BR 
 
 5Z5 
 
 •36 
 
 
 
 
 American Church 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Chap._. T ...„ Copyright No. 
 
 Shelf. .... 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
Rev. G. JAMES JONES. 
 
American Church 
 
 Sabbath Evening Addresses 
 
 by 
 
 G. JAMES JONES, M.A., Ph. D. 
 
 £%^VV X 
 
 KNOXVILLB 
 
 BEAN, WARTERS & GAUT. 
 
 1896. 
 
.34, 
 
 Copyrighted 1896. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Some Criticisms n 
 
 Origin, Purpose, Development 19 
 
 Beginnings of Great Things 27 
 
 The Kingdom 37 
 
 Socialism 43 
 
 New Developments Without 51 
 
 Divisions Within 57 
 
 The Form Without the Power 67 
 
 Begging Existence 81 
 
 Trifling Versus Winning 87 
 
 The IyAw of Prosperity 99 
 
 The Religion of Mathematics ........ 109 
 
 The Mathematics of Religion 123 
 
 Our Duty To-day 139 
 
 Our Privilege To-morrow 148 
 
TO THE 
 
 REV. J. E. RANKIN, D.D., LL.D, 
 
 PRESIDENT OF HOWARD UNIVERSITY, 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 IN HAPPY REMEMBRANCE OF SOME YEARS 
 
 OF ASSOCIATION WITH HIM IN CHURCH 
 
 AND UNIVERSITY WORK, 
 
 THIS UTTLE VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY 
 
 DEDICATED. 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 This little book was not written to order. Nei- 
 ther is it a development. It has simply been very 
 hastily thrown together- The author, coming to 
 his present charge in July last, and finding that his 
 predecessor, Dr. John Francis Da vies, had done 
 such splendid work in developing a very promis- 
 ing field, and that an honest effort ought to be 
 made to maintain the interest and to continue 
 the development of the work, he began to deliver 
 a special course of lectures on the Church of 
 to-day and to-morrow. He was made glad by 
 the hearty and enthusiastic reception given to 
 them, and still more was he made to rejoice when 
 the church and congregation with perfect una- 
 nimit}^ voted to rebuild at once, providing essen- 
 tial means for institutional work. It is expected 
 that the new building will be ready before Christ- 
 mas of this year. 
 
 In preparing these lectures for the press, as 
 little change as possible was made, so as to retain 
 the directness appropriate to the platform. The 
 
Vlll. 
 
 advance sheets bear evidence of haste in compo- 
 sition, and that was truly the case. Some im- 
 provements might be made by re-writing, but 
 that is now impossible. The reader will also see 
 that the author has made use of the thoughts of 
 others, and credit is given. The weekly religious- 
 journals seem to have said, from week to week 
 during the summer, just the thing that was 
 needed. The author wishes to express his 
 thanks for the help received from the papers and 
 the able books used. The little volume is pre- 
 sented to the leniency of the reader, with the 
 hope that it may help some at least to realize 
 the opportunities and privileges of the age, and 
 that the grandest, noblest, divinest thing possible 
 to men in this life is the thorough and absolute 
 sacrificing of all selfish interests to the glory of 
 Christ. 
 
 G. JAMES JOXES. 
 Knoxville, Tenn., September 14, 1896. 
 
SOME CRITICISMS. 
 
I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. — Paui,. 
 
SOME CRITICISMS. 
 
 That cry, so often heard in these days, against 
 all creeds, is to be deprecated. Men speak of 
 the past in its conception of divine truth, just as 
 if the giant intellects of preceeding generations 
 were not capable of serious and profound thought, 
 and the honest projection of that thought into 
 the details of religious conduct; and, as if the 
 world was still in ignorance and darkness when 
 these self-supposed new lights came into being. 
 Such jargon is nauseating. You do not find the 
 true scholar, the real thinker, the honest philoso- 
 pher trying to belittle the past in its intellectual 
 grasp. Only the shallow and short sighted are 
 capable of such childish things. The truly great 
 bow in reverence to the memory of the illustrious 
 men God has used in the development of the race. 
 Many of the keenest, strongest and clearest 
 thinkers of to-day doubt the ability of man to 
 soar to higher realms, to grasp diviner truths, to 
 experience the power of holier things than 
 the men of past generations, or to express 
 thoughts and feelings in stronger and terser 
 terms than are already beautifying the pages of 
 literature. Method and style, direction and de- 
 tail, change, we are told, and not the grasp of the 
 intellect or the intensity of the soul. 
 
12 SOME CRITICISMS. 
 
 The continued progress of the race is to be 
 looked for, not in the coming to the world of a 
 few intellectual giants, who shall tower in mental 
 grandeur above all in the past and in the present, 
 but in the development of all men to a state of 
 mental ability, moral strength, spiritual per- 
 ception equal to the few called of God, in whose 
 light only can the past be read and understood. 
 
 Retrospectively, we see a great man here and 
 there towering above his fellows like a Corin- 
 thian column in a wilderness of ruin, but in 
 looking ahead we see humanity standing up 
 shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand and heart in 
 heart — all men and women measuring up to the 
 idea in the mind of the Apostle when he wrote : 
 "Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of 
 the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect 
 man, unto the measure of the stature of the 
 fulness of Christ."* For that reason, neither 
 have I any sympathy with that Cant that ever 
 tries to belittle the progress of man, his won- 
 derful develpment, his astonishing energy, his 
 matchless aspiration, and with the finger of 
 scorn always pointing to his mistakes and 
 mishaps, insisting these to be the indices to 
 his real character and inevitable doom. The 
 jargon of such croakers is a libel on the 
 mission of the Gospel in the world. It is a 
 challenge to the Almighty to fulfill his promises, 
 
 * Eph. 4:13. 
 
SOME CRITICISMS. 13 
 
 and at the same time, a most reckless confession 
 on their own part of purposely and maliciously 
 closing their eyes to the constantly increasing 
 light breaking the effulgency of its lustre around 
 about them. No one is so blind as he who wills 
 to be so. It is a w r aste of time to stop to argue 
 with men of hobbies. A hobby horse never 
 advances; it only bob^ up and down, Humil- 
 iating as this illustration may be, it is far too 
 elevating to describe accurately and truthfully 
 the position of those trying to stem the progress 
 of the race, for they never bob up at all — it 
 is ever a step to deeper gloom. Let them 
 alone and let us open our eyes to the magnificent 
 marchings of humanity upwards. Measuring 
 the distance already traversed adds new inspira- 
 tion to the words of that Master Workman who 
 said, "I can do all things through Christ who 
 strengthened me.'' ::: 
 
 I readily admit that many of the Christian 
 Fathers were more solicitous about the develop- 
 ment of creeds than about the development of 
 men ; more anxious about expressing strongly 
 and clearly what they believed than the working 
 out of that belief in deeds of kindness and 
 benevolence ; more desirous to get men to think 
 right than to do right ; more ready to praise God 
 for his love to men than to exercise love them- 
 selves among men, and to sing of "The Home 
 
 •Phil. 4:13. 
 
14 SOME CRITICISMS. 
 
 Over There" than to begin keeping house "over 
 here" in accordance with the divine law. Never- 
 theless, creeds and dogmatic statements have 
 their places and uses ; they have served as 
 pioneers in the Evangeligation of the world; 
 they have made prominent fundamental truths 
 and compelled men to fasten their minds upon 
 them, or, to change the figure, they are the 
 hidden stones forming the foundations upon 
 which the superstructure of today is built, and 
 upon which even the grander superstructure of 
 tomorrow will rest. Take them away and the 
 work of the ages will tumble down. Nothing is 
 to be gained by trying to belittle the men or the 
 methods of former times. Doubtless, they 
 answered their environments fully as well as the 
 advanced thinkers and methods of today do, and it 
 is a certainty that they were the "morning stars" 
 ushering in the light of day, and that the great 
 men of today are making possible the grander 
 tomorrow. 
 
 What existed only in a vague and uncertain 
 theory a century ago runs the street cars, 
 lights the streets, and illuminates the homes of 
 to-day; but, because we fly with wings of steel 
 over the continent and turn the darkness of night 
 to the light of day, there is no occasion to speak 
 ill of the men who first felt the pulse beat of 
 electricity. Benjamin Franklin with his kite and 
 string coaxing the lightning flash to leap from the 
 
SOME CRITICISMS, 15 
 
 clouds to the earth was vastly greater than the 
 man of to-day who touches a button to start the 
 thousand wheels of the great factory. Mr. Edison 
 in his laboratory is simply perfecting achieve- 
 ments made possible by the discovery of that 
 subtle substance, the real nature of which is not 
 yet known. Every truth discovered, every step 
 taken, every conclusion reached, every triumph 
 achieved in the pastjhave all contributed their 
 share to the magnificence of to-day. In the same 
 light must we regard to-day in its relations to 
 to-morrow- As man is advarcing upward new 
 glories greet his vision ; the horizon broadens out 
 into greater and grander splendor, better things 
 continually make themselves possible to him, 
 while the old truth, "For I am fearfully and 
 wonderfully made; marvelous are thy works; and 
 that my soul knoweth full well"* is pressed 
 home to his conscience. He gathers fresh cour- 
 age praising God for his goodness, and ascends. 
 
 *Ps. 139:14. 
 
ORIGIN, PURPOSE, 
 
 DEVELOPMENT- 
 
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, 
 and cometh down from the Father of Lights, with whom 
 is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. — James. 
 
ORIGIN, PURPOSE, DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 The Church in origin is divine. It is an insti- 
 tution established in the world by God himself. 
 Its purpose is to make men divine in this life and 
 glorious in the life to come. In its adaptation 
 to the needs of man in different ages it is a 
 development — a growth. It could not be other- 
 wise and be true to its mission. The very busi- 
 ness of the Church is to meet the moral and 
 spiritual wants of men in every age, and to help 
 one age to prepare the w r orld to cope with the 
 -duties and privileges, social and spiritual, of the 
 age succeeding. 
 
 At one time the Church was a department of the 
 home with the father as prophet and priest. As 
 the population increased, and the demands for 
 religious instruction multiplied, men were spe- 
 cially set apart for religious work, and the Church 
 became a distinct institution, embracing several 
 •departments of work. New features were added 
 from time to time till the Church of the home 
 developed to the national Church — to that mag- 
 nificent system that challenged the admiration, the 
 love and the devotion of the Jew. Weaning the 
 Jew from idolatry, and instilling into his soul a 
 belief in God as the onfy true, living God, was a 
 great task. 
 
20 O RIG IX, PURPOSE, DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 Dr. Josiah Strong says : "They were taught by 
 their prophets that all their national calamities 
 were suffered as penalties of their disloyalty to 
 Jehovah. At length, from the discipline of the 
 seventy years' captivity, the Jews effectively 
 learned the lesson of monotheism. From that 
 day to this who has heard of one idolatrous 
 Jew."* 
 
 Dr. Robert Ellis Thompson says : "As if to fill 
 the vacuum left by the loss of temple and priest- 
 hood, the prophetic order arose first in Israel. 
 There alone we find schools of the prophets 
 furnishing centers for the pure worship of Jeho- 
 vah and the observance of the national feasts of 
 the New Moon and the Sabbath. The work of 
 the prophet w r as to keep alive in the nation the 
 sense of its covenant relation with God, to make 
 them discern the contrast between the righteous- 
 ness of Jehovah and the lawlessness and wilful- 
 ness of the gods of the nations round about them, 
 and to interpret to them the meaning of the just 
 judgments by which their unfaithfulness to the 
 covenant was punished. In this work they w r ere 
 often brought into an antagonism to kings and 
 priests, which was a means of leading them for- 
 ward to the apprehensions of truths on a more 
 spiritual side, so that we find a constant 'progress 
 of doctrine' in the prophetic teaching from the 
 days of Elijah to those of Malachi. 
 
 * New Era, p. 14. 
 
ORIGIN, PURPOSE, DEVELOPMENT. 21 
 
 "In this broadening of the stream of prophetic 
 revelation which gives the especial interest to 
 their work, and constitutes them, as Franz 
 Baader says, 'an intermediate link between the 
 Jewish and the Christian dispensations.' And 
 with it came the deeper sense of the nation's and 
 the world's need of a deliverer, who should bring 
 order out of its confusion and establish the King- 
 dom of God throughout the earth. At the same 
 time we must remember, as Mr. Mill says, 'that 
 the priestly order, the house of Levi, is an element 
 in Jewish histor} r just as indispensible as the 
 prophetic order, as it constituted the firm verte- 
 bral column which secured the historic unity of 
 the nation throughout the changing generations.' 
 In appearance the prophets failed in their mission. 
 First Israel and then Judah — which became still 
 more remarkable as a field of prophetic activity — 
 was swept away by the great empires of the 
 Euphrates. Both the calamities were directly 
 traced to the unfaithfulness of the nation to its 
 own vocation, its loss of all sense of the worth of 
 the institutions which Jehovah had given it. But 
 in truth the captivity was simply their removal 
 to a severer school in which they learned much 
 that they could not be taught by a gentler discip- 
 line. Assyrian and Babylonian conquest taught 
 them the meaning and the worth of their national 
 order and its organic institutions just when these 
 seemed to be swept away forever by 'the inorganic 
 
2L> ORIGIN, PURPOSE, DEVELOPMENT 
 
 despotisms' of the Assyrian, Babylonian and 
 Persian Empires. They came back to their own 
 land with some truths so burned into their 
 national consciousness that they never lost their 
 hold on them again ; and, if in later days they 
 were found faulty as regards their grasp of still 
 more advanced truths, they, at any rate, had ac- 
 quired a degree of loyalty to Jehovah which made 
 a national relapse into open and vile idolatries 
 impossible to them. And their contact with other 
 nations combined with their intenser interest in 
 the truths of God's disclosures to them to fit them 
 for their great vocation as the historical basis for 
 the establishment of a universal society — the 
 Church of Christ"* 
 
 But we should not leave them here. They 
 were again to suffer the yoke of the Roman 
 Empire. Externally, they seemed to possess all 
 requirements of true greatness, but internally — 
 morally and spiritually — they were not so. God's 
 last message to them in the mouth of his prophet 
 Malachi, delivered about four hundred years 
 prior to the advent of Christ, is a terrible charge 
 of unkindness, of irreligiousness, of idolatry, of 
 adultery, of infidelity, on the part of the people, 
 and of a shocking neglect of their covenant on 
 the part of the priests. Their religion was not a 
 spiritual reality, but a mechanical and an 
 arbitrary performance. They were selfish, 
 
 * Divine Order of Human Society, p. 97. 
 
