ery strong as an organization, but very weak as an
element of helpfulness in the lives of the people. Fine buildings and
stately ritual and high social standing can never satisfy the great
Founder of the Church. Jesus said, "The Son of man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."
He sent his Church on the same errand. Unless it is doing the thing for
which it was sent it has no justification for its existence. It is here to
serve, to help the people. In-so-far as it actually does serve it may
claim and expect love, recognition, and support--but no further. This
became one of my strong convictions.

2. I also became convinced that the Church, if it makes good must serve
_all_ the people. The impression has sometimes prevailed that the Church
is for good people, for those who are respectable. It has been thought of,
and sometimes it has thought of itself, as under obligations to minister
to the religious people of the community, or to those who can be induced
to become religious. There is a large class of people who are not
religiously inclined and who have no affiliation with the Church, and who,
perhaps, are not likely to have, for whom it has not been thought to be
responsible. In almost every parish, or within reach of it, there are
numbers of people who are not touched by the Church, and who are not
considered to be material for the Church to work upon. Some are outside of
its influence because they live so far away that they cannot easily be
reached. Some because of their character and standing in society are
considered beyond its pale. What would be the effect if a company of women
from the street should come into one of our beautiful and respectable
churches for a few Sunday mornings? How would they be received? Would the
ushers show them comfortable seats? Would they be welcome in the pews of
the good people who have come together to worship God? And yet, the great
Head of the Church came "to seek and to save that which was lost." He did
not shun such people or banish them from his presence. He was "a friend of
publicans and sinners," and brought down upon himself serious criticism
because he did not discriminate more carefully in the matter of his
associates. The Church should have the spirit of the Master, and, wherever
there is a man, woman, or child, there is one in whom the Church should be
interested, and whom it should seek to serve, whatever may be his
chara