As for the working man, to my mind if he doesn't join a visible church
today it is simply because he doesn't see any good in it. The teachings
of the Church's Master still appeal to him, but the churches to him
don't stand for them. He has seen the visible churches, organized to
perpetuate Christ's teaching, striving for centuries only after
privilege, patronage, and political power. Was ever such a
topsy-turvyism? Instead of being a bridge over the great gulf between
wealth and poverty, the Church still savors to him too much of the "be
content where you are" sentiment. To him she is insincere, and
consequently his pew is empty. He doesn't want an insurance agency only
for the next world; he wants a kingdom of righteousness, joy, and peace,
first in this world, where Christ intended it to be, as well as in the
next. Church authority can no longer compel his interest; she cannot
compete as a popular entertainer; only the proof of her unselfish love
in matters of everyday life can save her from becoming a useless hulk,
stranded on the beach of time. Rainsford, Stelzle, and others have shown
that the downtown churches need not close if the message is given in
Christ's own undeniable way which the people can't misunderstand.
Though I do see the various churches just beginning to rouse
themselves--no longer wholly absorbed in making every one say
"shibboleth" with an "h," still just as in politics the party machine
becomes God, crushing truth and righteousness before it, so the church
machine is only too often a Juggernaut's car, destroying all faith in
God and man. The machine has usurped the pedestal of Christ, as in Rome
and Russia, and nearer home, if Judge Lindsey of Denver is to be
believed. For there the very clergy of 145 out of 150 churches refused
to come out boldly against dives and brothels that were defiling the
girls and boys of the city of Denver, because they dared not endanger
the interests of their machine. _Vox populi_ was right. They were
presumably afraid to take up the cross, which real fighting the devil
involves as much today as it did in Judea centuries ago. Many, outside
all churches, support hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens, relief
funds, and so forth. Big corporations and even heathen armies on the war
path support Y. M. C. A. work, because that is a demonstratively
valuable working factor. The church which is afraid of offending rich
members cannot have a faith in God which is worth anything.
Thank God for all the illustrations of her direct watchful vitality that
she does show. As, for instance, when the Christian Endeavorers fought
the question of prize-fight moving-picture shows and won out or when a
Parkhurst fought bravely for a clean police force. Even if the world
today does not vex itself so much as formerly about predestination,
original sin, the "actual presence," or even the correct mental attitude
to insure heaven hereafter, the churches may surely count it as a
product of their work that the people _do_ trust God more simply for
the past and future, and are more in earnest about securing justice for
the downtrodden and the square deal in the present. In this they need as
much as ever the Church's leading.