ORIGIN, PURPOSE, DEVELOPMENT, 23 
 
 bigoted, strong-headed, carnal, rebelling against 
 God, contending with their neighbors and quar- 
 relling among themselves. They were in har- 
 money with nothing, and nothing was in 
 harmony with tbem. Many years had demon- 
 strated that they were utterly unfit, mentally and 
 morally, to govern themselves or to be governed 
 by God himself through his embassadors. They 
 became an easy prey to the Roman power. To 
 complete their humiliation, Caesar Augustus 
 ordered that all the world should be enrolled/ ;c 
 We are told that that decree was made to ascer- 
 tain the amount of tax that should be levied on 
 each person or family to the support of the 
 Roman Government, but may we not believe 
 that the shrewd Augustus had a deeper signifi- 
 cance to that enrollment. The Jews had boasted 
 long and loud that some day a great deliverer — 
 a king — should be given them who would bring 
 all their enemies to their feet. The Jewish idea 
 was to reign and to rule. Here they are com- 
 manded to register their names as citizens of 
 Rome. Rome could construe that registration as 
 a pledge of fidelity to the Empire and the abju- 
 ration of fidelity to every other power or king. 
 Any one, after this claiming to be King of the 
 Jews, would be regarded as a traitor and treated 
 as such. The spiritual significance of religion 
 had not reached the heart of the masses, and the 
 
 * Luke 2:1-9. 
 
:>4 ORIGIN, PURPOSE, DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 nation that had played the most startling and 
 important part in the history of the world had to 
 go down because of its irreligiousness and 
 unfaithfulness to God. Never again will the 
 Jewish people stand up as a nation among the 
 other nations of the world. Their political 
 independence was sacrificed on the altar of 
 their bigotry, selfishness, wantonness, spiritual 
 poverty. Their only hope is in accepting the 
 Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, and when 
 they will have arrived at that glorious state they 
 shall be Jews no longer but Christians, and the 
 ^'old things will have passed away."'" 
 
 * 2 Cor. 5:17. 
 
BEGINNINGS OF GREAT THINGS. 
 
Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again 
 of many in Israel ; and for a sign which shall be spoken 
 against.— Simeon. 
 
BEGINNINGS OF GREAT THINGS. 
 
 Jesus Christ incorporated everything imperish- 
 able and immortal in the Old system into the 
 New and then breathed upon them the breath of 
 life. Ceremonies and sacrifices were laid aside, 
 and men, through the merits of the atonement, 
 entered into the very presence of the Most High. 
 New principles were instilled into men's souls ; 
 new motives swelled their hearts ; new ambitions 
 animated their lives; a new courage exhibited 
 itself in their conduct, and, without being fully 
 aware of the extent of their influence, they 
 became new factors making for the righteousness 
 of the world, changing old conditions and orders 
 and planting deep the foundations of the ever- 
 lasting Kingdom.* The churches of the Apostles 
 were singularly simple in their organization and 
 order of services. They met for worship at any 
 convenient place; sometimes they were com- 
 pelled to assemble outside city walls. The 
 Church at Jerusalem first met in an upper room 
 of a building where some of the early Christians 
 made their home.f While they continued in 
 prayer and supplications a conviction came upon 
 Peter, firing his very being, that Jesus Christ had 
 been born, had lived and died in exact accord 
 
 * Dan. 4:3. t Acts 1:3. 
 
28 BEGINNINGS OF GREAT THINGS. 
 
 with prophecy and he spoke with great elo- 
 quence. Two additional Apostles were chosen 
 by lots. (Ballots.) The Pentecost came with its 
 baptism of the Spirit and its convincing power. 
 Now the fishermen of Galilee started out on 
 their mission as fishers of men* and no preachers 
 to this day have been more successful. Great 
 crowds listened to them; thousands believed, 
 were baptised and admitted to membership, while 
 the wonderful story was noised abroad. The 
 early churches were remarkable for their power 
 over men. To accept the new religion meant to 
 be ostracized from society and disowned by 
 relatives, but highest privileges and advantages 
 were counted loss for Christ.f In looking back 
 to those churches and contrasting them with 
 those of today, we are pained at the difference 
 between them. We have the wealth, the culture, 
 the refinement of the age ; we have magnificent 
 temples in which to worship, costly altars, 
 learned ministry, ravishing music and all the 
 paraphernalia for cooking, and special rooms ior 
 social gatherings, but we lack the power to 
 attract and to win the world to Christ, while the 
 early churches were ridiculed and persecuted, 
 they had within them a power from on high 
 thrilling the hearts of the common people. To 
 our shame, let it be admitted that the early 
 churches knew their mission among men better 
 
 * Matt. 4:19. t Phil. 4:7. 
 
BEGINNINGS OF GREAT THINGS. 29 
 
 than we do and attended to it with greater 
 fidelity and zeal. 
 
 Long, long ago Solomon declared "the fruit 
 of the righteous is a tree of life ; and he that is 
 wise winneth souls, "* while James said "my 
 brethren, if any among you do err from the 
 truth and one convert him, let him know that he 
 which converteth a sinner from the error of his 
 way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover 
 a multitude of sins."f The tree of life is often 
 mentioned in the Bible. It stood in the center 
 of Eden. Ezekiel says that it is planted on the 
 river banks and that "it shall bring forth new 
 fruit every month, because the waters thereof 
 issue out of the sanctuary, and the leaf thereof 
 for healing." I like the figure. True religion 
 is "a tree of life," the roots reaching down to and 
 nourished by the swelling currents of God's 
 grace and never failing streams of precious 
 promises, while the branches reach out to and 
 through men to men ; the thoughts and feelings 
 of God, by means of sanctified men, reaching 
 and touching the unredeemed in deeds of tender- 
 ness and love. To be the agent of the Most 
 High God in seeking and saving lost souls is to 
 attain the highest possible usefulness and the 
 highest possible joy in this life. There is much 
 said of man at his best, but he is never at his 
 best, except as he is used of God in the salvation 
 
 * Prov. 11:10. t James 5:9. 
 
30 BEGINNINGS OF GREAT THINGS. 
 
 of men. The one realizing the moral force of 
 this fact has the clearest conception of his own 
 utility. The old version reads "he that winneth 
 souls is wise," but the new version reverses the 
 order of the words and reads "he that is wise 
 winneth souls." According to the old, one's 
 wisdom is determined by his success as a soul 
 winner, but according to the new, if he is wise 
 he will win souls. The wisdom referred to here 
 is both a science and an art. A science in the 
 knowledge of methods or instruments, and the 
 superiority of one method or instrument over 
 the other. An art in the skillful application of 
 methods and instruments. In other words, the 
 true christian, the real soul winner, is a scientist 
 and an artist. He has knowledge of the work 
 and the skill to do it. James had a higher con- 
 ception than Solomon of the delicacy and exacti- 
 tude with which Christian work is to be 
 performed. Solomon used the simile of the 
 fowler or the fisherman, having no regard for the 
 life of the object sought. James realized that 
 religion deals with a living, thinking, rational 
 being, having the power of resistence, yet to be 
 won, so he uses the word "convert." It is one 
 thing to entrap skillfully dumb animals, and 
 quite another thing to convert a thinking soul. 
 To convert means more than to cause to turn 
 around — right-about face. It does really mean 
 that, but it also means spiritual enlightment, the 
 
BEGINNINGS OF GREAT THINGS, 31 
 
 filling of the mind of man with the mind of 
 Christ and the sanctifying of man's affections. 
 That is what it is to be converted. To be wise 
 in Gospel sense, is to be soul winners. From 
 this point of view, we must admit that with all 
 of our modern advancement we have not 
 advanced in Godly wisdom beyond the early 
 Christian churches. We have much need of 
 returning to them often. Oh! for the spirit and 
 the power of Pentecost to convert the culture, 
 the intelligence, the wealth of the churches of 
 today to be "soul winners" for Christ. 
 
THE KINGDOM. 
 
Repent ye : for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. 
 —John. 
 
THE KINGDOM. 
 
 It is impossible to read thoughtfully the sacred 
 volume without being impressed that its purpose 
 is not alone to prepare men for the joy of 
 heaven in the hereafter, but also to teach them 
 how to live so as to enjoy the blessing and the 
 peace of God now in this life. The Christ spirit 
 is to permeate the whole realm of human 
 activity so that our social orders shall be firmly 
 ■established on principles of righteousness, and 
 the thoughts and deeds of men harmonizing 
 with the thoughts and deeds of Christ. That 
 safest and clearest of all writers on sociological 
 questions, Dr. Washington Gladden, says: "It 
 is not a remote and a dubious inference that the 
 regeneration of the individual and the regener- 
 ation of society are co-ordinate interests; that 
 the one cannot be secured without the other ; 
 that, whatever the order of logic may be, there 
 can be no difference in time between the two 
 kinds of work; that we are to labor as con- 
 stantly and as diligently for the improvement of 
 the social order as for the conversion of man." 
 * * * "There is need among us, then, of 
 emphasizing the social side of our Christian 
 work, of pointing out the fact that Christianity 
 gives a law to society as well as to the individual* 
 
36 THE KINGDOM. 
 
 We are called to convert men, and we are called 
 at the same time, and with equal authority, to 
 furnish them a Christian society to live in after 
 they are converted. It is idle and even cruel for 
 us to cry 'Repent' unless we can say at the same 
 time 'The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.' "* 
 And that was the key note to the preaching 
 of the Apostles. With great eloquence and 
 power did they plead with men to " repent " 
 of their sins, and, with the same breath, de- 
 clared they that "the Kingdom of Heaven was 
 at hand." 
 
 Dr. H. R. Reynolds tells us that "the origin 
 of the expression (Kingdom of Heaven) may be 
 traced to the book of Daniel, where, after the 
 dissolution of the four great monarchies, 'the son 
 of man is brought near the ancient of days and 
 receives dominion, glory and a kingdom. 'f Dr. 
 J. J. Van Oosterze notices that Matthew uses the 
 expressions, "Kingdom of Heaven" and "King- 
 dom of the Father/ ' but that Mark and Luke 
 use the term "Kingdom of God" with precisely 
 the same meaning. In describing the Kingdom 
 of Heaven he says that it is "a something new, 
 essentially present, spiritual, unlimited, without 
 end, growing, incomparatively glorious and 
 blessed. "J But it was also a something expected, 
 for both John and Jesus thrilled the thousands 
 
 * Tools and the Man pp. 4, 5. 
 
 t John the Baptist, p. 234. 
 
 X The Theology of the New Testament, p. 68. 
 
THE KINGDOM. 37 
 
 by declaring that it was at hand, but they never 
 stopped to define it in a word. 
 
 Jesus often told to what it was like. The 
 enthusiasm awakened by the declaration that it 
 was at hand was such that "the Kingdom of 
 Heaven suffered violence, and the violent took 
 it by force" and that was proof enough that both 
 John and Jesus had struck a long expected 
 desire of the Hebrews, and the beheading of 
 John and the crucifixion of Jesus prove that what 
 they had expected was not what Jesus had come 
 to give. 
 
 To the Hebrew mind the ideal order of society, 
 political and religious, existed in "the sublime 
 idea that Jehovah was their Law giver, their 
 Judge, their King ; that behind the throne of a 
 King could be seen the Jehovah of hosts sitting 
 on his throne," as in the days of the Judges. 
 The restoration of that order is what they under- 
 stood and expected, but Jesus came to establish 
 moral and spiritual principles in the hearts of 
 men, that henceforth they would be actuated 
 upon and governed by those principles, so 
 as to desire better and sublimer things and 
 do higher and grander things in a spirit 
 and an attitude above and superior to any- 
 thing hitherto seen among men. The Hebrews 
 desired to rule and to reign ; Jesus demon- 
 strated that henceforth thrones and crowns were 
 to be won by humble, consecrated serving of 
 
38 THE KINGDOM. 
 
 the higher interests of the common brotherhood 
 of men. 
 
 Some have confounded the church and the 
 Kingdom of Heaven ; The church, as an organi- 
 zation, is no part of the Kingdom, but the church 
 in its moral and spiritual power and life is the 
 best expression today to the world of what that 
 Kingdom is. Many unite with the church for 
 social benefit, without possessing even the right- 
 eousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees, but 
 association w 7 ith believers is not fellowship with 
 Christ, and such persons do not add to the power 
 of the church as a saving factor in the world. 
 Those in the Kingdom here shall share its 
 glorious consummation in the hereafter, and to 
 become members of that Kingdom here requires 
 the possession of inward principles manifesting 
 themselves in characteristics distinguishing be- 
 lievers in all their ways from unbelievers; a 
 radical change, nothing short of a new life, a 
 new creation, a new r man in Jesus Christ. 
 
 And that man is to make his life and power 
 felt in commercial circles, political organizations, 
 intellectual achievements, social orders as well as 
 in the church. He is to be a Christ man. His 
 highest business is to make every other man a 
 Christ man. A small denomination of believers 
 play with the word Christian, but one named 
 after Christ is no more a Christian than one 
 named after Shakespeare is a Shakespearian. 
 
THE KINGDOM. 39 
 
 One is a Christian in the measure he reflects the 
 character and reproduces the life of Christ and 
 creates in other men a desire that takes hold of 
 all their moral faculties for the possession of the 
 same glorious attainment. In the degree that 
 this divine work is progressing, the new society — 
 the Kingdom of Heaven — is taking possession 
 of the kingdoms of this world and Christ is 
 becoming the King of men in all their interests. 
 
