all. If he becomes divorced from her through faults which are his own he suffers unspeakable disgrace. " As a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee." You know the vows we take when we covenant together as one body in Christ. Let us honor the church by being faith- ful to those vows. Do we honor our church by the way we speak of her and the way we permit others to speak of her in our presence, as the true bridegroom does his bride? When we have an appointment with our church, when our church prepares a spiritual feast with guests invited from the whole community, can we habitually neglect to be present without dishonoring our church be- fore them all? Having once taken the vows of church-membership, if we desert her for the [38] TKHbat of tbe Cbutcb? world, or lose our membership through faults which are our own, we dishonor the church and suffer a disgrace ourselves no less than when a man deserts his bride. A young man marries a maiden expecting To Cherish Her. " To love, honor, and cherish her." To cher- ish means not only to hold dear but to treat as dear. Mere unexpressed esteem is not cherish- ing. To cherish means all that one can do by love and tenderness for the welfare and happiness of the other. It means support, protection, care in sickness, and comfort in sorrow, and sympathy and help of every kind. It means that feeling of constant tenderness and trust, the mutual confi- dence and dependence that gives to the home life its sweetness and its peace, the charm which it is so hard to describe but which every one knows. It means that when the young man finds that she whom he has always thought to be an angel has real human faults, he is to be charitable and pa- tient; he is not to criticize nor scold, but rather by his own life he is to inspire her and strengthen her and help her to overcome her faults. H Cburcb TKHe&&lng [39] " As a young man marrieth a virgin." Not only is the individual member to love his church, he is to express to her his love by his every act. He is to do all within his power for her welfare and her peace. He is to care for her in her weak- ness ; he is to protect her in her need ; he is to help her in every way. He is to sympathize with her in all her aims, and co-operate with her in all her undertakings. If he finds that the church which he once thought to be perfect makes mistakes and has some human faults, he is not to sulk and to scold, but rather by his own righteous life he is to inspire the church to nobler living, and to strengthen her to overcome her faults. A man told me that he used to think he would leave the church because he found so many things that did not suit him. Now he had made up his mind that he would stay with the church so long as he lived ; if the church could stand him he thought he could stand the church. A young man marries a virgin expecting to be Loyal to Her. " And that forsaking all others for her alone." Henceforth for him there is but one woman. Of [40] TKHbat of tbe Cbntcb ? course he is to find pleasure in the society and the welfare of others, but never when her pleasure or her interest is sacrificed. To her he owes his strength, his service, his affection, his life. He is to be respectful to all, but he is to be affectionate to but one. What would you think of a man who would say, " Oh, yes, I have married a wife, but I am not much of a stickler for family relation. I love all women about alike." " But you are mar- ried to one ? " " Oh, yes, but I do not believe in being narrow. I try to be broad-minded. I be- lieve in treating all ladies alike." What would you think of him ? " As a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee." A man who would flirt with the church is no better than any other kind of flirt. When an individual pledges his life to the church, he does it forsaking all other institu- tions that would be rivals to it. The lodge, the club, the social function, any religious associa- tion of whatever name or function, all may claim his respect and a part of his attention and sup- port, but never when the interests of the church are to be sacrificed. It can have no rival. What would you think of a man who would say, " Oh, yes ; I am a member of the church, but I am none H Cbutcb XKae&&ing [41] of your narrow-minded type. I try to be as broad as the kingdom, as big as the spirit of kind- ness, and the ideal of culture. I am no stickler for the organized church. I love all religious and philanthropic and entertaining institutions about alike. Sometimes I attend one and some- times another. I usually go where I can hear the speaker that I like best, or where I can hear the finest music." Such a man walks hand in hand with the man who says : " Oh, yes, I know my wife prepared a nice dinner last night and in- vited in some of our friends to help us eat it. I know they waited quite a while for me to come, but Mrs. Smith over in the next block was serving tea as I came along, and as her family is not very large I thought it no harm to drop in and spend the evening with her. It encourages her you know, and my wife did not really need me. Any- way, I don't like our cook, and Mrs. Smith has a splendid new cook, and, besides, Mrs. Smith sings beautifully. I like to spend my evenings where I can hear good music, and I usually take my meals with the family on our street that has a cook that I like best." " Forsaking all others for her alone." " So shall thy sons marry thee." A young man marries a maiden expecting [42] Tlfflbat of tbe Cburcb? To Support Her. " That you will perform unto her all the duties which a husband owes to his wife." A true man does not marry a woman just for what she will bring to him. She may bring him a fortune, she may not; that does not matter. If she is a true woman she will bring to him more than he can ever give her in return, but it is not because of this that he marries her. For her own dear self, for what she is, he pledges his life to her service. He expects to support her, and she is to be his inspiration while he does it. He expects to pro- vide for her every need, and find his supreme joy in doing it. He does not expect her to support him; he does not expect her to support herself; neither does he expect any other man or company of men to support her. It is his own special privilege and right, as well as duty. He does not go about the community taking up a collection for her; he does not get up a pay social to buy her a dress; neither will he permit her to receive charity. This then is the relation between the individ- ual member and the church to which he belongs. He does not unite with the church primarily for H Cburcb TKHefttonfl [43] what he can get out of it, but for what he can give to it. Of course, it will do much for him, much more than he can do in return; but it is not for this he becomes one with it. He expects to support it; he expects to provide for all its needs. He does not expect to live upon its charity, nor to be a drag upon its work. He does not expect it to go begging through the commu- nity, nor to be supported by any other man or group of men. He does not expect it to support itself, by " itself " meaning only the other mem- bers. It is his privilege, and his right, and his duty to support it, and if he is a true member and a true man he will not surrender his right to others. If a man is absent from home for a month, or a vacation season, or a year, he does not expect some one else to support his wife while he is away. He provides for her support just as faithfully as though he were with her at home. The true member of Christ's church does not sus- pend his support of that church because he hap- pens to be away from his church home for a week, or a month, or a year. The work goes on and he goes on with his help. A young man marries a virgin expecting it to be [44] Mbat ot tbe Cbitrcb? A Relation that shall Last throughout Life. " Until God by death shall separate you." However much he may be disappointed, though she may not be all he had thought, so long as she is true to her marriage vows the bond is indissolu- ble. He is not to go away and forget her; he is not to be released at his selfish desire, nor for his own selfish pleasure ; he is not to go from one to another indiscriminately, but he is to be faithful unto her. This is the relation of the member to his church. They two are one. He is in the church and the church is in him. He is not to be sepa- rated from it without sufficient cause, never so long as it is true to its own vows and purposes. What would you think of a man who would go away and leave his wife because some member of her family had done something or said something which he did not like? Yet we have known per- sons to talk about