We have had quite a number of requests to write an article on the subject of church discipline. This is a great subject and cannot be treated in full in any short article, or in a long one, for that matter. Some write and tell us of members who never attend church nor even write to the church - some perhaps near the church and yet do not attend; some have united with other orders, and yet their names remain on our church books as members; some say they have not had the rules read for a long time, and such like things.

It seems to us that where such conditions exist it is high time for them to awake from their slumbers. Any member of the church has the right to ask for the articles to be read in any conference. But they do not have the right for all to wait for some one else to ask for something to be done that should be attended to. Where each one is just waiting for somebody else to make the suggestion for that to be done that needs to be done, they are all, evidently, "asleep on the job." Wake up, and get busy.

If a member never goes to this church, where he is in reach of the church, and never lets the church hear from him when he is not in reach, he is not worth anything to the church, and he is a dead load for the church to carry. Dead folks should be buried and put out of sight. If you have some dead folks in your church you should get busy and bury them, for if they are not buried they will likely begin to smell so bad after awhile that live folks cannot stay around. You know that live folks cannot stay very long where dead folks remain unburied.

Most church rules of decorum say that if a member fails to attend about three meetings it is the duty of the church to inquire the reason. The object of this is not to find something to bring as a charge against the absent member, but to find if there is something in the way that might be removed by a little effort on the part of the church. The member might be sick or in need. It is the duty of the church to find out. There might be some good reason for staying away which could, and should, be removed. If there is no good reason, and the member cannot be reclaimed, then a charge should be preferred and the person dealt with.

Where some member has joined some other order the church should appoint a committee to labor with such a member. Who knows but what the member might be reclaimed? We have known such to be the case. Such a thing might be done by a member in a moment of darkness and discouragement, and if the brethren would try to reclaim him he might feel assured that the church loves him, when he might have been feeling that he was forsaken and that the members of the church did not care for him. If, upon investigation, it is found that the member thus acting does not really believe the Old Baptist doctrine and cannot be reclaimed, then he should be dealt with.

Some times we may become careless and neglectful of each other. We should visit each other more and associate together more. They used to do that more in our younger days than we do now. If we would do that we would be a great help to each other, and that would be a great help to the church. It seems, though, in this fast age, that we hardly have time to speak to each other when we meet, and seldom have time to visit each other in our homes. We are neglecting the most important matters and are going in a mad rush after the world and the things of the world.

Another thing that is grossly wrong is for a member to live right in the community of an orderly Old Baptist Church and have his membership at another church at a distance form him where he cannot attend regularly. In our young days this was considered gross disorder; and yet we know brethren who will, and do, ask such members to let their membership stay in that case. This is very wrong, and you who have done so should be ashamed of it; and you should at once ask the member thus advised and requested to do to forgive your for the wrong advice and advise him to go ahead and do the right thing. If all members were to hold their membership thus at a distant church, there would be no Old Baptist Churches kept up to attend. If it is wrong for all to do that, then it is wrong for any to do so. May the good Lord help us all to awake to our duty, and give us grace whereby we may serve Him acceptably and with godly fear. C. H. C.