SOCIALISM. 
 
All ye are brethren. — JESUS. 
 
SOCIALISM. 
 
 The age in which we live makes much of the 
 socialistic features of our religion. We are told 
 over and over again that we are brethren, and 
 that our forefathers ignored one of the funda- 
 mental principles of Christianity — the Brother- 
 hood of Man — in their great anxiety to inculcate 
 another fundamental principle — the Fatherhood 
 of God. This last, they claim, includes the 
 other. If God is the Father of all of us, then 
 all of us are brethren. Of course there is a 
 difference between one man and another, between 
 one family and another, between one race and 
 another that is so great as to leave no traces 
 of similarity or relationship. But differences 
 and discords are not as deep as we may think. 
 Sin has disfigured and distorted the outward 
 relations of men; it has eliminated the natural 
 affections of the heart, and has set one brother 
 against the other. Wars and rumors of wars, 
 oppressor and oppressed, victory and defeat, 
 songs of triumph and lamentations of distress 
 are subjects discussed on all hearthstones. Sin 
 is the parent of all misery and injustice. But I 
 like to think that there is somewhere in the 
 moral constitution of humanity a sanctum sanc- 
 torum not yet so completely under its power 
 
44 SOCIALISM. 
 
 that the sense of our relationship may not be 
 revived. There is a similarity of feeling, a unity 
 of purpose, a harmony of desires that may be 
 ignited and energized by the love of God so that 
 the strong may become the "keeper" of his 
 weak brother. The unites of being are in the 
 depth of our nature. On the surface the lake 
 may be broken up in ripples and waves, but in 
 the depth there is neither rushing nor crowding, 
 but majestic calm. In the battles of life, man is 
 too often not his better self; the animal propensi- 
 ties may crowd to the front and the man is all but 
 a beast, but in his calm and meditative hours 
 when he is alone with his imperial self, he is 
 better, grander, nobler than in the heat of the 
 conflict. The redeeming and refining grace of 
 the Lord Jesus can so fortify and beautify the 
 temper and affections that he may face the world 
 as Christ faced it, live in it as he lived in it, 
 conquer it as he conquered it, and make his 
 presence and power a benediction to his com- 
 munity. 
 
 But I am not sure that justice is given in all 
 cases to the Gospel teaching regarding our 
 social relations. Social reformers never tire of 
 telling us of the Jerusalem church, dividing the 
 wealth of all its members and putting it in a 
 common treasury or fund from which each might 
 draw as much as need demanded, but they are 
 not so caieful about telling us that in a little 
 
SOCIALISM. 45 
 
 while the treasury of that church was empty; 
 that all the members were then poor; that no 
 others came forward with their wealth to supply 
 the need, and that the other churches exercised 
 pity upon them and made collections to keep 
 them from starving. The "all- things-in-com- 
 mon" idea suffered collapse at the first attempt. 
 What would have been a far better policy for the 
 wealthy men of that congregation would have 
 been the investment of that money in some 
 profitable and honorable business so as to give 
 regular employment to the working classes, pay- 
 ing them honest wages for their work. In that 
 way an equal opportunity would have been given 
 to all, a permanent business established, and 
 prospects for the future made reasonably certain. 
 What they did was the reducing of all to help- 
 less poverty. The Gospel teaches thrift, not 
 idleness or laziness. Christian people owe much 
 to the suffering poor, but the giving of money 
 indiscriminately, though animated by noble 
 impulses, is not calculated to do the giver or the 
 recipient any lasting good. So radical was Paul 
 on this point that he insisted "that if any would 
 not work, neither should he eat."* While insist- 
 ing on the socialistic features of the Gospel, men 
 should not forget that that socialism means the 
 creating of opportunities for earning a living by 
 the sweat of one's own brow and not that of 
 
 * 2 Thess. 3:10. 
 
46 SOCIALISM. 
 
 another. Labor is a prime necessity. Every 
 man should be a producer. He should contrib- 
 ute his share to the comfort and prospeiity of 
 the community at large. The sooner we get 
 away from the notion of building for self, the 
 better for us and for those around us. The 
 capitalist should see that his money is invested 
 in enterprises conducive to the common interests 
 of mankind; that he pays to his working men 
 all they earn ; that he is constantly planning for 
 their good as well as for his own. He should 
 never separate himself or his interests from his 
 employees and their interests. The workingmen 
 also should put their heart and mind as 
 thoroughly and constantly in his plans and enter- 
 prises as if they were their own. True religion 
 renders one a better, more faithful and trusty 
 artisan. When Capital and Labor will have 
 combined interests, the scenes of Homestead in 
 1892, of Chicago in 1894, of Cleveland in 1896, 
 will be impossible. The strong will not draw 
 the sword or point the rifle at the weak ; the 
 employee will not attach the torch to the works 
 of his employer and so destroy, not alone 
 valuable property, but the source of revenue to 
 both of them. There is no question but that 
 many hiring and hired are ignorant of right 
 relations and the moral philosophy of labor. 
 In its highest conception the Gospel recognizes 
 the capitalist as well as the wage earner as 
 
SOCIALISM. 47 
 
 a laborer and as a "co-laborer with God"* 
 in the development of the race. Man is 
 not made for fame, glory or success, but for 
 service, and in serving others one serves himself 
 the best. Dr. Samuel Smiley, in one of his 
 books, says that three words of Christ — love one 
 another — contains a gospel sufficient to renovate 
 the world. And this is the Gospel the church 
 has to preach to the world, but its preaching will 
 be in vain unless that very thing is practiced in 
 the lives of its own members. Josh Billings 
 said "the best way to train a child in the way he 
 should go is to go that way yourself." What- 
 ever the church has to teach to the world she 
 must live in the world. Social problems will 
 never be rightly settled till Christian people 
 will live the Gospel in business as well as in 
 the sanctuary. Religion is not so much a dogma 
 as a life, not so much a something to believe as 
 a something to do, not so much a something 
 within you that you feel as a something making 
 your neighbors to feel that it is there as a Major 
 General directing and moving your thoughts and 
 feelings to deeds of kindness and love in "His 
 name." O for power to live the Gospel! 
 
 * 1 Cor. 3:9. 
 
NEW DEVELOPMENTS WITHOUT 
 
Out of selfish consideration for its interests, the 
 church has taught religiousness more than an actual 
 righteousness, and has separated itself from the great 
 world's conflicts amidst which it ought to be the solving 
 factor. — Herronn. 
 
NEW DEVELOPMENTS WITHOUT. 
 
 How far the failure of the all- thin gs-in-con> 
 mon, of the Jerusalem church, effected social 
 relations, among the other churches in the first 
 century, can not be easily determined, but in 
 succeeding centuries, leading Christian thinkers 
 and scholars ignored social functions and gave 
 themselves to philosophical discussions, to the 
 development of dogma and the culture of the 
 intellect. The mission of the church, as a social 
 center to which men turn in their needs, and 
 from which goes out help to the needy and suc- 
 cor to the distressed, found little place in their 
 learned dissertations, while the great masses were 
 left in blindness and want. From the very 
 nature of the case, there sprang up on all sides 
 various kinds of humanitarian organizations 
 whose object was the providing of essential 
 means for the development of man as a member 
 of society. The failure of the church to do her 
 duty to the social world gave being to these 
 societies. In time, many of them became, not 
 alone rivals of the church, but of more practical 
 value to men. When the church said her 
 prayers and sang her songs, these societies fed 
 the hungry and comforted the bereaved, and so 
 secured a firm and lasting hold on the human 
 
52 NEW DEVELOPMENTS WITHOUT. 
 
 heart. It is claimed that Dr. Lyman Beecher 
 said, "Man can not be converted while suffering 
 from cold feet or an empty stomach.' ' Whether 
 he said so or not, there is sound, practical phil- 
 osophy in the saying. Man is not all soul. He 
 has a body capable of becoming the temple of 
 the living God.* That body is worthy of care 
 commensurate with its possibilities. Man has a 
 strong social nature. That nature ought to 
 be trained, fed and governed in harmony with 
 its moral constitution. The religion that does 
 not comprehend man in all that he is can never 
 secure the love, the respect and the support of 
 common humanity : it is not the religion of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Let no one accuse me of 
 eulogizing secret societies or claim them fault- 
 less. Doubtless, much that is true may be said 
 against them, while it is a certainty that much 
 that is not true has been said against them, and 
 by men who would have been shocked had you 
 doubted their veracity. All I claim now is that 
 these societies came into being to do a work in 
 the social world that the church ought to do and 
 refused to do it. Today secret societies wield a 
 greater influence on leading men in many com- 
 munities than the church of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, whose influence ought to be supreme. 
 Some of you may not believe this, but let us see. 
 Dr. Graham Taylor gives a table of statistics 
 
 * 2 Cor. 6:16. 
 
NE W BE VEL OPM E NTS WIT HO UT. 
 
 53 
 
 compiled from city directories that is very signi- 
 ficant.* 
 
 
 Date 
 
 Population 
 
 Churches 
 
 Lodges 
 
 Buffalo. . . 
 
 1888-9 
 
 240,000 
 
 144 
 
 218 
 
 New Orleans 
 
 u 
 
 216,000 
 
 178 
 
 270 
 
 Washington 
 
 it 
 
 203,000 
 
 181 
 
 3i6 
 
 St. Louis . . 
 
 (( 
 
 450,000 
 
 220 
 
 729 
 
 Worcester . 
 
 (( 
 
 85,000 
 
 54 
 
 88 
 
 Boston . . . 
 
 1890 
 
 448,000 
 
 243 
 
 599 
 
 Brooklyn . . . 
 
 tt 
 
 853,945 
 
 355 
 
 695 
 
 Chicago . 
 
 1,099,850 384 1,086 
 
 Here are eight representative cities, collectively 
 having over 4000 lodges and a little over 2000 
 churches. Some of the members of these lodges 
 are also members of the churches, but as a rule 
 the enthusiasm is greater for the lodge than for 
 the church, the attendance is more regular in the 
 ^odge than in the church and the fees are greater 
 and more regularly given to the lodge than the 
 contributions to the church — the Bride of Christ. 
 Is there a tangible reason for this? Certainly. 
 Men have found that the law of brotherhood is 
 the law of the lodge, and they are charmed by it. 
 Too much cannot be said of man's relations to 
 God, but too little has been said of man's rela- 
 tions to man. The danger now is that many a 
 lodgeman will put too much dependence on the 
 lodge, think his enthusiasm for his brethren to 
 
 * New Era, p. 128. 
 
54 NE IV DE VEL OP ME NTS WITHO UT. 
 
 be religion, rest there and never rising up to a 
 union with Christ. There is no use in finding fault 
 with the lodges, denounce them as enemies to the 
 church and to the best interests of men. They 
 are here and they are demonstrating every day 
 that they are doing a work discarded long ago by 
 the church. The only thing she can now do is 
 to wake up, put on her beautiful garments, go 
 out in the name of her Christ and re enter the 
 sphere of her usefulness as a friend to the poor 
 and the needy. If she can do the work now 
 done by the lodges better than they do it, and 
 she can, she will assume her rightful place in the 
 social world and will attract countless millions 
 to her fold. Then social problems will be 
 adjusted in accordance with the Sermon on the 
 Mount, and peace and prosperity will be the 
 possession of the human family upon the earth. 
 
DIVISIONS WITHIN. 
 
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also 
 which shall believe on me through their word; that 
 they all may be one ; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I 
 in thee, that they also may be one in us ; that the world 
 may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory 
 which thou gavest me I have given them ; that they may 
 be one, even as we are one. — JESUS. 
 
 
DIVISIONS WITHIN. 
 
 To find the causes that divided the Church 
 into factions we must look to Church historians, 
 and yet it often requires an expert to discover 
 whether the history of the Church universal or 
 the history of some branch of it is read. Many 
 historians use facts and figures frequently to 
 demonstrate that the particular branch to which 
 they belong is the Church, but the causes leading 
 to the disrupted conditions of to-day can neither 
 be ignored nor denied. It is apparent to all, 
 regardles of the honesty of purpose or conscien- 
 tiousness of action that may have been under- 
 currents leading to disagreements as to the 
 philosophical conception of divine truth or 
 methods of work, the divisions themselves have 
 retarded the progress of truth in the higher 
 development of humanity. 
 
 Christianity is marching to the conquest of the 
 world, but the marches are shorter and the pro- 
 gress less decisive than would have been the case 
 had the Christian Church followed up her splen- 
 did beginning. Instead of one great, glorious, 
 invincible army moving forward with persistency 
 and majesty, striking conviction and conversion 
 with its steady steps, winning new converts by 
 its fine display of loyalty to its divine mission. 
 
58 DIVISIONS WITH IX. 
 
 the world is full of sects, antagonistic to 
 each other, giving time and money, talent and 
 energy, men and women to the building up 
 of sectarian interests rather than the pure and 
 tmdefiled religion. Some one has said that 
 a "sect narrows down the comprehension of divine 
 truth to suit the limitation of its own vision," in- 
 sisting that every other vision is imperfect and 
 incorrect. It magnifies differences and minimizes 
 agreements. 
 
 Dr. R. E. Thompson characteristically groups 
 the great scholastic antagonists of the past into 
 three parties. The Patricentric, including all 
 those focusing their conception of Christian doc- 
 trine around the divine sovereignty as a center; 
 the Christocentric, embracing all those establish- 
 ing their beliefs on the incarnation and passion 
 of Jesus Christ; the Preumatocentric, denoting 
 those claiming that it is the Spirit that works 
 repentance, faith, hope, triumph.* Possibly no 
 other grouping is more complete and compre- 
 hensive — certainly none more suggestive. The 
 learned author takes especial pains to make it 
 plain that he does not regard these types as 
 "found in mutual isolation, and that everybody 
 can be put under one or another of the three." 
 He speaks of "them rather as dominant, but not 
 exclusive, tendencies in the religious culture of 
 several denominations," and that "since the great 
 
 * Divine Order of Human Society, p. 216. 
 