leaving the church and to neg- lect her because some other member of the church family had said or done some little thing that hurt their feelings. It is a beautiful picture which the prophet pre- sents. How forcibly he describes the relation be- H Cburcb TKtte&Mng Us] tween God's children and the church ! "As a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee." " If it be your desire to take each other as husband and wife, you will please de- clare the same by uniting your right hands. Do you now take this woman, whose hand you hold, to be your lawful wedded wife? and do you sol- emnly promise before God and these witnesses that you will love, honor, and cherish her; and that forsaking all others for her alone, that you will faithfully perform unto her all the duties which a husband owes to his wife, until God by death shall separate you? " And the young man shall answer, " I do." Ill H dburcb ffamtty Ill HEN Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman put into some meal, every woman who heard him and who had ever made rising-bread knew at once what he meant. When Jesus said of Jerusalem, " How oft would I have gathered thee as a hen doth her chickens under her wings," every boy in the crowd who had ever watched an old speckled hen and her brood of chicks, under- stood him. When Paul, writing to the Ephe- sians, referred to the church as a family, every one of his readers, old and young, knew exactly what he would teach. Paul's naming the church a family reminds us of many things. The church is like a family, be- cause the only way to obtain Membership in it is by Birth. One cannot really belong to a family unless he is born into it. There are those who often wish D [49] [so] TKIlbat of tbe CEmtcbl they belonged to other families. They wish that other blood flowed in their veins ; that other ten- dencies and dispositions belonged to them. But there is no way to get into a family if one has neglected to be born into it. One can be adopted into a family by legal processes, and thus become an heir to money, and houses, and lands, but he is no more a real member of that family than he was before, and he can inherit nothing that is not material and external. One can marry into a family, and we have been accustomed to think that the woman in marriage becomes a member of her husband's family, but she does not. Legally she belongs to the new family ; all her in- terests may center in it ; her children will be born into it, but she herself can never in the deepest and truest sense be a member of it. There are many societies that have an artifi- cial basis of membership. In such societies any person fulfilling certain conditions can become a member, and remain in every sense a member so long as the required conditions are met. This is so of the lodge, and the labor union, and the club, and all other external organizations. There are two institutions where this is not true. There are only two institutions that do % Cburcb jfamtlg [si] not have an artificial basis of membership — the family and the church. Into the family one must be physically born; into the church one must be spiritually born. One may become a member of the church in an external way. He may become a member of the external organization of the church in a certain local place, just as one may be adopted into a family, but his relation is only an external one, for he is in no real sense a mem- ber of the real church. The church is a spiritual body of which the external organization is only the outward form. Many of its members are upon earth, many more of them are in heaven, but no one has ever become a member of it who was not born into it by a spiritual birth. One may be baptized, one may have his name on the roll of membership, one may receive the formal hand of fellowship, but " except one be born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God," much less be a member of it. When one is being born into a family he has no choice as to w r ho his relatives are to be. He cannot choose his brothers and sisters. Some people have wished they could have done so. So when one is born into the church he has no choice as to who his brethren are to be. He becomes a 1>] Mbat ot tbe Cburcb? real spiritual brother to the rich and the poor, the white and the black and the brown. In the church, as a family, are found a great Variety of Temperaments. The members of a family often differ widely in their temperaments. The father may be stern and harsh, while the mother is sweet and gentle. One of the boys is quick-tempered and nervous, the other is peaceful and slow. One of the girls may be quiet, and sweet, and sensible; another is giddy, and loud, and foolish. They are all members of one family, however, and their dif- ferent temperaments do not change the fact of their relation. How foolish one member of the family would be to conclude that some of his brothers and sisters were not real members of the family, just because their dispositions differed from his own. The dispositions of the members of the church differ widely too. One is enthusiastic and emo- tional, and whenever anything pleases him he wishes to shout amen and hallelujah. Another is devotional, and would rather come in quietly, worship decorously, and go away without speak- H Cbtitcb jfamilg [53] ing to any one or having any one speak to him. One has a stern conscience, and has a great re- spect for law and duty. He does not care for cushions in the pews, nor for music in the choir. He only wishes to stand before God and con- fess his sins and his littleness, and go out and try to live a better life. One is intellectual, and demands a sermon of deep thought, well-pre- pared, with correct conclusions and inferences. Another is poetic and imaginative. He wants a sermon that is eloquent and beautiful. He wants music that is refined and cultured. He wants to worship in a building where everything is massive and beautiful. He will revel in ex- quisite forms of worship and expression, in robed choirs and ministers, polite, well-dressed ushers, a service that moves in stately and timely proces- sion. How foolish one member of the church family would be to suppose that some of the others were not real members, had never been born into the spiritual family, just because their temperament is different from his own. The family and the church are the only two institu- tions that can harmonize all these different tem- peraments and keep them peaceful in one body. The church and the family contain persons in [54] Wbat of tbe Cbutcb? All Conditions of Life. In the family Mary becomes a teacher, and her life is given to intellectual pursuits. John be- comes a physician, and gives himself to the minis- try of healing. One of the boys becomes a sol- dier or a sailor, but he is never forgotten in the old home. One is a merchant, and becomes rich. One is a statesman, and takes his place among the builders of the nation. One is a failure, and never succeeds. When a boy he would rather drive a delivery wagon than go to school. He is driving one yet, when he can get a job, but he is usually out of a job, and must be carried along by the rest of the family. But in all this diversity there is harmony and unity. The little children who come to the home all love Mary the teacher; if any of the family are ill they counsel with John, the physician. In business matters they consult the successful merchant; and Jim, who has al- ways been a failure, poor Jim, they keep and love and help all they can. The church family is not different. One is a successful teacher of Bible classes. One has evan- gelistic gifts, and gives himself to the healing of souls. One is a missionary, and sails away to up- H Cbutcb jfamilg [ss] hold the banner of the Christ on the far-flung battle-lines. One has executive gifts, and takes his place at the head of one of the great mission- ary societies, or he may even develop into a man of universal genius, and become the successful pastor of a small church. And one — he never does anything. He stumbles often; he under- takes some things and fails; he never supports the church, but receives its benefits or its charity while all the rest love him and are glad to help him. In the church some are rich and some are poor; some are learned and some are ignorant; some are pure and saintly and some are weak and faltering, but they are all one family, and they dwell together and they help one another. The church and the family are alike, in that in each there is One Spirit and One Interest. Each family has a spirit or tone all its own. One may feel it, though he may not be able to describe it, the moment he passes inside the door of the home. In one family it is a spirit of cul- ture and refinement ; in another a spirit of honor ; in another a spirit of avarice and desire for D>6] Mbat of tbe Cbutcb? wealth; in another a prevailing spirit of hospi- tality; in yet another there is a spirit of right- eousness and spirituality. Each family has an interest peculiarly its own. Each member of the family in his speech says " our " and " we." Long after the boys and girls have gone out from the old home they still speak of things as " ours " and still say " we." They still share the common interest. In the success of one they all rejoice; if one fails they all are grieved. If one does an evil thing they all feel the family disgrace. So there is a peculiar spirit and tone that be- longs to every true church. Every individual church has its own tone, but there is one spirit in the whole church. It is the spirit not of honor nor of greed, but the spirit of righteousness and of service. The spirit of helping, not receiving; of giving, not of getting. There are many on the outside who condemn the church who have never been close enough to it to hear its heart throb, to feel its spirit. Many families are condemned by those who misjudge them. The church too has a common interest. When one member succeeds in living a true and helpful life, all the rest rejoice with him. If one member H Cburcb jfamflg [57] fails, the whole church is grieved and the whole church suffers with him. Each one should al- ways remember that he is a part of the church family; that he has not only his own honor but the honor of the church to maintain. Every real member of the church, when he speaks of its work, says " our " and " we." The best test of the attitude of any member toward his church, and the best test of the manner in which he is fulfilling his pledged obligations to his church, is to find whether, when he speaks of the church and its activities, he says " we " or "they," "our" or " their." This will tell whether or not he is fulfilling his place as a mem- ber of the family. When the church realizes that it is a family, it will be more faithful, it will be more charitable, it will be more harmonious, it will be more lov- ing. Its members everywhere will stand to- gether, and work together, and suffer together, and rejoice together. It will honor its Elder Brother and the common Father. w Gbe problem of tbe Gburcb IV N antidote for the ills of one church might prove fatal to another. A ready-made panacea for every church would be like a patent medicine, made to cure everything but really cure nothing. No remedy has been found that will cure the same disease in every individual, yet some afflictions are uni- versal, and the same remedies are found gener- ally useful. We have frail bodies and we must use them, hoping for the time when our bodies will distress us no more. We have the fallible church; its methods are insufficient, its problems are great, but we must use the institution that we have and meet the problems as we may, ho- ping for the time when our work will be easier and our efforts more successful. The cry that comes up from all over our land is that the church is out of touch with the people. The supreme problem of the present-day church seems to be, How shall we reach the people whom we wish to reach ? [61] [6a] Mbat of tbe Cbuvcb? It is a problem that confronts every earnest pastor, and the people expect him to answer it; alas, too often they expect him to solve the prob- lem alone. There are some things he can do. This problem does not mean that our churches are empty. More people attend church to-day than ever before, but in general terms the peo- ple do not come. Not one-tenth of the people in the average city or town are regularly at church. What can we do ? We can Ask the People to Come. We must insist that each member of the church shall be a committee of invitation. We must keep our church before the public. We must advertise. We have much to learn from the theater, the lodge, and the merchant. If an evangelist comes we advertise the fact in every home in our town, and our church is crowded. When the evangelist leaves, the people never hear that we have a church until he comes again. It will not do to say that the people know we are here. The mer- chant who acted upon that principle would soon close his doors. The secret of successful adver- tising is to keep it up. Every church should have TEbe problem of tbe Cburcb [63] a press agent, whose business should be to keep the church before the people. Let the church advertise in the daily papers, in the street-cars, in every public place. Every city church should throw an electric sign across the street. The children of the world are indeed wiser than the children of light. We must advertise no goods that we cannot show, but we must advertise our goods. Let us Go for the Men. Every minister must be a man's man. We have had an impression that if the women came the men would come; especially that if the young women came the young men would come. We have been on the back track. Every pastor suc- ceeds in proportion as he succeeds with men. Fill the church with men and the women will come fast enough. Fill the church with women and the men will fight shy. Women admire a man who is a power among men. Men despise a man who is influential only among women. Call upon men at their work; mix with men; associate with men in all the affairs of the community; be a man. Too long has humanity been classed in three divi- [64] Mbat of tbe Cburcb? sions — men, women, and preachers. The pastor must Give the People Something to come to church for. Of course he must visit his people, but no amount of running about from house to house, or from shop to shop, during the week will atone for a weak and flabby pulpit on Sunday. Never forget that the supreme business of the preacher is to preach. The pulpit must be a power in the community. The idea that a min- ister can prepare but one good sermon a week and must use the remnants for the other service is one cause of failure. There must be two good sermons if there are two preaching services. Shame on the man who will ask a company of people to give an hour of their time each week while he feeds them on a mess of hash, made from the scraps from which all the juice has been extracted in the morning! Before the time of the daily paper, and maga- zines, and cheap books, and the rural free delivery such a course might have been pursued, but that day is past The minister must study — study books. The Book first, but books — science, phi- ZEbe problem of tbe Cburcb [65] losophy, history, poetry, fiction, sociology, ethics, as well as theology. He dare not say he has not time. He must take time. He must study men. He must go where men go and find what appeals to them. He must keep young, keep bright, keep full. The dead-line is a ghost, but it need not become a reality. A Persian sage has said, " I will drink up the ocean if you stop up the rivers flowing into it." Sometimes the silkworm is afflicted with a little parasite, and then it will go through all the processes of spinning with- out producing silk. The preacher's heart must sweat, God knows how much, but his brain must sweat too. A lady asked me once if it were true that the Lord put into my mouth what I was to say. I answered, "Yes, but it takes an awful lot of hard work to get it out again." Inspira- tion is a great thing, but one would as well drop the Greek alphabet and look to pick up the " Iliad," as to expect to go before his people un- prepared and preach a telling sermon. Edison has declared that genius is one-tenth inspiration and nine-tenths perspiration. Great sermons have been preached seemingly without prepara- tion, but the experience and education of a life- time were drawn upon for them. This cannot be E 166] xmbat of tbe Cbutcb? done many times in the same pulpit. We are not to worship at the shrine of intellectualism. It may run mad. The preacher is more than a teacher ; but few are in danger of erring here. The successful pastor must Keep out of Ruts. He must try new schemes. Monotony in heaven would drive the angels mad. Variety is the spice of services. The minister who is afraid to cast old machinery into the scrap-heap will go there himself. The church in its work and its methods has failed to keep pace with the rest of the world. " 'Tain't a knowin' sort o' cattle that is ketched with moldy corn. ,, One would bet- ter be sensational than be a stick. The most revolutionary and sensational preacher the world has ever known was the Man from Nazareth. He has even been called the humorist of the New Testament. There is a growing idea that the people do not need the church. The great union revivals have strengthened the idea. Not more than about ten per cent of the