In an address delivered before the Baptist Social Union of New York, the Rev. Dr. Russell H. Conwell declared that the churches are showing no real growth in membership, and he lays the blame for the situation upon the founding of those institutions which may properly be termed the offspring of the Churches. The portion of the address in which the speaker dealt with this condition was quoted in a recent issue of the Sentinel, but we publish it again by request, and in doing so call attention to the fact that the views expressed are in harmony with the Mother Church By-law, "Church Organizations Ample," which appeared in last weeks' Sentinel. Dr. Conwell said: --

"And it's all the fault of the churches," he explained. "The blame alone is theirs. They are being submerged, swamped, as it were, by organizations they themselves started.

"The Young Men's Christian Association is a continued permanent protest against the failure of the Church to do what it ought to do, and it would have no existence had the Church done as it ought. The churches started the hospitals, gave them their right of existence, now there is scarcely a denominational or even religious hospital to be found.

"And look at the colleges. President Harper says Chicago University shall be no more Baptist than he can help, and there is Princeton, hardly Presbyterian any longer. The Church of God is being lost sight of everywhere, and she suffers in consequence.

"If she is to get back the ground she has lost, the Church must recognize that teaching the ignorant, healing the sick, and preaching the gospel are three indissoluble things, each one her duty, and each on necessary for her salvation."

The tendency to subdivide Christianity by turning over to societies, clubs, unions, etc., those activities which are but different phases of the one Christian ministry has not been of advantage to the Church, and it is not surprising that this protest has been uttered. Neither Jesus nor the apostles attempted to specialize; their endeavor was to establish the kingdom of heaven upon earth, and in their work they proved that salvation from sin, sickness, and death must be effected by one and the same process, and they thus demonstrated the unity of Christianity.

It is to be noted that in prescribing the means by which the Church is to be rehabilitated, "to get back the ground she has lost," Dr. Conwell does not omit the healing of the sick, and in this he takes true Christian ground, for it is written that "Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in the their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people."

Dr. Conwell's statement that "teaching the ignorant, healing the sick, and preaching the gospel are three indissoluble things," is certainly true, and failure to recognize this truth and to act upon it has brought about the condition which he and many other ministers so deeply deplore in their public utterances. The healing of the sick is so essential a part of Jesus' teaching and works that it cannot be disassociated therefrom, and the Churches must come to this realization if they are to perform their mission in the salvation of the race.

Jesus came not to destroy but to fulfil, and in healing the sick he was about his Father's business as truly as he was when preaching to the multitudes. He knew that health and wholeness are the birthright of man, and he proved it. His command, "Heal the sick," has not been abrogated, and the Churches must recognize the comprehensiveness of his gospel if their ministry is to save mortals as he saved them.

The Cause of Christian Science does not need the aid of quasi denominational organizations, the Church supplies our every need.

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