DIVISIONS WITHIN. 59 
 
 awakening of 1740 the third type has greatly- 
 influenced the other two," and ' since the Oxford 
 revival of 1833-45 the second type has influenced 
 both the others." He also sees before us the 
 blending of these elements in a trinitarian church 
 life, "in which truth, grace and unction will each 
 obtain full and rightful recognition." 
 
 Without attempting to bring the whole world 
 under our view, looking at the present divisions 
 in the American Church alone will convince us of 
 the loss in vital force and the waste of means 
 caused by our inorganized Christian life. A 
 leadirg weekly journal* has placed us under 
 obligations for a most clear survey of the whole 
 field. According to the statistics given, the 
 American Church is divided into forty-four great 
 divisions, but the forty-four great divisions are 
 again divided into many generic organizations, 
 making in all one hundred and twenty distinct 
 denominations in this country. The list is 
 as follows: Six different kinds of Adventists, 
 thirteen of Baptists, three of Brethren (River), 
 four of Brethren (Plymouth), seven of Catholics, 
 two of Christians, eight Communistic Societies, 
 four Dunkards, two Evangelical bodies, four of 
 Friends, two of Jews, two of Latter-Day Saints, 
 twenty Lutherans, twelve Mennonites, seventeen 
 Methodists, twelve Presbyterians, two Protestant 
 Episcopal, three Reformed, two United Brethren, 
 
 * The New York Independent, Jan. 2, 1896. 
 
00 DIVISIONS WITHIN. 
 
 the Catholic Apostolic, Chinese Churches, Chris- 
 tadelphians, Christian Misssionary Association, 
 Christian Scientists, Christian Union, Church of 
 God (Winebrenerians), Church Triumphant 
 (Schweinfurth), Church of the New Jerusalem, 
 Congregational, Disciples of Christ, Friends of 
 the Temple, German Evangelical Protestant and 
 German Evangelical Synod. The Calvinistic 
 Methodists or Welsh Presbyterians are included 
 with the Presbyterians. In 1895 they had 107 
 ministers, 192 churches, 12,285 communicants. 
 
DIVISIONS WITHIN. 61 
 
 SUMMARIES FOR 1895.! 
 
 Denominations. Min. 
 
 Adventists, all branches 1,362 
 
 Baptists, all branches* 31,572 
 
 Brethren (River), all branches . . 155 
 
 Brethren (Plymouth), all branches . . 
 
 Catholics.* all branches 9,886 
 
 Catholic Apostolic 95 
 
 Chinese Temples 
 
 Christadelphians 
 
 Christians, all branches 1,485 
 
 Christian Missionary Association . 10 
 
 Christian Scientists 26 
 
 Christian Union 183 
 
 Church of God 450 
 
 Church Triumphant (Schweinlurth) . . 
 
 Church of the New Jerusalem ... 131 
 Communistic Soc's, all branches . . 
 
 Congregationalists 5,400 
 
 Disciples of Christ 5,260 
 
 Dunkards, all branches 2,115 
 
 Evangelical, all branches 1,234 
 
 Friends all branches i, 314 
 
 Friends of the Temple 4 
 
 German Evan. Protestant 45 
 
 German Evan. Synod 838 
 
 Jews, all brancheo 290 
 
 flatter Day Saints, all branches . . 2,075 
 
 Lutherans, all branches 5,6S5 
 
 Waldenstromians* 140 
 
 Mennonites, all branhes 950 
 
 Methodist, all branches 33, 601 
 
 Moravians 85 
 
 Presbyterians, all branches .... 11,097 
 
 Prot. Episcopal, all branches . . . . 4,580 
 
 Reformed, all branches 1,662 
 
 Salvation Army 2,037 
 
 Schwenkfeldians 3 
 
 Social Brethren 17 
 
 Society for Ethical Culture .... 
 
 Spiritualist 
 
 Theosophical Society 
 
 United Brethren, all branches . . . 2,746 
 
 Unitarians 519 
 
 Universalists S®o 
 
 Independent Congregations .... 54 
 
 Chs. 
 
 Com. 
 
 i,993 
 
 73,312 
 
 45,802 
 
 3,928,106 
 
 in 
 
 3,427 
 
 3M 
 
 6,661 
 
 12,627 
 
 7,742,774 
 
 10 
 
 1,394 
 
 47 
 
 
 63 
 
 1,277 
 
 1,480 
 
 110,050 
 
 »3 
 
 754 
 
 221 
 
 8,724 
 
 294 
 
 18,214 
 
 560 
 
 36,000 
 
 12 
 
 384 
 
 147 
 
 7,406 
 
 31 
 
 3,950 
 
 5,5oo 
 
 600,000 
 
 9,47i 
 
 923,663 
 
 1,016 
 
 8i,394 
 
 2,817 
 
 145,904 
 
 1,087 
 
 114,711 
 
 4 
 
 340 
 
 55 
 
 36,500 
 
 1,075 
 
 185,203 
 
 548 
 
 139,500 
 
 1,011 
 
 234,000 
 
 9,493 
 
 1,390.775 
 
 150 
 
 20,000 
 
 600 
 
 47,669 
 
 5 2 ,236 
 
 5,438,963 
 
 81 
 
 12,929 
 
 14,530 
 
 1,458,990 
 
 5,979 
 
 626,290 
 
 2.355 
 
 341,832 
 
 682 
 
 33,509 
 
 4 
 
 3°6 
 
 20 
 
 913 
 
 4 
 
 1,064 
 
 334 
 
 45,030 
 
 95 
 
 *2,500 
 
 5,026 
 
 262,950 
 
 455 
 
 68,500 
 
 802 
 
 47,986 
 
 156 
 
 14,126 
 
 [79.3" 
 
 24,218,180 
 
 Total 127,9c 
 
 It is interesting also to examine the table 
 given by the same energetic journal of the work 
 sustained abroad by American men and money. 
 
 f As given by the Independent. * Returns of 1894. 
 
62 
 
 DIVISIONS WITH1X. 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL. 
 Native 
 
 Country Preachers. Churches. 
 
 Africa 34 23 
 
 China 75 38 
 
 India 260 94. 
 
 Japan 60 99 
 
 Pacific Islands .... 58 48 
 
 Papal Lands 27 34 
 
 Turke}- 22S 125 
 
 Total abroad. . . . 742 461 
 
 United States . ... 5,400 5.500 
 
 Grand Total. . . . 6,142 5,961 
 
 METHODIST EPISCOPAL. 
 
 Africa 40 34 
 
 rhina 135 13S 
 
 Europe 362 321 
 
 India 236 191 
 
 Japan and Korea ... 91 42 
 
 Mexico 30 30 
 
 South America .... 53 22 
 
 Total abroad. . . . 947 778 
 
 United states 16,079 24,605 
 
 Grand Total . . . 17.026 2 5-3S3 
 
 NORTHERN PRESBYTERIAN. 
 
 Africa 15 22 
 
 China 88 74 
 
 India 69 31 
 
 Japan 53 36 
 
 Korea 8 1 
 
 Persia 61 38 
 
 Siani 19 19 
 
 Syria 20 26 
 
 Mexico 37 86 
 
 Brazil 11 43 
 
 Chile 10 8 
 
 Columbia 5 2 
 
 Guatemala . . 1 
 
 Total abroad . . . 39S 387 
 
 United States .... 6.49S 7»2i8 
 
 Grand total .... 6,896 7*605 
 
 UNITED PRESBYTERIAN. 
 
 Canada 4 5 
 
 Egypt 34 33 
 
 India 20 12 
 
 Total abroad. ... 5S 50 
 
 United States 801 895 
 
 Grand total .... 859 945 
 
 Commun icants- 
 
 :.S79 
 2.7S6 
 8,52 r 
 1 1 .162 
 5 392 
 1,886 
 
 44.413 
 600,000 
 
 644.413 
 
 4.137 
 10,615 
 46,845 
 63.690 
 
 4.2S0 
 3. 534 
 3-570 
 
 136.671 
 2.629.9S5 
 
 2,766,656 
 
 1,754 
 6,922 
 2,286 
 5*563 
 2^6 
 2,838 
 
 2,133 
 2.04S 
 3,826 
 
 3,651 
 388 
 
 155 
 
 34 
 
 31,834 
 
 982,657 
 
 934.591 
 
 641 
 4*554 
 5.756 
 
 10,951 
 106,75 s 
 
 117,706 
 
DIVISIONS WITHIN. 
 
 63 
 
 COUNTRY. 
 
 Africa 
 
 Brazil 
 
 China 
 
 Cuba 
 
 Europe 
 
 Haita 
 
 Japan 
 
 Mexico 
 
 PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL. 
 Ministers. 
 16 
 
 . • 7 
 
 • • 34 
 
 Total abroad 
 United States . . 
 
 Grand total . 
 
 Canada . . . 
 Germany . 
 Japan . . . . 
 Switzerland 
 
 Total abroad, 
 United States . . 
 
 Grand total . 
 
 14 
 27 
 
 8 
 
 u6 
 
 4,487 
 
 4,603 
 
 73 
 7o 
 23 
 
 42 
 
 20S 
 i,i74 
 
 1,382 
 
 Churches. 
 
 Co m m u n ice. n ts 
 
 53 
 
 48 
 
 4 
 6 
 
 15 
 76 
 24 
 
 1,241 
 j 92 
 936 
 50 
 
 I, coo 
 
 389 
 
 1,543 
 
 233 
 
 5,885 
 
 5,35i 
 616,843 
 
 6,118 
 
 622,194 
 
 OCIATION. 
 
 
 89 
 
 41 
 
 9 
 
 32 
 
 6,721 
 
 6,75i 
 
 727 
 
 5,047 
 
 171 
 1,817 
 
 19,246 
 90,849 
 
 1,988 
 
 Canada . . 
 Germany- 
 Africa . . 
 
 UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST. 
 38 
 
 Total abroad . 
 United States . . . 
 
 22 
 
 S 
 
 17 
 
 47 
 
 2,057 
 
 6S 
 4,176 
 
 Grand total . . . . 2,104 4.242 
 
 SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS. 
 
 6 7 
 
 Africa 
 
 Australasia and Pacific 
 Islands .... 
 
 Canada 
 
 Europe ... 
 Centr alAmerica 
 
 India 
 
 Mexico 
 
 South America . 
 West Indies. 
 
 Total abroad. 
 United States . . 
 
 Grand total . 
 
 20 
 6 
 29 
 
 253 
 
 326 
 
 31 
 
 16 
 
 108 
 
 171 
 1,201 
 
 ,372 
 
 110,095 
 
 1,504 
 5,638 
 
 8,005 
 225,199 
 
 233,204 
 
 220 
 
 1,465 
 
 384 
 
 4,155 
 
 55 
 
 *53 
 120 
 
 6,552 
 41,128 
 
 47,63o 
 
THE FORM 
 WITHOUT THE POWER. 
 
"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power 
 thereof; from such turn away." — Paui,. 
 
THE FORM WITHOUT THE POWER. 
 
 No one can truthfully claim all of the organi- 
 zations in the foregoing tables as representing 
 the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of 
 them, at least, do not; they exist for the purpose 
 of denying his divinity. If Christ was not 
 divine the Church he has established in the w r orld 
 is not divine, and its services are no more sacred 
 or solemn or inspiring than the services of any 
 organization devoted to the moral good and the 
 intellectual growth of the race. In the tables 
 are also found some temples dedicated to the 
 worship of idols. Some others make no claim 
 of possessing the spirit and power of Jesus in 
 any degree, w r hile some of them making very 
 high pretensions utterly fail in practice. The 
 tables, as they stand, represent the thought 
 and life of the religious people inhabiting this 
 great continent of ours. We have reasons to 
 rejoice that the showing, on the whole, is as good. 
 At the same time, considering the educational 
 advantages and political privileges of the people, 
 the Church ought to be man}' thousand fold 
 stronger than it is for the faith that saves. 
 
 The tables, surely, demonstrate much earnest 
 endeavor to spread the story of the cross, much 
 self-denial and sacrifice, much consecration and 
 
68 THE FORM WITHOUT THE POWER. 
 
 devotion to religious interests. They also show 
 in an emphatic manner that underneath our 
 benevolences, behind our labors, back of our 
 progress, is a burning desire for supremacy. That 
 spirit paralyses our energies and freezes our 
 prayers. The late Dr. Mark Hopkins, President 
 of Williams College and President of the Ameri- 
 can Board — the Congregational Foreign Mis- 
 sionary Society — said: "No less than nineteen 
 varieties of Christianity are at present trying to 
 convert the Japanese. The nineteen do not agree 
 as to what the ministry is, nor as to the 
 Word of God, nor are they agreed as to the 
 sacraments, doctrine, discipline and worship. 
 There are all sorts of contradictions of 
 belief. Now, if Christianity, with eighteen cen- 
 turies of accumulated tradition cannot agree, 
 how can we expect the heathen to solve the 
 great riddle."* I have seen it stated in the 
 papers that an Atrican king said to the mission- 
 aries, "You seem to make two religions out of 
 one religion, and I do not understand you." 
 Another king is said to have been highly de- 
 lighted in getting two missionaries of different 
 non-essential views to go before him, each to 
 argue for his belief. Nothing afforded the 
 king greater amusement. Why cannot the de- 
 nominations agree to give up China to one of 
 them as its missionary field, Japan to the other, 
 
 * From a clipping-. 
 