reported converts unite with the churches. In our insistence upon the per- ZEbe problem of tbe Cbutcb [67] sonal relation of the individual with Christ we have minimized the church. We must preach more earnestly the place of the church in the divine system, in our social system, in the life of every true follower of Christ. We will reach more people when we find the real Message for the Present Generation. There is but one message for the church, but the emphasis shifts with every age. The gospel is eternal, but men will no longer accept authority outside their own conscience. The old book still stands, it will continue to stand; it is the chart without which we cannot sail, but the mariner as he studies the chart must steer by the stars. No matter what we believe, the people will no longer accept a truth just because it is in the Bible. We must teach men to-day how to grow in their own hearts the flowers of true religion ; how to see in their own skies the stars of everlasting truth; how to hear in their own lives the song of faith and the music of love ; how to keep alive in their own souls unselfishness, the spirit of brotherhood, and the power of communing with the Father of 168} Mbat of tbe Cbttrcb? all through Jesus Christ. The message for to-day is the simple religion of the Man of Nazareth without a great deal of the theology of the church. The great revival that is needed to-day is An Ethical Revival, in the church and out of it. There is no differ- ence between true morality and religion, they can- not be separated. Morality is religion toward men, while religion is morality toward God. There is no such thing as " mere morality. " That which is so called is only an attempt to conform to an external standard. It is not morality, it is pharisaism. Jesus said, " Except your righteous- ness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. . ." They were scrupulous in obe- dience to certain rules of conduct. The morality which Christ commanded springs from a char- acter that is poor in spirit, meek, hungry for right- eousness, merciful, loving, peace-possessing, and peace-making. The first finds its expression in the words, " I am not as other men are " ; the second recognizes the truth that " he who ceases to become better ceases to be good." " No heart is pure that is not passionate; no virtue safe that TEbe problem ot tbe Cburcb [69] is not enthusiastic." Nothing is moral which is less than a passionate pursuit of the highest ideal which the soul is capable of entertaining. We must teach that no man can be honest who refuses to pay his debt to God; no man is trust- worthy who dwarfs and destroys the soul for which Christ died; no man can be a true man until he is vitally united to God through Jesus Christ. No man is really moral who is not right- eous. If the prevailing temper of the church, that acquiesces in the universal respectability, had always belonged to the church the present stand- ard would never have been reached. How many of our churches dare proclaim to the world, " Repent and become like me!" There is a spirit abroad in our churches and out of them, an evil spirit which goeth not out save with much fasting and prayer, the spirit which is exemplified in the so-called moral man who is content to dwell in the things that are behind; who turns a deaf ear to the commands of Christ : " Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is per- fect " ; the unwise men of the West who shut their eyes to the blazing star of Bethlehem that would lead them to the world's ideal; the men who sit content within the wigwam of their spirit- [70] TJfflbat of tbe Cburcb? ual lives and declare that it costs too much to be a white man. A false sense of life has blinded men's souls. The voice of God is drowned by the roar of ma- chines, the rush of wheels. Life as raw ma- terial is fed to the machine. In the factory a man is grasped and hurled to death. He is quickly covered up and carried out. The wheels do not stop; his comrades hardly pause while he is car- ried away. Thirty-six hours later his son will stand in the old place, feeding his young life to the machine. Men have hardly time to bury their dead. Life is cheap. How can we expect them to pause and consider the meaning of moral and spiritual life, of moral and spiritual death? The social crisis and the religious crisis are one. In large part they will be solved together. We must put in contrast with the American spirit of accu- mulation, Christ's spirit of distribution; in con- trast with the American spirit of acquisition, his spirit of service and sacrifice. We must " put the life and teaching of Jesus alongside our ma- terialistic lives to show us how sordid is our boasted splendor, how petty our boasted great- ness, how ignoble our proud ambitions," and it will inspire us with a new and divine idea of life, Ube problem ot tbe Cbutcb [71] and a new and divine courage to attempt its realization. We must teach men that the making of a life is more than the making of a living; that the prosperous life is not measured by dollars and cents, but in all that deepens the insight, broadens the horizon, lifts up the soul into fellowship with the eternal. We must teach men that the Life Abundant is possible for every man regardless of his surrounding circumstances; that while the hands toil the heart may sing; that we may live like the lily with feet planted in the mire, but with the face upturned to the sun and the stars; that like the giant mountain, we may stand with feet surrounded by swamps and briers, but with the head uplifted above the clouds and bathed in the eternal sunshine of God's presence. The foundation of all is faith in the sacrifice and merits of Jesus Christ Behind the cross we must ever hide, but the emphasis for the present age must not dwell here alone. Too long have we stood with Luther and cried, " Justification by faith." It is time to consider the message of James which Luther despised, " Faith without works is dead." Too long have we slandered hu- manity and declared that man can do nothing but trust. The message for to-day is the possibility [72] Ttdbat of tbe Cbutcbl of the human life redeemed by Christ and united to God. Too long have we preached depravity and marveled at the love of God for a worthless soul. We must now realize that the soul is worth all that the Father paid to redeem it. We must declare the value of the soul for whom God gave his Son ; the soul for whom Christ gave his life ; the soul for whom the Holy Spirit pleads. This is the message for our churches no less than for the world. When our churches hear it and respond, then the world will hear it too. We must present a conception of God, of Christ, of duty, of destiny, and of life, to which the best religious instinct of our age will bow. We must give an adequate definition of how a Christian man should live under modern conditions. We must present an adequate goal for the righteous ambition of the human soul — not a goal of white robes and hymn books, but a goal of glorious service, and then summon men to it. To this gospel, not so much to-day of the death as of the life of the Christ; to its great teaching of what man is in his ideal and what he may become in his real life, the age will listen. Only let us be sure we make plain the foundation and strength of the Christ life — union with the Ube problem of tbe Cburcb [73] Father — which must also be the foundation and strength of our life. Let us make plain that this can be gained only through personal, vital rela- tion to the crucified and risen Christ of Nazareth, eternal God incarnate. ID Gbe Opportunity of tbe Cburcb V HE Sunday-school is the opportunity of the church; an opportunity often neg- lected, sometimes overestimated, never fully appropriated. A Sunday-school that is such only in name is a detriment to the church. To be a real force it must be a real Sunday-school. To make it this is to make it the greatest opportunity of the modern church. How to make a Sunday- school is a problem of three parts. First, how to make it anything ; then, how to make it a school ; and, finally, how to make it a Sunday-school. To Make the Sunday-school Anything in the church that it ought to be, there must be a realization of its importance. The pastor must realize the importance of the Sunday-school. Many pastors do not. Some pastors even yet look upon the Sunday-school, and the whole Sunday-school movement, with suspicion. The theological seminaries have been strangely in- [77] [78] Wbat of tbe Cburcb? different to the great problem and work of the Sunday-school. How many seminaries in our land to-day have a chair of religious pedagogy and Sunday-school methods? The average pas- tor is unqualified to