Goodbye To Glory - Ichabod # 4

Goodbye To Glory - Ichabod # 4

To this I make additional comment saying that a church deserves to have Ichabod written from its lowest cellar step to the sky-touching point of its steeple which prefers the adulation of saints to ardent anxieties concerning lost sinners as well as abhorrence of that which is evil. 

Glory yields up its scepter - when the fancies of literary notables have place along with the facts of the gospel, when there is the frivolity of the flesh instead of the fervor of the spiritual in serving the Lord - godliness in form only instead of glorying in the Cross of Christ - a groping after eternal verities - and a guessing that only borders on godliness as to the certainties of God's promises instead of a guidance of others into paths of righteousness.

Glory "packs its baggage for a one-way trip" when the church people are noted for faultfinding instead of being notable for forgiveness - when offense is quickly taken and there is overlordism instead of the offering of self for lowly service - when the making of money means more than the mastery of money.

How can the glory of the church be as a sunlit mountain whose position never changes when in the church there is playing at the job and little praying on the job - when peevishness and petulance predominate over praise - when there is quarrelsomeness instead of quietness - when there is frequent rumpus-rising and riotous revelry instead of restfulness, sinfulness instead of saintliness, selfishness instead of service, tattling instead of testimony, tampering with temptation instead of triumph over temptation.

"Thy glory hath departed" will be written on earth and known in Heaven of the church where there is more yawning over watches than yearning over wanderers - where there is mere zest and not zealousness in good works. Let us so live and give, so love and serve, so watch and pray, that, if the individuals conduct were universalized, it would never be as a hand that writes of a church, "Thy glory hath departed."

The true glory of a church consists: "in the purity of its members; in its spiritual progress; in the unity of its fellowship; in the spiritual children born into its household of faith; in its self-sacrificing spirit toward others; and in the prayer life of the whole group. When a church is in a healthy condition hypocrisy will be limited; progress in purity will be constant; strife and discord will disappear; sympathy for the lost will seek means for their rescue; recruits will outnumber the losses from backsliding, removal, and death; private devotion will be a pleasure, family religion a joy, and public worship a sought delight."

Along with this let us remember that any church will undergo the frightful processes of dishonorable self-burial where there is a lax theology that advocates a mutilated Bible, a minimized sin, a deified man, a humanized Christ-substituting human opinions and speculations for the revealed pronouncements of God concerning the Bible, concerning the nature of men, concerning the terrors of sin, concerning the deity of Christ, concerning the meaning of Christ's death on the Cross, concerning the plan of salvation, concerning hell, concerning Heaven.

A Home May Lose Its Glory

Yet, glorious as the glory of a real home is, the glory can depart - sometimes does depart - assuredly will depart - if the things "down under" Christian ideals, sordidly below Christian standards for a home - get the upper hand and put their oppressive heels upon the virtues which would weave wedding garments instead of shrouds on the home loom.

Answer these questions: Are there not many homes that are polluted reservoirs which muddy streams that carry deadly contamination flow? Are there not many homes that a grindstones on which the devil sharpens his weapons of wickedness?

The glory of a home departs when parents walk on the edges of mental abysses - talking nonsense. The glory of a home will assuredly leave a home as a flower wilts under heavy frost - when parents, by neglect or omission in spiritual matters, send children out to sea in paper boats, as though seas did not drown - when parents permit children, in daring defiance of Christian conduct, to walk bare-footed on live coals, as though fire did not burn.

Today so many homes die in houses. Today many who know better, living for things that least, neglecting things that matter most, are content with houses in which their are no homes. In explorer amid the wilds of the North ever had to face as many dangers as our children of today face, their spiritual warfare, their mental wealth, their soul's salvation considered.

Parental delinquency makes glory depart from a home. Are we unfair to say that behind every delinquent child is a delinquent parent? Are we ceasing to tell the truth which we say that behind every broken youth is a broken home? Do we not speak words of truth when we say that behind every broken home is a neglect of God in that home?

When a fifteen year old unmarried girl, pregnant with child, stands before the court and states that she does not consider she has done wrong - no more than thousands of other young girls are doing - where are the mothers?

When a fourteen year old boy, apprehended for roaming the streets of a city at early morning hours, stands before the court with tears in his eyes and asks to be sent to the state school - because he knows he would be happier there than in his own home - where is the father?

~Robert G. Lee~

(continued with # 5)