May, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
164
Three <_
Altars AMERICA MUST BUIL
MYERS
o J J 3 ^ .
B y CORTIA Pasadena,
California
That same centrality of the worship o f God is just as great a necessity in every other nation in the world. Whatever is done in the United States by political parties, it all is destined ultimately to be a miserable failure unless the altars in America are built, unless true religion is saved!) / 1v/ R ebuilding the F amily A ltar Ilf you are going to save the religion o f Jesus Christ in these United States, you must get back that which we have almost lost on this western continent. You will have to re store, build again, the family altar. I am talking to young people— and to a great many older people because they have forgotten the help they received in early life from the old family altarTJ //*/ Richard Baxter was one of England’s greatest minis ters. In early life, he went into a large parish and a com munity which was composed almost entirely o f rich, cul tured people. He found that the congregation was cold, and all was not as he had expected it to be in the ministry. He was disappointed and disheartened. The young pastor said, “ The way to save the church and this community is to establish religion in the homes o f the community and to build the family altars.” Thus Baxter spent three years in his visitation and in his determination to establish a family altar in every home in that community. He succeeded amaz ingly, and this condition in the homes was the fountainhead that filled his church to overflowing and started that mag nificent ministry and life. Fundamentally, religion must in volve the- family relationship. You cannot even build a church altar that is an attractive center without the family altar. Baxter was right and proved it. Now I will take you to the opposite side. Thomas Bos ton was likewise a great minister, but, unlike Baxter, he spent the years o f his early ministry in the slums o f a city among the poor people. There he discovered the same con-
I could not bring to you a more important subject, be cause if you do not save true religion in the United States, you can never expect to save the United States. Whatever else you do, or whatever else may happen, you can never save any country on the map, never have and cannot now,unless you save the religious life o f that country. I f you do not save religion in the United States, and if you do not save religion in this beautiful State of Califor nia, you cannot expect God’s blessing to continue on this State, or to have any prosperity within the borders o f the State. You will find the Scripture reference in Genesis 12:7 : “ And there builded he an altar unto the Lord.” That is not unimportant— that is very important. Much of history re volves around that significant statement, and very much of the Jews’ history depended on that statement. This man went over the border line in consecration. He walked the path o f faith to fulfill the promises o f God. And just the moment he stepjied over into that land, he built an altar. That was the highest wisdom any man could evidence. Then he went on farther to Bethel, and we read that when he reached this spot, he built another altar. All through the history o f Israel, the altar was the center o f the life o f the sons o f Abraham, and their prosperity depended on the building o f that altar and the keeping o f its sanctity. |A 11 through the entire history, captivity was there when the altar went down, failure was there when the altar went down, and success came in when they rebuilt the altar. Today you will make this discovery that the one unique na tion in the world is the Jewish nation—and it is still a nation. [This article is a synopsis o f a stenographically reported ad dress by the pastor o f the First Baptist Church, Pasadena, Calif. A s a preacher and conference speaker. Dr. Myers is known from coast to coast .—E ditor .]
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