SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143782, 4 May 1912, Page 6

SUNDAY READING.

Notes of a sermon preached by the Rev. J. W. BURTON m the Whiteley Memorial Church.

WHY JOIN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH?

Text: “That the, fellowship of thy iaitli may become effectual.”— Philemon, ver. 6.

Every minister is confronted by the problem that many people who are sincerely convinced of the truth of Christianity', and who strive to follow the teaching of Jesus Christ, are not attached in definite membership to the Christian Church. Such may attend the services regularly, contribute to the various hinds of the Church; but they do not become a part of the life of the' Church, and they do not acknowledge the responsibilities of membership. There are others who attempt to live tlie Christian life quite apart from the Church and its services; hut these will not concern ns to-night. First, may 1 deal with a few OBJECTIONS TO CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. There are some who tell us that they do not join the Church because they sea so much hypocrisy in it, and they do not wish to take a profession upon themselves which might load to a similar charge. lu passing, let it he noted that the Church has no monopoly of hypocrisy. It thrives in business, in sport, in professions, in public life. That it is more noticed in the Church is a testimony to the high ideal men have of Church membership. Of course, wo have met with humbugs in the Church. Oliver Wendell Holmes tells us that a man “who makes bargains with deacons instead of talking over texts with them, gets some tilings into his head he might not find in tho index to his ‘Body of Divinity.’ ” But do we not, too bften, exaggerate this clement in Cluiroli life? 1 was amused at a country correspondent in the Herald the other day, who, when commenting upon Ada Ward’s indictment of the Churches, tried to make us believe that hypocrisy was the only product of the Church 1 Surely that niau has lived a narrow life. I am not going to pretend that Christians are perfect—but are humbugs in the Church in such proportion as we are sometimes asked to believe? AVe always hear of the inconsistent follower of Christ; but there is very little reference to the quiet, humble believer who is trying, amidst tragic surroundings, to put his feet in the footprints of the Master. When a T'itanic is wrecked, the world’s press is filled with the disaster; but there is scarcely a reference to the thousands of successful trips across the same water. If a “burning and .shining light” (who is hut a human being after all) makes a slip and falls under temptation* tho world is agog with interest ; but what of the thousands of self-denying and nnpraised lives of whom but few hear? Of a hundred skillings that pass through our hands, it is the counterfeit that attracts our notice.

I should like to ask you business men who are here to-night, and who complain that you have been robbed in business, what proportion of your losses have been from recognised members of the Churches? I think your testimony would lie in favour of the professing Christian. Go to our gaols, and what proportion are avowedly Christian men? Few indeed. There are spotp on tho sun. and impurities in salt; but tho sun lights the world, and the salt preserves it from taint—as Jesus said they ought to do. Carlyle was no upholder of Church forms and beliefs, but bo said, “As to tlie people I see, the best class ol all are the religious people.

. ... It teaches me again that the best of this class is the best that one will find in any class whatsoever.” Fronde, in his “Short Simlies,” has an eloquent passage where he declares that “Christianity lias abler advocates than

its professed defenders, in those quiet, and humble men and women who in the light of it and in the .strength of it live holy, beautiful and sell-denying lives.” " And if yon will accept my personal experience of intimate relation with Church members, I say unhesitatingly that the humbugs are few, and the” genuine, conscientious men and women in the Church are inmiy.

There are others who declare that Church members aro so narrow, and they do not wish to bo so bound. 1 grant yon that there is more in this contention than in the. last. But narrowness is largely the result of environment and education. A travelled man cannot view life like tho man who has spent his days in one corner of the world; an educated and widely read man must have different, conceptions of thought from the man whoso literature is tho newspaper. But narro'wnoss when it is the result of principle, is better than broadness which has sprung from looseness. I foar that narrowness in creed, rigidness in interpretation of the facts of religion, have done much to keep men fiom the Church. They tend to suffocate a man until he resolves not to be suffocated, but to live his own life and to think freely for himself.

Puritanism has had an overweening influence upon certain sections of the Church, and distorted views of life are the result. It was held to be wrong to whistle on Sunday, to play innocent games, to rend fiction, to witness dramas —and to enjoy the good things that life provides. But when, to-day, I see the besotted victims of empty and trivial pleasures, I feel like praying for a wave of Puritanism to cleanse our life But wo make the mistake, and sin against the Holy Spirit, whenever we allow any outside authority to decide our practices even in regard to amusements. The question is not what this or that member of the Church thinks, hut what do you think. says'your conscience? Is it right? Would Christ approve? These are the Christian’s questions.

Another stumbling-block is the creeds of tlie Church. Men toll us that they are asked to accept things winch no self-respecting intelligent man can possibly hold, in order to become members of the Church. Thank God, that nightmare is fading with the dawn. Less and less emphasis is being placed upon the crcdal tests (in many churches they do not exist as membership tests) and more and more stress is placed upon the ethical and spiritual. And this was Christ’s way. The doctrines of Christendom were not formulated by him, anil many of them cannot bo deduced from anv words that fell from his lips. He sought to lead men to the experience of God—and left the experience to take care of its word expressions. It is no part of my purpose to enter into the vexed and intricate question if-.jiha. ........