take hold of the Sunday- school problem. He has never been trained for that kind of work. When he leaves the seminary, such terms as child nature, adolescence, religious pedagogy, and the data of psychology have to him only a vague and far-away meaning. He knows nothing of the history of the Sunday- school movement. He knows but little of the best methods of organizing and grading and conducting the Sunday-school. Is it strange if that pastor, engulfed in sermon preparation, and missionary activity, and pastoral work, and the thousand problems that come to him each month as the executive head of a local church, forgets that he is the pastor of the Sunday-school, fails to recognize its importance, fails to take his place as the leader and inspiration of the school, on Sunday and each day of the week? The pas- tor should never fail to be in the Sunday-school, on the platform, every Sunday on time, with his own Bible, a liberal offering, a studied lesson, and a mind to help. He should be an inspiration to TEbe ©pportunttg of tbe Cbmxb [79] the teachers, an example to the scholars, a coun- selor and leader to the officers. The church must realize the importance of the Sunday-school. Every member of the church ought to be a member of the Sunday-school. This is seldom realized, but there is no good reason why it should not be. The entire church should recognize the important place the Sunday-school holds in modern religious work. Some of the Sun- day-school enthusiasts disgust us by their claims. They tell us that ninety-five per cent of the churches grow out of Sunday-schools ; that eighty- seven per cent of the converts come out of the Sunday-schools ; that the church spends but three per cent of its money on the Sunday-school, et cetera, ad infinitum. It all sounds convincing and it may be all true, but we could just as well turn it round and say that the whole Sunday-school move- ment came out of the church and is maintained by the church; that one hundred per cent of the Sun- day-schools are established by the church; that ninety-nine per cent of the support of the Sunday- school workers comes from the church; that ninety-nine per cent of the Sunday-school officers and teachers come from the church ; that most of these converts, after all, are converted in the [8o] TKftbat ot tbe Cbutcb? church service or through the work of the pastor, and not in the Sunday-school. The Sunday-school has never been the head of the church, but it is and ought to be the strong right hand of the church. The people will not come to church unless they have formed the habit in childhood and youth. The Sunday-school is the one great means by which the church may inculcate that habit. The supreme work of the Sunday-school is as a feeder of the church. If it fails here it fails utterly. The time will probably come when the Sunday- school will take the place of one preaching serv- ice on Sunday. Then the entire church will gather once for Bible study and once for pastoral instruction, inspiration, and evangelism. That time has not yet come. Until that time comes the Sunday-school should be not only a feeder to the membership of the church, but a feeder to the at- tendance at the church service. Here is one of the greatest problems of the whole Sunday-school movement. Whenever the Sunday-school takes the place of the church service in any life, the Sunday-school has failed. Our churches should understand that the Sun- day-school is not merely for the children. The TEbe Opportunity ot tbe Cburcb [81] greatest problem of Sunday-school attendance is how to get the parents to come. When this is settled, the question of how to get the children, how to hold the boy, how to interest the young people — all will be settled. The parents will come when they realize the importance of the Sunday-school. When this is done, we will make it something worth while. Our problem then will be How to make it a School. Two things are necessary for a school : a teacher and a pupil. We can never have a real Sunday-school until we have real teachers and real students. The first problem here is how to get proper teachers. Here, as everywhere, much depends upon the pastor. The teacher's vocation must be exalted. It is a vocation. It is a calling just as truly as being a minister or being a mis- sionary. It is a calling almost as important as that of the ministry, second only to it. Those who would be teachers must realize this. When teachers realize the sacredness and the importance of their calling they will be faithful to it. A teacher who is not faithful to his work is not [82] Tlfflbat of tbe Cbttrcb? fit to teach. A teacher who will stay away from his class because he has company at home, or because he has a headache, or because he prefers to be out of town, should not be allowed to teach. What would be thought of a minister who treated his calling in the same way ? Since this work is so important and so sacred, we cannot have proper teachers until we have trained teachers. We would not permit a barber to trim the hair of our children if he were not skilled. We would not permit a teacher to teach our children in the public school if he were not trained for his work. How long shall we leave the shaping of the immortal souls of our chil- dren to careless and clumsy and untrained hands ? The teacher must be educated in being a Chris- tian. He should be trained in the school of prayer. He should know how to walk and talk with God. He should know the book he is to teach. A teacher would not be kept in the pub- lic schools who kept just ahead of his pupils. Some day we will have training schools where our young men and women can learn to be teach- ers — Bible teachers, Christian teachers, teachers who not only grasp the truth, but teachers whom the truth grasps and compels them to teach, even Ube ©pportunitg of tbe Cbutcb [83] as Paul was compelled to preach. 1 Meanwhile, we must have our local training schools. Every school can have a teacher-training class composed of young people, who are willing to give them- selves to teaching and who are willing thoroughly to prepare for it. Then unless all our present teachers have come up through such a class, we should have a training class composed of them — fitting themselves to become real teachers. We have not a Targe majority of real teachers. It is not their fault, they have never had a chance. Every school should have a good teacher's library, and should find some effective way to get . the teachers to use it. Every real school must have teachers' meetings ; if not each week, then at least each month. Much can be done toward better teaching in this way. Our teachers have time for this. They do not stop their daily paper, with its sixteen pages of hash and trash, for want of time to read it. They do not refuse an invitation to spend an evening out in a social way for want of time. When they realize that teaching is the supreme and sacred calling of their lives they will 1 It is but just to say that the necessity has to some extent at least created the fact. The teachers' training class has been formed. Text- books have been prepared. Already is there a large enrolment. The work is done by correspondence, but it is work. ^ The publishers of this book will be glad to answer questions regarding it. [34] TKHbat ot tbe Cbutcb? find time to fit themselves for it. No work can bring richer rewards, objectively and subjectively, than this. For a real school there must be not only real teachers, but real pupils too. To get real pupils depends largely upon having real teachers. How to get the pupil to be regular, to be on time, to study his lesson at home, is one of the hardest problems of the Sunday-school. We can use no compulsion. The only way is to make it a matter of honor. Each school can adopt some plan of honors and rewards, and follow it for years with ever-increasing success. It will take time to build up a school spirit and pride, but when it is done it becomes an irresistible power, making for a better school. Progressive prize systems work well in establishing such a spirit and habit, but are usually expensive. The more successfully they are worked the more expensive do they be- come. The best help to real study and faithful work by the scholars is careful grading and consistent promotion. Graded lessons help, but a school can be well graded with any system of lessons and proper teachers. But with all these helps a school can never have real pupils until it has real teach- Tlbe ©pportunttg ot tbe Cbutcb [85] ers. The teacher is the primary solution of prob- lems that relate to the pupil. But when we have made of the Sunday-school something worth while, and when we have made of this important something a real