THE FORM WITHOUT THE POWER. 69 
 
 Africa to the other, etc., etc., or, if that cannot 
 be successfully accomplished some plan of action 
 should be speedily adopted decreasing the ex- 
 penses of carrying on the work and preventing 
 the earnestness of the workers from becoming a 
 laughing stock to those they seek to convert. 
 China would be no less Christian should she 
 adopt the Presbyterian faith. Nothing of moral 
 force or spiritual power w y ould be lost to Japan 
 should she become Methodist, or to Africa should 
 she becorce Baptist, but great economy in men 
 and money would be secured, while the coming 
 of the Kingdom would be greatly accelerated 
 among the nations of the earth. It is a pit}' 
 that secterianism strikes often deeper roots than 
 religion itself, and that there are so many men 
 and women in the world calling themselves 
 Christians, hardly caring whether men are con- 
 verted or no, unless they are converted to their 
 own peculiar beliefs and to walk the plank of 
 faith they throw before them. 
 
 Recently I visited a village of about 500 popu- 
 lation. It is situated in the centre of a small 
 valley with no great territory to draw 7 upon for 
 sustenance. It has three general stores, two 
 drug stores, two blacksmith shops, one millinery 
 store, one shoe shop, one carpenter shop, one 
 wagon shop, one barber shop, one flow r ering mill, 
 but it has six churches. In three of them ser- 
 vices are conducted in the English language, and 
 
70 THE FORM WITHOUT THE POWER. 
 
 in a foreign tongue in the other three. These 
 last three exert practically no influence upon the 
 community at large, and do not seem to feel any 
 responsibility in the matter. The three English 
 churches in number, brains and wealth, should 
 they unite, would constitute a force that might 
 prove a great benefit to the community. Sepa- 
 rated as they are, their influence is divided and 
 weakened. Jealousy and contention are rife 
 among them. The three together do not pay to the 
 support of the ministry $700 a year, and there are 
 three ministers to be supported, in part, out of that 
 small sum. The other part comes from other 
 small, scattering organizations. One of these 
 preachers has seven preaching stations and gener- 
 ally he is expected to preach four times on the Sab- 
 bbath. To do so he has to travel over very rough 
 roads from fifteen to twenty-five miles. For all this 
 haid and never ending labor he may consider him- 
 self very fortunate if he receives $600 in twelve 
 months. He is one out of a thousand in similar 
 circumstances. It makes one's blood boil to hear 
 the $8,000 city pastor, with an assistant or two, 
 talking of hard work or self-denial. Of course, 
 some city pastors do exercise self-denial and do 
 hard and heroic work, but, on the whole, city 
 pastors come far short of the heroic life of the 
 country preachers. Yet the strength of the city 
 churches, the moral back-bone of the nation, the 
 glory of the rising generation depend very 
 
THE FORM WITHOUT THE POWER. 71 
 
 largely on the labors of the country preachers. 
 The time will come, if the Gospel is to triumph, 
 when the city pastors of great salaries w 7 ill in- 
 fluence better support to their brethren in the 
 rural districts. Protestanism has much to learn 
 from Catholicism in this respect. With very 
 rare exceptions as great preachers — preachers 
 of divine unction and fearless denunciation of 
 evil in low and high places, are found now and 
 ever have been in the villages and smaller towns 
 as in the larger cities. A need of this age, 
 especially, is the concentration of wisdom and 
 benevolence and co-operation in the rural districts, 
 that they may not be so divided and broken up 
 into so many religious organizations. Were it 
 possible to unite the three churches in the village 
 referred to under one pastor, the united church 
 could support him and the work moderately 
 respectably; he could devote all his time to their 
 moral and spiritual development. The other two 
 pastors might settle over other united groups in 
 surrounding hamlets. As matters now exist the 
 ministers spend much of their time "on the road," 
 and are deprived of many comforts to which they 
 are justly entitled, and the Churches, of necessity, 
 fail in the development of their powers. Like 
 tiny flowers behind walls they are denied the 
 health and strength giving pow T er of the sun's 
 rays ; they do not and can not grow in power and 
 
72 THE FORM WITHOUT THE POWER. 
 
 beauty. A need of the times is the breaking 
 down of the walls. 
 
 But country districts are not alone cursed with 
 this evil. Large portions of cities are almost in 
 Egyptian darkness while other sections are over- 
 burdened with churches, simply because several 
 denominations desire to be represented among the 
 fashionable and the elite. There is no other 
 rational excuse for their existence. As a con- 
 sequence, many of them are driven to desperation 
 to maintain themselves. Whenever finances are 
 burdens and much talk of money indulged in 
 the public services the spiritual life suffers. Every 
 organization that is called a Church is not a 
 Church of Christ; it belongs to the denomination 
 or to itself. The Lord Jesus had no part in its 
 formation; it does not live according to his law 
 or do his work } and it can be of no moral good 
 to its community, while its existence is a positive 
 injury to everyone of its members, for it keeps 
 them in an atmosphere destructive to their 
 growth in the higher life. One of the healthiest 
 and most promising tendencies of the age is the 
 desire among so many followers of Christ to sur- 
 render minor differences and to unite on the major 
 principles of true religion. The blast from the 
 bugle of the learned Presbyterian minister, Dr. 
 Thomas C. Hall, of Chicago, is as refreshing as a 
 mountain breeze on a sultry August evening and 
 as cheering as the dawn of day, not so much for 
 
THE FORM WITHOUT THE POWER. 73 
 
 what he says, but for what he aims, for what his 
 heart yearns for — the union of all denominations 
 on lines of practical co-operation. Here are his 
 words : 
 
 "But theological differences do still divide us. 
 How shall we meet this? In the first place, may 
 it be said, not by surrendering our personal con- 
 victions. We would none of us be the stronger 
 for that. We must seek to eliminate, however, 
 from our common platforms things that pertain not 
 to essential religious life, but only to our intellec- 
 tual grasp of it. Take, for instance, the question 
 of Calvinism versus Arminianism. There is abso- 
 lutely no excuse for making this philosophical 
 question a line of division. There was a time 
 when sincere men so identified Arminianism with 
 rationalism and spirital deadness that there was 
 some excuse lor treating it as an important error. 
 But the Arminianism that the Dutch Presbyte- 
 rians drove out of Holland, God made the corner 
 stone for the evangelical revival — which never 
 reached Holland ! One of the most useful Pres- 
 byterian ministers in New York was an out-and- 
 out Arminian. The Anglican church has thriven 
 on it, and it does not deaden the zeal of the Sal- 
 vation Army. These things do not prove that it 
 is right. Personally, we feel that Calvinism is a 
 far more satisfactory answer to the questions 
 both attempt in vain to fully answer. But it has 
 been proved that Arminianism is not a deadly 
 
74 THE FORM WITHOUT THE POWER. 
 
 error. And what God has cleansed, let no man 
 call common or unclean. The elimination of 
 Calvinism, save as our personal interpretation of 
 the Christian life, from our creeds, is something 
 to labor for. The dispute has lost all its former 
 religious significance, and its intellectual value is 
 reduced to a minimum by the separation of the 
 disputants into hostile camps, where prejudices 
 and not arguments are the handy weapons. We, 
 who are Calvinists, are not converting the Meth- 
 odists very fast ; perhaps it is because they will 
 not listen to us as they might, did we have 
 reunion on a basis of the elimination of both 
 Calvinism and Arminianism, simply asserting 
 God's sovereignity and man's free agency, and 
 leaving each pulpit to wrestle with the problem 
 in the light of experience and God's revelation."* 
 
 Being a son of Dr. John Hall, the venerable 
 pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, 
 New York, and having been educated in leading 
 schools for the Presbyterian ministry, it can 
 never be truthfully said that his training is not 
 of the right sort. But the man has been touched 
 and inspired by the mind of Christ and of Paul, 
 and he yearns to meet all true disciples of his 
 Master on common ground for united marches 
 against the common foe. 
 
 Words of the same import came from other 
 distinguished men in the same and in other 
 
 * Church Union, July, 1896. 
 
THE FORM WITHOUT THE POWER. 75 
 
 denominations. They do not call for organic 
 union, but for spiritual unity ; for the spirit and 
 power of true religion to permeate the whole 
 being that one Church may pray with the same 
 earnestness for the blessings of God to the 
 Church across the way as it does for itself. 
 When that spirit animates American Christian- 
 ity there will remain no difficulties in the way 
 of readjustment and reorganization. "L,et this 
 mind be in you, which was also in Christ."* 
 
 *Phil. II.: 5. 
 
BEGGING EXISTENCE. 
 
''Why is there such spiritual death today? Why is 
 false doctrine so rampant in the churches? It is 
 because we have ungodly people in the church and in 
 the ministry. Eagerness for numbers, and especially 
 eagerness to include respectable people, has adulterated 
 many churches, and made them lax in doctrine and 
 fond of silly amusements. There are people who 
 despise a prayer meeting, but rush to see 'living wax 
 works' in their school rooms. God save us from 
 converts who are made by lowering the standard." — 
 Spurgeon. 
 
BEGGING EXISTENCE. 
 
 Every intelligent reader of religious literature 
 must of necessity be impressed by the need of 
 more concise, precise and comprehensive defini- 
 tions of expressions and terms used than are 
 furnished us by many leading writers. The true 
 value of a statement is not alone in the accuracy 
 of what it has to say, but also in the fine delicate 
 shade of thought conveyed in its words. For 
 the want of purity, propriety and precision of 
 words used and clearness in their arrangement 
 we are at a loss often to know the mind of the 
 writer. This is also true with reference to 
 qualifying adjuncts and definitions. For the 
 want ot clear diction many books have failed in 
 their mission. I have been intensely interested 
 and, on the whole, greatly benefited by reading 
 a little book* evidently written by a vigorous 
 and a strong thinker ; the book ought to be of 
 vast help to every professing Christian, earnestly 
 seeking to do the Master's will. A spirit of 
 honest devotion seems to breathe in its pages, 
 and yet its moral worth is largely diminished by 
 its undefined and ill-defined expressions. In 
 the contents we find the phrase, "Church not a 
 Social Club," but nowhere in the context does 
 
 * Fun and Finances. 
 
80 BEGGING EXISTENCE. 
 
 the author tell us what he means by the word 
 "church" or by the words "social club," and we 
 are left to our own conjecture. If he means by 
 "club" a number of persons banded together for 
 a given purpose, his notion of a church can not 
 be that of an association of believers of kindred 
 faith united for certain ends, for such an associa- 
 tion in a restricted sense is a club. If he means 
 by "social" the cultivation of acquaintance and 
 friendly feeling, and in case of necessity, the 
 helping of one another in material as well as 
 spiritual things, his idea of a church must be 
 different from the prevalent one, for such 
 province is surely described in the New Testa- 
 ment as belonging to the Church. If he regards 
 that word as denoting an institution established 
 of God among men for the purpose of helping 
 them to live righteously in this world so as to 
 enjoy the illuminating, strengthening and con- 
 soling power of the Holy Spirit, and to prepare 
 them to share the glory of God in the world to 
 come, it is hard to see why he uses "social club" 
 in this connection, for from the very nature of 
 the case, such a church has in it all the essentials 
 of a social club, but it is more, vastly more. It 
 is an institution comprehending as its realm all 
 human energies and activities, commercial, polit- 
 ical, educational, social, etc., etc., providing con- 
 ditions and dispositions by means of which the 
 soul rises up from its trials, troubles, conflicts 
 
BEGGING EXISTENCE. 81 
 
 and disappointments into the Holy of holies, 
 places its trembling hand on the hand uphold- 
 ing the universe and says. "I believe ; help 
 thou mine unbelief,"* and hears the voice of 
 the Supreme Ruler answering,, "My grace is 
 sufficient for thee ; for my power is made perfect 
 in weakness."t A church of such glorious 
 provinces Jesus Christ purchased with his own 
 blood. To such a church we are gradually but 
 surely advancing. 
 
 In speaking of the Apostles, the author of 
 the book referred to, says: "They went in for 
 salvation, striking at the very core of men's 
 being, and aiming at complete separation from 
 the world and the deepest renewal of the soul." 
 (And yet the separation from the world actually 
 attained by the majority of the membership of 
 the early churches was not superior, nor indeed 
 equal, to that attained today.) "The idea of allow- 
 ing money considerations to affect their ministra- 
 tion of the Gospel never entered their minds. 
 They preached with power, because they relied 
 entirely upon the Holy Ghost, not stopping to 
 ask whether or not some prominent hearer 
 might be offended by the truth," (It would be 
 of great advantage had the author stopped long 
 enough to tell us just what he understands by 
 "relied entirely upon the Holy Ghost." Paul 
 said very plainly : "Know ye not that they which 
 
 * Mark 9:24. t 2 Cor. 12:9. 
 
82 BEGGING EXISTENCE. 
 
 minister about sacred things eat of the things of 
 the temple, and they which wait upon the altar 
 have their portion w T ith the altar?" Even so 
 did the Lord ordain that they which proclaim 
 the Gospel should live of the Gospel. *) "They 
 never worried about the probability of losing a 
 pulpit by being faithful ambassadors of Christ." 
 (And they never remained very long at any one 
 place. But where is the minister who does not 
 preach the Gospel faithfully as God has revealed 
 it to him, for fear of losing his pulpit i Has not 
 the author assumed more than he ought in this 
 matter? Has he not himself come under "For 
 with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be 
 judged; and with what measure ye mete, it 
 shall be measured unto you."f) "They lived, as 
 every minister who would be independent and 
 effective must live, 'by every word that proceed - 
 eth out of the mouth of God,' sublimely indiffer- 
 ent whether certain persons or places received 
 them or not." (If they were "sublimely indif- 
 ferent" regarding their reception among men, 
 they were also "sublimely indifferent" as to the 
 good they might do among them, for then, as 
 well as now, the message could do men no good 
 unless the messenger was given a reception worthy 
 of his calling. But they were solicitous about 
 their reception among the people. Paul urges 
 the Roman Christians to receive "him that is 
 
 * 1 Cor. 9:13, 14. t Matt. 7:2. 
 
