Not the Vaudeville, but Christ.
By T.
THE question of how to draw the crowds to the churches is one that is discussed a great deal. Many suggestions in regard to it have been offered, and many plans have been tried. One of the latest suggestions is from a pastor of one of the large cities of the East. He suggested to his congregation recently that their church building be surmounted with a "roof garden" on which could be held vaudeville theatrical shows during the warm weather of the summer. The suggestion, it is reported, was received with enthusiasm, and $12,000 was immediately subscribed for the purpose. The minister stated: "What I want this church to provide is an entertainment similar to that afforded by the playhouse so we may furnish a substitute for the theater. Too many of our people find the church unattractive. We must offer something to draw the people from the playhouse, the poolroom, and the saloon. We must afford them healthy recreation. If necessary we must supply free lunch, which attracts so many men to the saloon." "We must offer something to draw people from the playhouse," says the preacher. And so he proposes to turn the church roof into a "playhouse" in order to draw the people away from the "playhouse." That is to say, the "playhouse" if it be maintained as an out-and-out theater is a thing to be shunned; but if it can be built and maintained on the top of a meeting-house it is all right. Why should a minister of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ make such mistakes? Why should he not see that the theater is altogether out of harmony with the principles of Christianity? The theater all thru the centuries has been the world's great place of amusement. And while there may be some plays that are of a SEEMINGLY moral nature, yet even these make the theater all the more to be shunned. For these apparently "moral plays" only serve to give a certain sort of respectability to the stage which is wholly and all the time a thing of the world. Ministers who study their Bibles closely enough to become acquainted with the life and character of the Man of Nazareth will see that the theater is not the instrumentality to be used in drawing men to the Lord. They will learn to have confidence in the words of the Master which say, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Myself." John 12: 32. When Christ was here in person the multitudes thronged Him all the time. He had no difficulty in drawing the masses to hear Him. The Master gave Himself to the one work of seeking to uplift and help men. When He found the lone woman at the well, He stopped to give her some of the best gems of eternal truth. When Nicodemus came to Him by night, He took pains to unfold to him the profoundest depths and beauties of the Christian life. And when the multitude pressed upon Him, He spake as never man spake. The secret in His life was that He gave to the people something that their souls were hungering for. He gave them something that was far more desirable to them than temporal food and drink. He gave them the words of eternal life. He gave them personal sympathy. He gave Himself to them in personal helpfulness. In this way He won all of the masses that could be reached in His time. And the example that He set is the only one that Christians can afford to follow. Indeed, if we be Christians in fact rather than in name merely, we will refuse to follow any other path than the one in which our Master has gone before us. T.