Mayor Gaynor to the Clergy

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 21, 1911

Mayor Gaynor to the Clergy

MAYOR GAYNOR, of New York, raises the question as to how much good ministers of the gospel are really doing. They have been preaching for thousands of years, and the wholesome influence of their godly lives in the community he thinks is to be commended; but he wonders if the professed representatives of the Lord really represent the spirit and character of their meek and lowly Teacher, Christ Jesus. In the Literary Digest of Dec. 2, 1911, he says:—

Do you reach out among the unfortunate and the lowly and those that want to be lifted up? Or are your churches so finely aisled and cushioned and carpeted that a man like that will stand at the door, and be afraid to go in? Who are you? Does the great heart of Jesus throb in you — the one who took all the lowly by the hand and said, Come unto me, and I will help you? You must answer that question for yourselves. When I go to the churches, one quarter filled, here in this town, and look at the fine pews and carpets and cushions and the absence of anybody who has on his hand the sign of toil, I begin to wonder whether all this is not tending to a failure after all. We can be little coteries unto ourselves, and think we are good, and try to be good; but is the heart of Jesus among us after all? In the last analysis of everything, we have to answer that question.