school, there remains the important problem of How to make it a Sunday-school. A Sunday-school is a good deal more than a school. It is a particular kind of a school. It is generally supposed to be a narrow kind of a school; in reality, it is the broadest in the scope of its work of any school the world has ever known. Its purpose is to develop the body, mind, and spirit of its pupils. Its primary purpose is revealed in its name. Sunday is a holy day, a day for fixing the mind on God and communing with him. A Sunday-school is a school whose primary purpose is to train the individual in his relation to God. The Sunday-school is more than a school as such. It has been called the children's church. There are many objections to calling it this, but in a real sense it is this. Many children and adults too know it as their church, and may never know any other church. Until they do [se] TOIlbat of tbe Cbutcb? know another church the Sunday-school must fulfil for them many of the functions of a church. To make it a real Sunday-school two things are important: We must make much of the worship element and make the supreme aim evangelistic. All the songs should be worshipful. We must have songs with life and snap in the school, but no song is fit to sing here if it contains only life and snap. There must be no long prayers, nor prayers that are over the children's heads in the school, but we want no prayers that are not wor- shipful in tone and sincere in purpose. There should be no special features in the school at any time, nor under the auspices of the school at any time, that are not worthy of a Sunday-school. All Christmas services, Easter services, Children's Day and Rally Day services, all special services should be thoroughly spiritual and worshipful. The order and decorum and spiritual tone of the school can be made just as reverent and worship- ful as they are in the church service, and should be so. This will not make the school dry, it will make it rich. Then every officer and teacher of the school must remember that the supreme aim of the school is evangelistic. Each teacher should be an ZEbe ©ppottunttg ot tbe Cburcb [87] evangelist for his class. He should be as a pastor of his class. He should feel the burden of the souls of his class, and the responsibility for the character of each of his scholars. He should never believe he has succeeded until he has led his pupils to confess Jesus Christ as a Saviour and to consecrate their lives to his service. The best definition of teaching is " enabling another to restate the truth in terms of his own life." Not until the teacher sees the truth he has taught re- stated in the life of his pupil can he be satisfied. We do not have a real Sunday-school until we are leading our pupils to become Christians and to live lives worthy of Christians. The ideal is high. Every ideal Christ set for his people is high. We cannot make a Sunday- school in a day, nor a week, nor a year, but we can make it, and when we do the opportunity of the church will be realized. ID1F Gbe Mission of tbe Cburcb VI HE last words of a hero or a leader are cherished by the world. The last words of a friend or loved one are sacred to the memory. The last words of a loved father, a sainted mother, of a little child that has gone, we can never forget. We still feel the grasp of a vanished hand ; the last whispered re- quest has not died in our ears, and a thousand times we have vowed that, God helping us, we would do that thing. If the task laid upon us has been great, we have been all the more ready and anxious to do it. The human heart is always thrilled by a great call, especially if it has come from lips that have been loved and lost. It was the memory of a father's request and a child's promise that lifted Hannibal over the Alps and hurled him against the walls of Rome. 1 They gave to him an irresistible impulse. 1 There is a story also that Hannibal, when about nine years of age, in boyish fashion coaxing his father, Hamilcar, that he might be taken with him to Spain, since he was sacrificing and about to lead his army there after the completion of the war in Africa, was taken to the altar, and with his hand upon the sacred victims, bound [91] |>2] TOUbat of tbe Cbutcbt We cherish all the words of Jesus, but the last ones that fell from his lips as his task upon earth was completed should be cherished most. If you were to speak but one more sentence, how careful you would be to make it a worthy one ! As Jesus spoke his last words he was taken up into the clouds. It was his last message to those who would do his will, his last request to those who loved him most. It was so important that Mat- thew, Mark, and Luke all record it, and Luke repeats it when he begins the book of Acts — " Preach the gospel to the whole creation," " Ye shall be my witnesses unto the uttermost part of the earth." This is the supreme mission of the church, be- cause it is the Personal Command of the Lord Jesus Christ. Since he is our Lord and our King, we should ask no more than the assurance that it is his command. The strength of an army is the disci- by a great oath that as soon as possible he would become an enemy to the Roman people. — Livy, XXI -I. Translation by George W. Payne. Hannibal related this incident to Antiochus the Great, king of Syria. The youth grew up under a keen sense of this obligation, and served his military apprenticeship in Spain. — "Library of His- torical Characters." J. B. Millet Company. XEbe feitggion of tbe Cburcb [93] pline of its soldiers. The true soldier never argues, he obeys. A professing Christian once expressed to the Duke of Wellington a doubt as to the expediency of missions. The duke, trained to military discipline, replied, " Look to your marching orders." It is the King's command, it is enough. But there are greater influences even with kings and leaders than abstract loyalty and pure disci- pline. The relation between the king and the subject, the general and the private, means much. The Russian subject is loyal to his czar, but his whole service is half-hearted, because the rela- tion between them is cold and distant. During the late war of the East, the Russian soldier was loyal to his general, but his heart was not in the fight because the general was as arrogant as his government and the soldier was a slave. Men are truly loyal to the ruler; soldiers are wholly loyal to the leader who lives and feels and suffers with them. Ease and comfort are not required. If the relation between leader and follower is warm and close, men are willing to suffer and die. In Scotland's fight for liberty, when Wallace led his army disguised as a stranger, he met over- [94] Mbat of tbe Cbutcbl whelming defeat; but in the midst of defeat re- moving his mask the soldiers recognized their old comrade and hero, and with a shout of gladness followed him to victory. Even hardship and suf- fering is not an obstacle. There is an appeal in the very fact that the project is difficult. When Garibaldi, the Italian patriot, went before a crowd of young men and appealed for recruits, they asked, " What will you give us? " " I will give you," the hero replied, " long marches, fatigue, hunger, cold, wounds, and to some of you death ; and in the end a free Italy ! " And the men said, " We will go ! " This is the command that comes to the church to-day from its King and its Leader ; its loved hero who has lived and suffered and bled with us in the fight ; he who surrendered and endured all as he led us in the fight for righteous- ness ; he who left heaven and climbed the Mount of Calvary alone to bring the good tidings to men. He offers nothing easy. Listen — it is the appeal of a strong man to strong men : " Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves : they will deliver you up to councils, and in their syna- gogues they will scourge you; yea and before governors and kings shall ye be brought Then shall they deliver you up into tribulation and shall Zbc mitggion of tbe Cburcb [95] kill you : and ye shall be hated of all the nations for my name's sake. And then shall many stum- ble and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another. . . But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations." Then at last he stands, scarred with the wounds of bat- tle ; his face and brow are marred by thorns ; the print of the spear is in his side ; he stretches forth his nail-pierced hands in one parting blessing. " All this," he seems to say, " All this I have suf- fered for you, with you. Go preach the gospel to the whole creation. And lo, I will go with you." Because the task is hard we answer, " Yes, Lord, with thee we will go." The harder the task the greater will be the help. This is