BEGGING EXISTENCE. 83 
 
 weak in the faith"* and "one another."* He 
 also commends to them "Phoebe, our sister, who 
 is a servantf of the church that is at Cenchrea ; 
 that ye receive her in the Lord, worthy of the 
 saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever 
 matter she may have need of you ; for she her- 
 self also hath been a succourer of many, and of 
 mine own self. "J To Epaphroditus he asked a 
 joylul reception from the Philipians,S but this 
 American prophet declares that they were 
 "sublimely indifferent whether persons or places 
 received them or not." He might help us also 
 very much had he told us in exact terms just 
 what he means by a minister living "independ- 
 ent" and "effective." The faithful minister, the 
 real soul winner, the true preacher is very much 
 dependent upon God and men. 
 
 The purpose of the book is very commend- 
 able. It is a strong and a convincing argument 
 against "raising money for churches by iairs, 
 festivals, bazaars, pleasure parties and similar 
 means." In this it merits careful reading by 
 every christian throughout the world. The 
 author makes use with telling effect of the 
 following from the pen of Dr. Austin Phelps : 
 
 "A church fair in the temple of Jerusalem ! 
 Conceive of a raffle for a gold-headed cane or a 
 Chickering piano in the holy of holies ! Imag- 
 ine the hum-drum of an auction sale of the fag 
 
 t Deaconess. t Rom. 14:1; 15,7. t Rom. 16:1. § Phil. 2:29. 
 
84 BEGGING EXISTENCE. 
 
 ends of the fair from the altar of sacrifice ! Do 
 not such things remind us of One who, on a 
 memorable occasion, found a use for a whip of 
 small cords?" Indeed they do, and it is a 
 certainty that Jesus does not look with greater 
 favor upon schemes and devices used in this age 
 of wealth to secure money with which to carry 
 on the work of the church. Christian people 
 should never allow the Church of the Living 
 God to stand hat in hand begging existence 
 from an unsympathizing and an unbelieving 
 populace. The privilege of the church is to 
 give, not to receive, to make the non church 
 goers to feel under obligations to her for favors 
 received at her hands. In this way she will 
 win them to higher thinking and living, and to 
 seek salvation in Christ. 
 
TRIFLING VERSUS WINNING. 
 
The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to 
 play.— PAUiv. 
 
 But what of the moral and religious life of society? 
 The church is the especial guardian of these interests, 
 but it is shattered into scores of fragments. Its body 
 is dismembered, and the eye says to the hand, 'I have 
 no need of thee,' and the hand says to the foot, 'I have 
 no need of you.' The church among us has no 
 organized life. — Strong. 
 
TRIFLING VERSUS WINNING. 
 
 Aside from presenting the church to the world 
 in a false and unfavorable light, bazaars, fairs, 
 festivals, etc., etc., do an injury that is beyond 
 calculation to the inner life of the church itself. 
 In almost all cases, such schemes are efforts to 
 dodge personal responsibility in contributing to 
 the support of the work ; they are genteel 
 attempts to beguile others to pay the bills of 
 the organization. If not indulged in too fre- 
 quently they may result in monetary success 
 but let the public feel that the organization is try- 
 ing to impose on its generosity, and its support is 
 speedily withdrawn. In all cases such matters 
 use up time, strength, talent that ought to be 
 given to better, higher and more necessary 
 things. Very frequently they result in quarrels, 
 dissentions, ruffled tempers, destroying the 
 peace, unity and power of the society. No 
 amount of money can make up for such condi- 
 tions. And such are the conditions confronting 
 tis at nearly every point. 
 
 A church located where good work might be 
 accomplished, recently, called a new pastor. The 
 salary offered was small, but the need of the 
 field attracted him. He is an upright, honest 
 man, of fair ability and education, and capable 
 
88 TRIFLING VERSUS WINNING. 
 
 of unlimited work. In consultation with the 
 officers, he said that he could live on the salary 
 offered were he certain to receive his pay in full 
 every month. The answer was that there was 
 no doubt about it, that they had always paid and 
 paid well. Believing them honest and true he 
 entered the field. In less than two weeks he 
 found out that the salary of his predecessor was 
 paid in a large part by fairs and festivals, and 
 that the pastor and wife had been the moving 
 spirits in such work ; that a sum equal to one- 
 half of the salary had been made by keeping a 
 restaurant at the fair grounds during fair week, 
 and that the restaurant was open on the Sab- 
 bath during the fair, while the church was 
 closed. These things greatly disheartened him. 
 At the end of the first month no salary was 
 paid him, and as he had to live, money was 
 borrowed from the bank, one of the officers as 
 his endorser, but the poor minister had to pay 
 the interest on the borrowed money. At the 
 end of two months, the trustees told him that 
 he had to bestir himself to help them get 
 the money. Such work was new and un- 
 familiar to him. He said that he did not 
 know what to do or say ; that he had gone there 
 to preach the Gospel and not to solicit money, 
 and the pastorate terminated as soon as financial 
 matters were settled. That church has a good 
 field; it ought to be a mighty tower of moral 
 
TRIFLING VERSUS WINNING. 89 
 
 strength, but it is not, simply because it is not in 
 line with the purposes of the Gospel, and in the 
 control of selfish, ignorant, arrogant men. It is 
 a pity that it exists. The community would be 
 far better without it, and the members would 
 gain very materially did they go to other 
 churches and mingle with people of higher 
 purposes, better methods and sweeter disposi- 
 tions. 
 
 In a suburb of a large city, not long since, the 
 regular work of a church was all but suspended 
 for several months, while a goodly number of 
 the men were practising to give what they 
 termed Negro Entertainments (with burnt cork) 
 to pay the pastor's small salary, long over due. 
 The show was a great success, but the best 
 people in the community regarded the perform- 
 ances decidedly out of place. For nearly a 
 quarter of a century that church has been beg- 
 ging support from its community. It has come 
 to regard such tactics as legitimate and necessary 
 part of its work. There were no moral reasons 
 for its organization in the first place, and during 
 all these years of miserable existence, it has 
 failed to impress upon its community that there 
 is need for it, or that the community is better 
 because of it. The church that is unable to 
 win respect can not win souls. The same 
 persons praying in the church and wearing 
 burnt cork in the hall, praising God for his 
 
90 TRIFLING VERSUS WINNING. 
 
 goodness in the Wednesday evening meeting and 
 using the silliest slang on the stage, singing 
 "Jesus Lover of My Soul" in the church on the 
 Sabbath, and "Come to my arms, sweet Sally' ' 
 in the entertainment on Thursday evening, 
 is a spectacle so incongruous that men, with 
 respect to themselves and regard to the moral 
 purposes of the church in the world, turn away 
 from with disgust. It is not to be wondered 
 at that the evil one finds such conditions furnish- 
 ing prolific fields in which to sow the seeds of 
 strife, corruption, damnation and death. 
 
 Festivals, ice cream socials, tea parties and 
 concerts are not wrong in themselves; they 
 should be regular features of church life, and 
 yet, it is decidedly and emphatically wrong for a 
 church to use them as means of supplying its 
 treasury. The willing offering of God's people 
 should be sufficient to cover all expenses. Fes- 
 tivals, concerts, lectures and the like should be 
 devoted to the social and intellectual interests of 
 the people. The church ought to provide every 
 year a course of lectures on topics other than 
 religious, such as Municipal Government, Profit 
 Sharing, The Obligations of Capital to Labor 
 The Dependence of Labor uponCapital, etc., etc., 
 topics of daily interest. These lectures ought 
 to be free to all. Pastors should train the people 
 to look to them and attend them. Popular con- 
 certs should also be given free ; in the winter, 
 
TRIFLING VERSUS WINNING. 91 
 
 oyster suppers, and in the summer, ice cream 
 festivals, also free, or at least at cost. The 
 church is not a money making enterprise. It 
 ought never enter into a business competition 
 with the merchants of its community; it is not 
 in the world to get but to give. By providing 
 clean, healthy, elevating means of recreation and 
 entertainment, the masses would be less inclined 
 to attend public concerts and theatrical perform- 
 ances. Mastering a play of Shakespeare once 
 a year would be both pleasurable and profitable 
 to the young people, and listening to its rendition 
 would be a means of grace to the old. The 
 theology of that master poet is preferable to 
 much of what is constantly preached. The 
 morality of his teaching would lose none of its 
 strength by comparison with some 5ermonic 
 literature of the day, while he would easily 
 retain his crown for excellency of diction. As 
 intimated, there is much that is good in man 
 besides his soul. The church, which is alive to 
 the need of the age, will not try to ignore that 
 fact, but it will put forth heroic efforts to check 
 evil tendencies by offering men things elevating 
 and pure. It is to be regretted, but not to be 
 wondered at, that some church members frequent 
 theaters, but none of us gain anything by 
 deploring their want of religion. Experience 
 has taught us that some praying long, loud, 
 often and lamenting the indifference and world- 
 
92 TRIFLING VERSUS WINNING. 
 
 liness of their brethren can not be relied upon 
 to do the right thing always. It is safer some- 
 times to trust the theater-goer than the prayer- 
 meeting-goer. But the goodness of the one can 
 not be attributed to the theater any more than 
 the badness of the other can be attributed to the 
 prayer meeting. The attraction the saloon has 
 to the working men is not due at first as much 
 to the drink as to its social features. It is the 
 only place in many a city and village where the 
 poor man may go to spend a few hours in quiet 
 social intercourse with friends. Did the church 
 provide pleasant rooms, furnished with books, 
 papers, magazines, games and two or three lead- 
 ing members always at hand to welcome those 
 entering, greet them as men, converse with them 
 as fellow mortals, it would not be long before 
 they would attend the regular services of the 
 church, and the money that would otherwise 
 swell the till of the saloon given to save others. 
 The Saviour made the giving of a cup of cold 
 water as prominent a privilege as prayer. The 
 one failing to give the cup has ppor chances of 
 giving anything else. The church that will not 
 touch men with sympathy and benevolence can 
 not reach God with prayer and song. The most 
 eloquent preaching of the Gospel is the living of 
 it ; God answers the prayers of the church that 
 puts forth all its energies to answer them itself. 
 The church ought to be a social center ; its doors 
 
TRIFLING VERSUS WINNING. 93 
 
 ought to be open wide day and night ; its sweet 
 and pure influence ought to follow men in all the 
 walks of life and help them to win the battle. 
 A young Miss attending the Armour Institute 
 in Chicago was appointed one of two to prepare 
 a lunch. Her associate was a young woman 
 knowing how a table should be set, and how gen- 
 tlemen should be waited upon. "The young Miss 
 went home and began to think. Her father 
 worked hard. He was in the habit of coming 
 home tired, drinking a great deal of beer, soon 
 falling asleep, and then throwing himself upon 
 his bed in the clothes which he wore during the 
 day and which he usually kept on through the 
 night. One evening the father came home, as 
 usual, and found the table nicely set. A clean 
 white cloth covered it. The daughter said: 'I 
 want you to sit down here. We are going to 
 have things a little different. We will begin 
 with soup.' 'But I don't want any of your soup.' 
 'But this is very nice. All respectable people 
 eat soup. You must taste it.' The father tasted 
 it, liked it and ate a second dish of it ; perhaps 
 a third. Other food followed. After that supper, 
 no beer was wanted. That night Mr. O'Flarrity 
 slept in his bed like other men. Soon he wanted 
 a better tenement, and now is paying $25 a 
 month for one of the Armour flats, and his 
 daughter, of whom he is justly proud, and who 
 has made a new man of him and filled him with 
 
94 TRIFLING VERSUS WINNING. 
 
 new ambitions, is a teacher in the mission and 
 universally respected and honored. All this was 
 brought about, as the father assured Dr* 
 Gunsaulus, by an Armour Institute lunch."* 
 
 And what a victory that was. Berkeley Tem- 
 ple, in Boston, the Tabernacle, in Jersey City, 
 and one or two churches in New York are 
 doing these practical things of religion, and 
 are winning the masses. A minister accepted a 
 call to a New England town and was told the 
 familiar story, "no young men in the congrega- 
 tion," but he went to work with the few that 
 were in it and soon won a large company of will* 
 ing and effective workers for Christ. Let me use 
 the words of another : 
 
 "When the new edifice was built provision 
 was made for a reading room and a gymnasium. 
 at the request of the young men themselves. 
 The gymnasium is a modest affair, provided with 
 dumb-bells, Indian clubs, chest weights and a 
 striking bag. A running track was also 
 arranged. During the last winter a regular 
 athletic class was conducted by a member of 
 the league. A junior class of boys has also 
 been conducted on Saturday afternoons. By the 
 latter means the younger boys have been in the 
 Sunday morning meetings. Races were held 
 and the records of the men in these, with other 
 athletic events were kept. With this athletic 
 
 * Dr. E. F. Williams in The Congreg-ationalist, August 13, 1896. 
 
TRIFLING VERSUS WINNING. 95 
 
 departure the influence of the league on the 
 outside young men began to assert itself. One 
 incident, illustrative of this, is worthy of notice. 
 A young fellow who had not been identified in 
 any way with the organization became a constant 
 visitor to the gymnasium, where he spent his 
 time diligently in ferocious assaults upon the 
 striking bag. On inquiry it was learned that 
 just before this an altercation had arisen between 
 himself and another fellow which had led to 
 blows. The contestants had been separated, but 
 had made a mutual arrangement to meet several 
 days later in a more secluded place. Suffice it to 
 say that the fight never came off and that one of 
 the principals is just now a regular prayer meet- 
 ing attendant. * * * * * * 
 
 "While we have given emphasis to this athletic 
 side of its work, the league is not an athletic 
 club. This is only an incidental of its work. 
 Frequent socials for young men only are given. 
 A debating society is one of its intellectual 
 features. Occasionally the Sunday evening 
 service is in its charge. * * * * 
 
 <4 It was at first thought that this organization, 
 with the Young Women's League and the 
 Women's League side by side with it, might 
 diminish interest in the work of the Young 
 People's Society of Christian Endeavor. But, on 
 the other hand, its members are also the life of 
 
96 TRIFLING VERSUS WINNING. 
 
 the Endeavor work, and that society has been 
 stimulated by the new organizations. * 
 
 "This is only one of the means which Mr. 
 Leavitt is using to reach the community at large. 
 The work of the church, moreover, is not laid 
 aside during the summer. Indeed the 'neigh- 
 borhood work' is increased during the summer 
 months and is carried on by a special committee. 
 The athletic feature gives opportunity for the 
 continuance of the work of the Young Men's 
 League during the vacation period. 
 
