Laicus; Or, the Experiences of a Layman in a Country Parish.Abbott, Lyman
Religion
Laicus; Or, the Experiences of a Layman in a Country Parish.
Abbott, Lyman
Christian fiction; New York (State) -- Fiction; Parishes -- Fiction
--It is just as well if they are really serving Christ. It does not
make any difference whether they are doing it in the church or out
of the church. Christ himself served chiefly out of the church, and
had it arrayed against him. So did Paul; so did Luther.
Deacon Goodsole.:
--Do you mean that it makes no difference, Mr. Laicus, whether a man
is a member of the church or not?
Laicus.:
--Not at all. That is quite another matter. I am speaking of church
work, not of church membership; and I insist that church work and
Christian work are not necessarily synonymous. I insist that
whatever tends to make mankind better, nobler, wiser, permanently
happier, if it is work carried on in the spirit of Christ is work
for Christ, whether it is done in the church or out of the church. I
insist that every layman is bound to do ten-fold more for Christ out
of the church than in its appointed ways and under its supervision.
I have read, Dr., with a great deal of interest your learned and
exhaustive treatise on the higher education of women, (I am afraid I
told a little lie there; but had not the Dr. just told me that the
truth was not to be told at all times), but I declare to you, that
so far as the elevation of woman is concerned, I would rather have
invented the sewing machine than have been the author of all the
sermons, addresses, magazine articles, editorials and pamphlets on
the woman question that have been composed since Paul wrote his
second Epistle to the Christians.
Dr. Argure,: [(shaking his head).]
--It is a dangerous doctrine, Mr. Laicus, a dangerous doctrine. You
do not consider its effect on the minds of the common people.
Laicus,: [(thoroughly aroused and thoroughly in earnest).]
--Do you consider the influence of the opposite teaching, both on the
church and on the individual? We are building churches, you tell us.
The "outsiders," as we call them, very soon understand that. They
see that we are on the look-out for men who can build us up, not for
men whom we can build up. If a wealthy man comes into the
neighborhood, we angle for him. If a devout, active, praying
Christian moves into the neighborhood, we angle for him. If a
drunken loafer drops down upon us, does anybody ever angle for him?
If a poor, forlorn widow, who has to work from Monday morning till
Saturday night, comes to dwell under the shadow of our church, do we
angle for her? Yes! I am glad to believe we do. But the shrewdness,
the energy, the tact, is displayed in the other kind of fishing.
Don't you suppose "the world" understand this? Don't you suppose our
Mr. Wheaton understands what we want him in the board of trustees
for? Such men interpret our invitation--and they are not very
wrong--as, come with us and do us good; not, come with us and we will
do you good.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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