Why Men Do Not Go to Church (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899. Excerpt: ... WHY MEN DO NOT GO TO CHURCH i FAULTS OP THE CHURCH Breast of the age," should be our watchword. The Gospel of the first century in a church of the twentieth century is the victorious combination. "Out of date" methods and medieval churches are a failure and a farce in this new world and rushing time. The robes and rags of superstition have no attractive force in these days of light and life. In almost every decade there is a revolution in the methods and movements of the world, and the church which has attractive power in that kind of a world must change with it. Men demand a church adapted to the dawning hours of a new century, and they have a right to that demand; and the church is traitor to its trust which does not meet it. The vast majority of men can not be driven to church; they can only be attracted. They will not go because it is their duty to go, or because the Bible tells them to go. They must have the centrifugal force of the church to counteract the centripetal force of their hearts and their world. The church should be a magnet to disturb the sleeping particles of manhood on Sunday, and draw them to the place of worship. The building of the eighteenth century with an undertaker's sign upon it, and with the appearance of a sepulcher, and a ghostly preacher in the pulpit, and open only once in seven days, will always be repulsive to men, and filled with the irreligiousness of religion. With every generation new conditions present themselves to the church. Society, business, politics, home, and everything has undergone a marked change within the last quarter of a century. The church has lost her grip upon these times if she does not move with them, and the men of this generation pass by without ever a thought of crossing its threshold. The chan...