 "The success of this organization demonstrates 
 that young men can be reached best by young 
 men, and that they can best be reached by 
 young men's means. Young men as a class are 
 open and susceptible to the influence of a virile 
 Christianity."* 
 
 A wholesale denunciation of modern and 
 aggressive methods in church work savors ot 
 bigotry and self-righteousness. Socials and festi- 
 vals may be used to the salvation of souls, and 
 prayers and songs may be as pearls cast before 
 swine. "What God hath cleansed, make not 
 thou common. "f 
 
 * The Cong-reg-ationalist, August 20, 1896. 
 t Acts 10:15. 
 
THE LAW OF PROSPERITY. 
 
Bring ye the whole tithe into the storehouse, that 
 there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now 
 herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you 
 the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing 
 that there shall not be room enough to receive it. — 
 Malachi. 
 
 I have often seen His special providence in answer to 
 prayer. Starting with a small capital, He has enabled 
 me to give some thousands of dollars for the cause of 
 Christ, and now in old age I have a competency of this 
 world's goods. — D. Hanchett, Kaneville, Illinois. 
 
THE LAW OF PROSPERITY. 
 
 I fear that ministers and officers of churches 
 fail in the practise as well as in the teaching of 
 God's law of giving. We go to our congrega- 
 tions, preset t to them some cause worth}' of 
 their support, and try to excite feelings of com- 
 passion and benevolence within them so they 
 may contribute largely. The same thing is 
 again repeated when some other cause calls for 
 support. While the American people are pre- 
 eminently generous and liberal, they do not give 
 after all but a small fraction of what they are 
 able to give. This is in part due to the fact that 
 we look at the matter as "giving'' and not as 
 "paying" to God our honest debt. Nothing is 
 plainer to me than that God requires at least one 
 tenth of our income. When the paying of that 
 one tenth is made a most solemn religious act, 
 the heart leaping with joy because of the privi- 
 lege it affords, God has promised to accom- 
 pany it with his blessing upon our material as 
 well as upon our spiritual interests. It is 
 often said that "the majority of men are more 
 anxious to secure a cottage here below than a 
 mansion up above," but the pulpit that is true to 
 itself, true to God, true to the people, will teach 
 men how to secure both, and to secure them in 
 
100 THE LA W OF PROSPERITY. 
 
 God's way. God has intended that men shall 
 possess the good of this life as well as the joy of 
 the life to come. Bible principles are to be 
 incorporated into commercial interests ; men are 
 to win the world without violating principles of 
 strictest honesty. The} 7 are to be so fortified 
 with godly fear that taking a momentary advan- 
 tage by sharp tricks of trade is no temptation to 
 them, and they are to be just as ready to turn 
 over to the treasury of the L,ord the portion 
 belonging to Him as they are to receive their 
 own. In this life the material is as necessary as 
 the spiritual. Christ did not abolish the teach- 
 ings of the prophets; he accepted them all, but 
 he did develop them to meet the needs of all 
 nations, and tithing became not a duty but a 
 privilege. Some degree of material prosperity 
 is necessary to spiritual prosperity. A wealthy 
 church is vastly better situated to possess and to 
 exert a spiritual power than a poor church. A 
 wealthy person is more favorably privileged to 
 enjoy his religion than a poor person. Are they 
 so, is another question. That they ought to be 
 so is as clear in the Bible as the sun is in the 
 sky. A man harrassed by the world is embar- 
 rassed in his religion. Circumstances wield 
 powerful influences in the development of char- 
 acter. The God that has made the world and 
 the man, the God that holds the key to all the 
 resources of comfort and of joy, has pledged 
 
THE LA W OF PROSPERITY. 101 
 
 himself to protect and to prosper, both mate- 
 rially and spiritually, the man who lives accord- 
 ing to his commandment. 
 
 The trouble is, we do not believe his promise. 
 We feign to believe that all his promises are 
 good for the world to come, but for this, we look 
 to our own energies. It seems clear to me that 
 if we have sufficient confidence in him to believe 
 any promise, we ought to have sufficient con- 
 fidence to believe every promise. Shall I put it 
 in another way? If we can not believe God in 
 everything, we can not believe him in anything. 
 And the want of a living, active faith in God 
 must account for much of our poverty in both 
 material and spiritual things. The words of God, 
 in the mouth of Malachi,* have stood in the Bible 
 as a crystal spring bubbling forth fresh water in a 
 desert, offering comfort and consolation to the 
 millions passing by it, but a few only have been 
 refreshed and strengthened. Those who have 
 drank the meaning of those words know that 
 should all the people turn into the treasury of 
 the Iyord one tenth of their income, that the 
 land would witness greater prosperity than ever 
 before. I have believed for years that ten dollars 
 out of every one hundred, one dollar out of 
 every ten, ten cents out of every one dollar of 
 my income belong to the Lord, but I must 
 confess that I did not see until recently that 
 
 * Mai. 3:10. 
 
102 THE LAW OF PROSPERITY. 
 
 God has made the honest and cheerful giving of 
 that tenth part a condition upon which he 
 guarantees to me a degree of material as well as 
 spiritual prosperity, and that withholding from 
 Him the tenth is an element in the poverty of 
 men, sometimes the sole cause of it; and yet 
 there is no doctrine in all the Bible more clearly 
 and definitely set forth, but men do not care to 
 look with unbiased minds and seek to see it in 
 the light of God's illuminating spirit. To rid the 
 world of its poverty, the cause of it must be 
 removed. We must sow the seed from which 
 prosperity springs ; we must learn that the way to 
 get is to give. Never was there such talk of 
 poverty and the want of money as now, and 
 never were men farther from a solution of the 
 difficulty. It matters but little what party is in 
 power as long as the masses continually rob God 
 of the portion belonging to him. Poverty will 
 remain in our midst. History repeats itself. 
 God repeats himself. Similar circumstances 
 produce similar results. Literature, sacred and 
 secular, groan under the weight of proof that the 
 Jewish nation prospered when complying with 
 the divine law, and whenever it went astray it 
 became poverty stricken and fell at the advent 
 of the enemy. 
 
 In returning from battle loaded down with 
 spoils, Abraham met Melchezedek, the universal 
 priest, and gladly presented him with the tithe.* 
 
 * Gen. 14:20. 
 
THE LA W OF PROSPERITY. 103 
 
 The history of Jacob shows that the beginning 
 of better things in the man's character was 
 simultaneous with making a pledge to the Lord 
 of one tenth.* One tenth from the avaricious 
 Jacob was equal to one half from the reckless 
 Esau. The prosperity of the man began with 
 that pledge. The constitutional law of the 
 Jews read : "And all the tithe of the land, 
 whether of seed, or of fruit trees, or of the herd, 
 or of the flock, even of whatever passeth under 
 the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord."f 
 And the moral philosophy of that law may be 
 understood from the following : "That the Lord 
 thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine 
 hand which thou doest."! That was a promise 
 of blessing in material things — the work of thine 
 hand. Man can and ought to give the one tenth, 
 but he cannot regulate the early and late rain, 
 and the sunshine, nor prevent the million 
 insects of the dust from nibbling at the roots. 
 These are in the hands of God, and God pledges 
 his honor that prosperity will follow the com- 
 pliance with the law. Turn to Malachi 3:7, 8, 9, 
 read that terrible denunciation, and then think 
 of the condition and position of the American 
 people today. Is it not a true description of this 
 people? "Return unto me and I will return 
 unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts ; but ye said, 
 wherein shall we return?'' O yes, that is the old 
 
 * Gen. 28:20, 30. t Lev. 27:30, 32. X Duet. 14:22, 28, 29. 
 
104 THE LA W OF PROSPERITY. 
 
 familiar cry. "What have I done? Have I not 
 prayed daily, gone to the church constantly, paid 
 my dues regularly?" How much of it? Well, 
 can a man rob God? Listen, God says, "Ye have 
 robbed me." In what? "In tithes and offerings. 
 Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed 
 me, even the whole nation." This comes pretty 
 near being a perfect description of the condition 
 of things among us today. Judas sold his 
 Saviour for only thirty pieces of silver. On 
 Calvary, righteousness went up, but the Jews 
 went down. The nails did not fasten perma- 
 nently the body of Jesus to the cross, but they 
 did fasten the character of the chief priests, 
 elders and scribes; the spear stuck in his side 
 did not extinguish his power, but it did that 
 of the Jewish nation ; the grave did not hold 
 his body, but it did hold the body politic of 
 the Jews, and there it lays. If the Jews will 
 ever stand again among other nations, they will 
 not stand as Jews, but as Christians. O that 
 the American people w r ould read the signs of 
 the times and return to God before it is too late. 
 There is plenty of money and plenty material 
 out of w T hich to make more. Money is given too 
 where men think it will yield large returns. 
 This again shows lack of faith to believe God's 
 work a good investment. Materialistic philos- 
 ophy can not see that God can make the ninety 
 cents go farther when the ten cents is given 
 
THE LA W OF PR0SPERI1 Y. 105 
 
 him, than the whole dollar possibly could go, 
 but the truth of the principle does not rest on 
 philosophical suppositions, but on the character 
 of God. There are hundreds of men in the 
 world today from long experience able to stand 
 up in vindication of that law. Many methods 
 of giving to the Lord's work are advocated in 
 our day. I like the weekly plan, but to make 
 any plan a success, we must have our blind 
 eyes opened so we may see that "giving" is one 
 of the sweetest and richest acts of the Christian 
 life, and that nothing that we may do or say is 
 acceptable to the Lord if that grace is wanting. 
 It is the basic principle upon which the Christian 
 character is built. Free heartedness and benev- 
 olence come in when our contributions exceed 
 the one tenth. Up to the tenth we simply 
 pay our honest debt. The thought that we do 
 not do it is simply horrible. Let us pray for 
 grace to give. 
 
THE RELIGION OF 
 
 MATHEMATICS. 
 
"God give us men ! A time like this demands 
 
 Clear minds, pure hearts, true faith and ready hands — 
 
 Men who possess opinions and a will ; 
 
 Men whom desire for office does not kill ; 
 
 Men whom the spoils of office can not buy ; 
 
 Men who have honor — men who will not lie ; 
 
 Tall men — sun-crowned men — who live above the fog 
 
 In public duty and in private thinking ; 
 
 Men who can stand before a demagogue 
 
 And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking; 
 
 For, while base tricksters with their worn-out creeds, 
 
 Their large professions and their little deeds, 
 
 Wrangle in selfish strife, lo ! Freedom weeps — 
 
 Wrong rules the land, and waiting, Justice sleeps." 
 
 — HOLMES. 
 
THE RELIGION OF MATHEMATICS. 
 
 Suppose that, for some reason sufficient to us, 
 we reject 400,000 from the list given by The 
 Independent, there would remain an army of over 
 23,000,000 doing religious work among the 
 remaining 37,000,000 of our population. In 
 exact numbers, the population of the United 
 States at the last census was 62,622,250. It is 
 seen at a glance that the religious element is 
 comparatively strong. For reasons sufficient to 
 itself, the Assembly Herald rejects a greater 
 number and says: "There are but 21,000,000 
 Christians, Protestant and Catholic, in our country; 
 49,000,000 (more than two-thirds of our fellow 
 citizens) do not profess to be on the Lord's 
 side." To which The Indepe?ident of September 
 3, 1896 replies as follows: "This is technically 
 correct, or was so in 1890. But is it fair as a 
 basis for home mission appeal?" And it goes 
 on to show that the 49,000,000 who do not 
 "profess to be on the Lord's side" "include all 
 infants and children of immature years ; all 
 young people not on church rolls, although they 
 may be associated members of Young People's 
 Societies, Young Men's Christian Association and 
 other similar organizations; all adults who 
 occupy church pews and contribute largely to 
 
110 THE RELIGION 
 
 the support of church work, though not com- 
 municants ; millions who are too young to exert 
 any influence at all, and millions more whose 
 general influence is on the side of Christianity, 
 and who rejoice in its success." Verily, taking 
 everything into account we would not go far 
 astray by claiming fully two-thirds of our popu- 
 lation on the side of Christianity. An accurate 
 estimate of the actual work done by the church 
 in winning converts, and in its contributions in 
 various ways and by divers means to the spread 
 of the Gospel, is not yet furnished us, and is one 
 of the needs of the age. We trust that some 
 mathematical genius will undertake the task. 
 Very little investigation, but not sufficient to 
 warrant a statement, has convinced me that the 
 church handles more money ever}^ year, in 
 direct and indirect channels, to the religious 
 culture of the people, than the cost of running 
 all of our railroads, the expense of our govern- 
 ment, the public schools and our telegraphs 
 combined. Every now and then we are told how 
 little the church is doing and what gigantic 
 progress is everywhere seen on the outside of it, 
 while it is to the church that much of that 
 progress is to be attributed. Then again, 
 alarmists try to frighten us by magnifying 
 the enormity of our sin. Did we believe half 
 of what is told us, we would be compelled 
 to believe that the Gospel is a failure, that 
 
* OF MA THEMATICS. Ill 
 
 humanity is fast sinking in its own pollution, 
 that "all men are liars'" and that the children, 
 are greater liars than the parents, and so con- 
 tinue to grow from generation to generation, 
 that there is neither virtue nor honesty among 
 the children of men. Such jargon is often 
 heard in our pulpits, and is used in variously 
 modulated degrees by all demagogues. In a 
 city where I once ministered was a clergyman 
 who dwelt on the dark and unfavorable side 
 of humanity in nearly all his preaching. At 
 times he was so sensational that his language 
 was indecent, and yet he claimed to deny the 
 doctrine of " total depravity," while that was the 
 only logical ground on which he could stand. 
 
