Two Discarded Practices

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 30, 1916

Two Discarded Practices

MANY aged pilgrims whose hearts still burn with the fervor and enthusiasm of old-time religious devotion, deplore the passing from religious assemblies of the amen corner and of the family pew. With their sorrow we keenly sympathize. We do not feel that the old-time amen corner as such was a necessary accompaniment of church service, but its passing betokens a change in the religious ardor of church worshipers. The regard for present-day proprieties, the fear that they will be thought eccentric, leads many of the children of God to suppress utterances of praise and appreciation which are really born of the Spirit. The result is that many services are attended by a spirit of formality and coldness quite foreign to the atmosphere of Christian liberty and brotherly love.

We should avoid in our services the spectacular and the sensational. It is not necessary by noisy demonstrations to give utterance to religious ardor or enthusiasm, but we believe that every child of God should feel free to express the word of praise, or a hearty amen, during the church service, whenever such expression is appropriate. Failing in this utterance, it is possible for us to quench the promptings of the Spirit.

Similarly the discarded family pew indicates the changed conditions of family and religious life at the present time. We find that for the most part families represented in our church membership occupy no regular place in the church house. Too often the family is broken up, the father and mother seated by themselves, while the children, left without proper supervision, occupy seats in the rear or in the gallery, with their young companions. Under these conditions children receive very little good from the church service, and too often spend the time whispering and laughing, giving annoyance to those who desire to engage in worship. We feel that there is great remissness on the part of some parents in the Seventh-day Adventist Church with reference to this matter. Parents should know what their children are doing during the church service. They should know whether they are giving respectful attention to the word spoken, or whether they are spending their time in a way to annoy the real worshipers.

We believe that just as far as possible and as the seating arrangement of the church will permit, families should sit together, and particularly should boys and girls sit with one or both of their parents. Much advantage would come to some of our churches by the proper consideration of this question on the part of the church officers with the fathers and mothers.