the greatest mission of the church, be- cause in it is the very Essence of the Gospel. The watchword of the gospel is that " God so loved the world that he gave." The keyword of redemption is that Christ loved us and gave him- self for us. The motive which controlled his [96] Mbat of tbe Cburcb? whole earthly life was the principle of love which expressed itself in giving. The essence of Chris- tianity is holiness and service, the giving of all one is and all one has for the good of the world. This principle is peculiar to the religion of Christ. Because it is for the world it is destined to con- quer the world. When the Chinese student asks : " If a woman should fall into the water, and the only way of rescuing her was to extend the hand, should he attempt to save her or let her perish ? ,: " Better let her drown," answers Mencius the philosopher, " than to contaminate your hand by her touch." Compare Mencius with Jesus as he stands by Jacob's well, or when they bring to him the woman taken in the act of sin. A Moslem said, " I know that the Protestants are the best of all the sects." "How do you know that?" asks a bystander. " You are a Moslem. What do you know of the teachings of the Protestants? ,: The Moslem replied : " I know by one sign. If I go to a priest he says to me, ' Give ' ; if I go to Moolah he says to me, * Give ' ; if I go to an official or a friend they say to me, ' Give ' ; all say i Give/ The Protestants alone say, ' Take/ Their schools say, ' Take ' ; their teachings say, 'Take'; their charities say, 'Take/ By this I TEbe ftoiggion of tbe Cburcb [97] know that they are the best." 2 It is the principle that will win the world. Christ's love was as wide as the world. It knew no limitation. For the whole world God gave him; for the whole world he died. The necessity he came to supply is as wide as the realm of sin and sorrow. If he is the Saviour that you and I need, he is the Saviour for all men every- where. As well ask the sun's rays to pour upon only a limited portion of the earth's surface, as to try to restrain the love of Christ or limit his mes- sage to any part of the race or to any time. This is because humanity is more than a collection of individuals. Humanity is one. The race is one. The Bible view is that he has made of one blood every nation. The theological view is that hu- manity is one in Christ. The Indian proverb is, " There is no lotus without a stem." The view of modern philosophy is expressed in the declaration of the solidarity of the race. Since the race is one, the sin of the race is one ; the need of the race is one ; the Saviour of the race is one ; the gospel for the race is one. In the language of Christ, " The field is the world." The distinction between home 2 "Current Anecdotes," August, 1905. Quoted from a mission- ary's report. [98] Wbat ot tbe Cbutcb? and foreign melts away in the light that beams from the cross. The obligation of the church to carry the gospel to the man on the opposite side of the earth is just as great as the obligation to carry it to the man next door. The only distinc- tion is one of opportunity. Modern methods have so blessed us that there is but little difference in opportunity. Not only is humanity one in Christ, but Christ is in us. The church is but the overflow of Christ as the bay is the overflow of the ocean. Every shore that is washed by the bay catches the breath of the sea. Every land into which the true church of Jesus goes, bearing the glad tidings of salva- tion from sin, receives Christ himself. Christ manifests himself to-day only through his church. We must carry him to the world. Why? Be- cause his religion says, " Take." It is its nature to give ; its very essence is to overflow the world, just as the ocean waters the whole earth. The question, " Why should we give money to save the heathen abroad when there are heathen within our own country to save ? " is no more logical than the question, " Why should I spend on my family that which I want for myself? " The only answer to either is, " Because I am a Christian." Ube flniggion of tbe Cburcb [99] To preach the gospel everywhere is the chief mission of the church, because of our own Obligation to Missions. The gospel is not original with us. It is not even a Western product. It was born in the farthest East, among men of a different race and color. We are as far away from the place of its origin as are the heathen nations of the earth to- day. Merely because all roads lead to Rome it was carried westward. If the world's metropolis had been eastward from Palestine, Christianity would have traveled that way, and in all proba- bility to-day China, and India, and perhaps Af- rica would be bringing the gospel to us. If Paul had not preached foreign missions unceasingly, if he had turned back because of scourgings and stonings and certain death, the gospel might have never reached Rome nor us, but would have re- mained a narrow national religion of Palestine. We have it because the first disciples, and many subsequent believers, have obeyed Christ's com- mand and passed it on. It is not ours to keep, it belongs to the world. If we withhold from other men what belongs to them, while they perish, [ioq] TKftbat of tbe Cbutcb? i— —a wn i n m e m imm i twt^rmm i 'rrT m tm a ^ t n ra n Bm nm im m m m m mtmmmmmoaaammmmmmmmaBmmmmmmmmmmKmtm what shall we say to the Lord when he comes? " Freely ye have received, freely give." Let us not wrap the gospel in a napkin nor hide it in the earth. The extent to which Go d has Blessed the Work proves it to be the most important work of the church. Missions have always been the essence of Christianity, but modern missions began only a little more than a century ago. Their marvelous success is one of the most thrilling chapters of the world's history. For years the work was slow while the seed was being sown, but to-day the church is reaping its greatest harvests in heathen lands. The inspiration of the church at home are its triumphs abroad. The transformations go- ing on to-day in heathen lands cannot be realized from statistics, though they are enormous. Sir Bartle Frere, the late English governor at Bom- bay, said : " I assure you that whatever may be told to the contrary, the teaching of Christianity among one hundred and sixty million of Hindus and Mohammedans in India is effecting changes — moral, civil, and political, which for extent and Ube /IDtasion of tbe Cburcb [iqi] rapidity are far more extraordinary than you and your fathers have witnessed in modern Europe." God's blessing in the past is the assurance of his blessing in the future. A hundred years ago we started with nothing and the doors of the world were shut. To-day we have men, and money, and working plants, while the door of the world is wide open, and the Macedonian plea is being repeated from every land. Who dares to fix a limit for the progress of the century before us? History has proved this to be the supreme mis- sion because of The Reflex Influence upon the church itself. How rich this has been! It could not be otherwise. A fire warm enough to reach the distant corners must of necessity dif- fuse a genial glow in the circle close around. It is by reaching forth its branches that a tree's center of life becomes strong, The gospel kept at home would become effete and old. When it is sent forth for new conquests and glories, it becomes ever new. The nature of the gospel is to be told. Its very name means " Good News." The busi- [iQ2] Tlfflbat of tbe CEmtcb? ness of the church is an offensive warfare. An in- stitution can be successful only in so far as it does the business for which it was founded. The best soldiers are volunteers. It is the church that has no responsibilities outside its own narrow en- vironment, that has time to wrangle and destroy itself. When the Roman army was in hopeless revolt, Germanicus united it by leading it against the enemy to victory. Whenever in history the church has divided upon missions, the missionary party has gone forward to world conquests and tremendous growth, while the other party has dwindled and disappeared. An artist was asked to paint a decaying church. To the astonishment of many, for it came to him as a revelation, he painted not an old tottering ruin, but a stately edifice of modern grandeur. Magnificent and faultless in every respect save one — over the slot in the foreign-mission box there hung a huge cob- web. When shall we learn the lesson? Only as we put our money to the exchangers will it grow. Only as we give shall we receive. Christ never promised his church it would prosper, he never promised to abide with it, except as it gave itself to the world. Ubc tsiission ot tbe Cburcb [103] Christ will abide with his church. It will grow and expand until the peoples of every nation find shelter within its arms. Burdens will be lifted, sin will be destroyed, peace and salvation will be known throughout the earth. Christ will reign. How ashamed shall we be if his kingdom comes and we have had no part in it ! DM Gbe Mope of tbe Cburcb VII OR nineteen hundred years we have held aloof from the world. We have asked the world to come to us that we might preach to it the gospel. For nineteen hun- dred years we have demanded that they who preach the gospel should be men separated from the world and the things of the world. To-day we are face to face with the one stupendous, heart-breaking, soul-crushing fact that we have failed. The church and the world cry aloud for a new evangelism. The message is eternal. Fun- damentally it is always the same, but the empha- sis changes from age to age. The present age is humanitarian in interest. Never before was it so easy to lead men into every philanthropic work; perhaps never before has it been harder to lead men into vital relation to God and into specific work for him and his church. The supreme need to-day is not for a new message, but for a new method of evangelism. The stereotyped church and its methods were never more ineffective than [107] [iq8] TKabat of tbe Cburcb! to-day. It is a cruel charge to say that the fault all belongs to the church. It is an ignorant charge to say that the church is careless or indifferent. There has never been a time in history when the church was so tremendously in earnest. There has never been a time when the church was bowed so low in anguish and tears, realizing her ineffi- ciency. There has never been a time when so many earnest workers were groping in the dark- ness and crying for the light Never were there so many earnest men who were willing to give of their substance, their time, and their prayers that the gospel should be proclaimed and the world should be saved, but the new evangelism calls not for substance but for life ; not for prayer but for practice. Too long the church has called the world to come into it and hear it preach ; now we must hear the words of the Master to the church, " Go ye into the world and preach." The Evangelism of the Past fails in the present age. It has been a professional evangelism. Not that it has been done solely by professional evangelists, but that the whole church has done its work in a professional way. It has Zhc Mope ot tbe Cbutcb [109] built a wall between the church and the world over which the voice of the church is not heard. The church of to-day is out of touch with the world. The wealthy classes despise the church and its message. The poor classes hate the church and its interest. The world imbued with the spirit of selfish interest, the people mad in the worship of Mammon and Mirth, care not for the church. They suspect its motives. They will not believe that the church desires only to help them; they believe the church wants them to help it. The average man of the world looks upon the pastor as a grafter and believes that his supreme interest is in his salary. The churches preach as pure a gospel as in other days, but they preach in vain. The people do not hear. They do not attend the services of the church. It is not a mere matter of indifference or thoughtlessness. Any one who goes among the people in the name of the church will soon learn that the people have their minds made up that they will not attend the services of the church. They believe they are conferring a great favor upon an indefinite somebody called " the church " if they permit their children to attend the Sunday-school. It is useless to say that the people will at- [no] WLbat of tbe Cburcb? tend the church if the pastor and his helpers call in the homes. They will not The great ma- jority of the people privately resent the call of the pastor or of any church worker in the home as a personal intrusion. They will not believe that the caller is disinterested. They are so im- bued with the spirit of the age that they cannot conceive of a man spending his time and wearing out his life in a cause without motives of personal gain. They will not believe that the pastor's de- sire for increased congregations is not primarily a desire for enlarged collections. They think of the church caller just as the man who is not inter- ested in life insurance thinks of the insurance agent. The agent may declare that he cares noth- ing for commissions, he is interested only in the welfare of the man and his family. The man makes no reply, but he knows the agent lies. Ac- customed to this sort of thing, the average man or woman of the world considers the presence and the words of the professional church caller in the same way. It is needless to say that since the people will not come to the church the church must go to the people ; the church must carry the gospel into the open air; the preachers must go into the shops, XTbe Mope ot tbe Cburcb [m] and upon the streets, and into the parks; the church must leave its building and go into the tent ; the church must go anywhere that it can get a hearing. Ah, if it could only get a hearing by going! But it cannot. All these methods help, they reach a few that have been unreached be- fore; they increase the efficiency of the church; but they do not reach the people. The evangel- ism is still professional; it is still in the name of the church, and it is despised. It may be true that in the shop and on the street religion was never desired more; it is surely true that the church was never desired less. The churches, realizing their inefficiency, are making frantic efforts to overcome it. They are uniting in greater evangelistic campaigns, they are raising more money, building and equipping better houses for worship, making their services more popular, revising their theology, crying long and loud for more and better pastors. Some tell us the church is inefficient because the best men will not enter the ministry. The young men tell us the pastorate does not appeal to them be- cause the church is inefficient. The average church that fails in its work begins to look for a., stronger pastor. If only they could pay enough [n2] Mbat of tbe Cburcb? money to secure a man who would do the work for the church and win the world unto it! The new man comes, and the world, if it pays any at- tention at all, looks on but to laugh. There are other churches which have the better vision, and are trying to do the work and to win the world under the pastor's direction, instead of expecting the pastor to do it under their direc- tion — churches in which every member sets his own ideals of life and service as high as the ideals he sets for his pastor. These churches are the most successful. But even these fall far short of the longed-for results. Their work is still a professional work, a work done in the church, by the church, and in the name of the church. The world remains indifferent or antagonistic. The evangelism of the past has made a distinc- tion between sacred and secular work. It has made a man's religion a thing added on to his life instead of making it the life itself. It has made all religious activity something to be en- tered into after the day's work is done. We let men go on and do their work and live their lives, and then we beseech them to take religion on as an extra. We let men and women fill their minds with anti-religious thought and teaching from Ubc Hope ot tbe Cburcb [113] the newspapers and magazines and popular books all week, and then strive in vain to induce them to come to the church to be taught and in- spired on Sunday. We let the children be taught in godless schools, and for the most part by god- less teachers, all week, and then wonder why we cannot overcome it all by fifteen minutes' teaching each week in the Sunday-school. We have urged our young men and women to devote their lives to Christian work in a professional way in the church. They have considered and refused, and have devoted their lives to secular work with a little Christian activity added on the side in spare moments. We have tried hard. We have done our best with the old methods. The church is as successful as it has ever been, but it has never succeeded. We cannot say that Christianity has failed, for Christianity has never been tried. The old evangelism has done well in the past, but to-day it is helpless. Not that men are not being saved perhaps as fast as ever before, but that the present methods are not reaching the people. The people's minds are filled with other things, and they are not interested. What the future of the organized church is to be cannot be determined now. It is moving to- il [in] TKflbat of tbe Cbutcb?