 Powers of evil are zealously magnified. A 
 vast number of thinkers and writers seem to 
 rejoice at finding some pretext for declaring the 
 religion of the Lord Jesus Christ a failure. 
 "The church is losing her hold on the masses" 
 is continually asserted, while in truth the church 
 has never had a "hold on the masses." Of 
 course, under the Old Dispensation, the govern- 
 ment of Israel was theocratic, and the church 
 was the center of political and social life, as well 
 as educational and religious, but the times when 
 the masses were imbued with the spirit and 
 power of true worship, and devoted their 
 energies to religious work, are rare exceptions. 
 It is doubtful whether the world has ever seen a 
 
112 THE RELIGION 
 
 time when as large a per cent, of the people 
 was religious as is found today, or the church 
 doing a better and a more successful work 
 among the masses, although it may come far 
 short of its possibilities. I have freely admitted 
 much negligence and inactivity, coldness and the 
 want of sympathy, on the part of the religious 
 people, but that is in a comparative sense — 
 measuring what the church does with what it 
 might do — and not admitting the weakening of 
 its power or the declining of its strength. A 
 vast amount of religious work, of necessity, is 
 done at such times and in such a manner that no 
 record of it can be made, while evil deeds are so 
 emphatic in their consequences that figures are 
 at hand to show their extent. Besides, in 
 record-keeping, "the children of this world are 
 wiser in their generation than the children of 
 light." At my left hand is a little book* of 
 great value, written by a clear and a strong 
 thinker. The labor bestowed upon it is almost 
 unconceivable to the inacquainted with such a 
 work. The facts and figures it gives, relative to 
 the moral status of our people, startle me. I 
 can not get away from them. Do what I may, 
 they leap before my eyes, they follow me in my 
 walks, they haunt me in my dreams, ever telling 
 of a fearful condition of things, and of a more 
 fearful consequence unless a radical change is 
 
 * The Prohibition Handbook. Funk & Wag-nails, 50 cents. 
 
OF MA THE MA TICS. 113 
 
 speedily made. I will insert here a single page 
 and will ask the reader to ponder long over the 
 figures : 
 
 HOW WE SPEND OUR MONEY.* 
 
 Foreign Missions $ 5,000,000 
 
 Bricks 85,000,000 
 
 Potatoes 110,000,000 
 
 Churches 125,000,000 
 
 Public Education 165,000,000 
 
 Silk Goods 165,000,000 
 
 Furniture 175,000,000 
 
 Sugar and Molasses 225,000,000 
 
 Woolen Goods 250,000,000 
 
 Boots and Shoes 335,000,000 
 
 Flour 345,000,000 
 
 Printing and Publishing 375,000,000 
 
 Cotton Goods 380,000,000 
 
 Sawed Lumber 490,000,000 
 
 Tobacco 515,000,000 
 
 Iron and Steel 560,000,000 
 
 Meat 870,000,000 
 
 Liquors 1,080,000,000 
 
 Accepting the lowest estimate, there are in the 
 United States 21,000,000 persons belonging to 
 Christian churches. It is a surprising coinci- 
 dence that the number of those engaged in 
 adding to the nation's material wealth is in the 
 neighborhood of 21,000,000. Rev. Mr. Waldrom 
 tells us, "A careful analysis of those engaged in 
 'gainful occupations' shows that in 1890 there 
 were 20,115,106 persons directly productive of 
 
 * Prohibition Handbook, p. 31. 
 
114 THE RELIGION 
 
 wealth."* It would be hard to demonstrate 
 satisfactory to all that the majority of the "pro- 
 ducers of wealth" are also religious, and yet on 
 the face of it, that seems reasonable to believe. 
 Since I have given thought to this thing I have 
 located myself in New York and Chicago, 
 Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, Philadelphia and 
 St. Louis, Washington, D. C, and Denver, and 
 in several smaller cities, and I have tried to call 
 to mind the leading men engaged in the legiti- 
 mate business of those localities. I have also 
 interrogated several commercial travelers on this 
 point, and I am forced to the conclusion that 
 the majority of our producers are religious. 
 Taking a hasty estimate of the relative wealth 
 of communities tend to prove this very thing. 
 And yet the figures tell us that the contributions 
 of the United Statee to the religious culture of 
 the people at home is $125,000,000, and in foreign 
 lands $5,000,000 or $130,000,000, all told, while 
 the money spent for tobacco is $515,000,000 and 
 for liquor $1,080,000,000. The honesty of Dr. 
 Waldrom is beyond question, and what he has to 
 say on this subject has great weight. We are 
 told that "the cost of liquor and tobacco at 
 retail is based upon the internal revenue reports 
 for the fiscal year, 1893, an( i other items are 
 estimated for the same year.'' In his "Hand- 
 book on Currency and Wealth, the retail cost of 
 
 * Handbook on Currency and Wealth, p. 92. 
 
OF MA THEM A TICS. 1 1 5 
 
 liquor for 1893 * s given as $1,079.483,172 — 16.15 
 per capita; for 1894 it was $ I >o 2 4>62i,49i — I5-OI 
 per capita; tor 1895 it was a good deal less, the 
 cost being $962,192,854 — 13.79 per capita. That 
 even is bad enough, but there is much con- 
 solation in the fact that the cost of liquor is 
 decreasing in the last three years, which is 
 proof that less is used. It would be very 
 interesting to know the retail cost given in the 
 estimate of a single glass of beer or a single 
 quart of whiskey or a bottle of wine. A man 
 who has every opportunity for knowing, told me 
 that if those figures are obtained on the basis of 
 five cents per glass of beer as retail cost that the 
 estimate is more than one-third larger than it 
 ought to be. If such is the case it is a pity that 
 the people are held responsible for spending more 
 money on drink than they do. That much of the 
 crime and vice committed in our midst is due to 
 drink is evident, but criminals have always tried 
 to incite Courts to pity on the plea that they were 
 under the influence of drink when the crime was 
 committed. The statement of the criminal at 
 Court is no criterion by which to estimate the 
 relation of drink to crime. Criminals sometimes 
 purposely nerve themselves to their wickedness 
 by the use of drink. In that case drink is a 
 means to an end and not a cause. 
 
 The majority of fallen women is attributed to 
 drink. But what of the men? There are more 
 
116 THE RELIGION 
 
 fallen men than fallen women. Is there not a 
 something back of the drink to which this loathe- 
 some habit among men and women may be 
 attributed? And is not drink often used as a 
 means of gratifying a desire requiring all the 
 moral powers to control? The charge that the 
 church is in league with the saloon, and conse- 
 quently responsible indirectly for nearly all the 
 filth, corruption and crime in our midst, is with- 
 out foundation. The most earnest, consecrated 
 and able temperance workers in the land are 
 church members. While here and there some 
 members drink in more or less degree, the church 
 of which they are members deplore the fact. The 
 church is almost unanimous in opposition to 
 strong drink, but because the same unanimity 
 does not exist with reference to methods by which 
 it shall be abolished, it is as great a crime to 
 charge the church with being in league with the 
 saloon as it is to drink. Both is a sin. There is 
 a faction in our midst assuming to be "the tem- 
 perance people," and unless they are unqualifiedly 
 supported in methods and purposes, they further 
 assume the right to denounce all others as enemies 
 to temperance and as in league with evil. To 
 them their position is infallible; they will not yield 
 an inch; all have to submit to their judgment and 
 follow their dictates or suffer their denunciations. 
 The difference between them and the majority of 
 their fellow Christians on the temperance question 
 
OF MA THEM A TICS. 117 
 
 is simply a difference in methods, and not in pur- 
 pose. Strong drit k is here, building its castles 
 of evil on the very choicest and the most 
 desirable locations in our cities, sending forth 
 damnation and death to the people, and if there 
 is another scene more deplorable, it is that of 
 quibbling about means and methods instead of 
 uniting on all methods and using every means of 
 anihilating the damnable thing. 
 
 "It matters not what our political or financial 
 views may be, there is no escaping the fact that 
 Mr. Levering was right in saying that the liquor 
 bill of this country is a serious factor in its 
 economic affairs. It is true that tariff revenues 
 and silver products look small along side of the 
 $1,200,000,000 spent for liquors. Edward 
 Atkinson remarks that it looks rather absurd 
 that we should be disputing about a tax of $5 
 per head, the cost per person of running the 
 entile government of the United States, when 
 the annual expenditure of the country for liquors 
 and tobacco alone is $15 per head. The whole 
 burden of taxation from top to bottom, federal, 
 state, county and town is not equal to this liquor 
 and tobacco bill. 
 
 "And what is worse, economically viewed, this 
 bill is greatest just where the struggle for life is 
 fiercest, that is, in the large cities. The number 
 of barrels of beer consumed in St. Louis in 1895 
 was nine times as large as in all the rest of Mis- 
 
118 THE RELIGIOX 
 
 souri put together and as large as in all the other 
 Southern states combined. In the same year 
 Chicago drank about four times as much beer as 
 all the rest of Illinois, that is, 2,648,335 barrels 
 out of 3,294,495. Boston, high toned, cultivated, 
 Athens-like, indulged in five times as much of 
 the malt beverage as all the rest of that part of 
 Massachusetts which lies outside of its sacred 
 precincts ; and New York City swam in a river 
 of beer equal to nearly one-seventh of all the 
 beer consumed in the entire country, or, 4,691,446 
 barrels out of 33,469,661."* 
 
 But what can the church do in the matter 
 more than it is doing. Conventions, synods, 
 assemblies, associations and leagues all over the 
 land have passed resolutions against the traffic in 
 all forms. The Church is alive to its duty in the 
 matter. Never were more earnest and eloquent 
 sermons preached against the drinking habit than 
 are heard to-day. The charge that ministers are 
 moral cowards and hold their mouths tight on 
 this question cannot be sustained. A few isolated 
 cases may be found, but American ministers on 
 the whole, are fearless and emphatic in their op- 
 position to strong drink. When it comes to 
 voting, it seems that the only way to win is first 
 to increase the number of voting members. As 
 things now stand should every member vote as a 
 unit the result would still be against us. Accord- 
 
 * Editorial in The Advance Aug-ust 27, 1896. 
 
OF MA THE MA TICS. 1 19 
 
 ing to an estimate given by Rev. W. H. Roberts, 
 D. D., LL.D., February, 1895,* there are in the 
 United States 16,940,311 voters, and 6,501,094 
 church voters, counting Catholics and Protest- 
 ants, 38.4 per cent, of total voters. Should the 
 church vote be cast unanimous it could not win. 
 It seems very plain that what is most imperative 
 of all is the winning of souls to Christ, the 
 building up of the churches, the spiritualizing of 
 the members so they may become one in purpose 
 and in work. The religion the figures show is a 
 disappointment to us. But there are some things 
 the figures show in an uncertain light and other 
 things they do not show at all. The $130,000,000 
 do not demonstrate but a part of the contribu- 
 tion of the American churches to religious pur- 
 poses. Professing Christians, with prayers and 
 money, are found behind and beneath all means 
 and methods for the betterment of human con- 
 ditions. 
 
 * In the Independent. 
 
THE 
 MATHEMATICS OF RELIGION. 
 
"And ye shall tread down the wicked ; for they shall 
 be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I 
 shall do this, saith the Lord of Hosts." — Mai^achi. 
 
THE MATHEMATICS OF RELIGION. 
 
 The Christian people of the United States 
 constitute a glorious body. They are leaders in 
 the professions, commerce, statesmanship, pa- 
 triotism, science, philosophy, arts, in fact in 
 all things pertaining to the good of man. They 
 are directly associated with the progress, not 
 alone of this country, but of the world. Their 
 sons, their daughters and their money are found 
 in all parts of the globe, doing heroic service 
 under the banner of the cross. A partial esti- 
 mate of this work may be formed from pages 
 62 and 63. The following statistics show the 
 number of Americans in foreign fields, and the 
 amount of money contributed to the support of 
 the work : 
 

 American 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 = I 
 
 c 
 
 
 Mission- 
 
 
 3 
 
 Ui 
 
 £ rt 
 
 O 
 
 
 aries. 
 
 h 
 
 X 
 
 •*-• o 
 
 B 
 
 SOCIETIES. 
 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 ~ C. 
 
 u.5 
 
 . 
 
 U OB 
 
 
 
 c3 
 
 5 
 •a 
 
 •c o 
 
 53 o 
 
 So 
 
 cQ 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 < 
 
 
 53, 615 
 
 fc 
 
 H 
 
 American Board 
 
 205 
 
 367 
 
 3, 266 
 
 S 109,603 
 
 S 716,837 
 
 Presbyterian Board, North 
 
 261 
 
 398 
 
 3,772 
 
 30, 452 
 
 65,828 
 
 865,709 
 
 Presbyterian Board, South 
 
 61 
 
 80 
 
 160 
 
 
 
 132,133 
 
 ReforrnedChurch in Amer- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ica (Dutch) 
 
 35 
 
 44 
 
 369 
 
 5,821 
 
 
 111,288 
 
 United Presbj'terian Board 
 
 27 
 
 48 
 
 1,282 
 
 13, 875 
 
 ' 33,503 
 
 105,810 
 
 Cumberland Presb. Church 
 
 11 
 
 19 
 
 50 
 
 88 
 
 1,909 
 
 24,061 
 
 Reformed Presb. Church 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (Covenanter) 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 499 
 
 
 17,168 
 
 Reformed Church of the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 U. S. (German)" . . . 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 273 
 
 218 
 
 2,528 
 
 31,991 
 
 Ref. Presb. Gen. Synod . 
 
 18 
 
 14 
 
 274 
 
 294 
 
 120 
 
 6,000 
 
 GermanEvangelicalSynod 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 of North America . . 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 35 
 
 575 
 
 1,200 
 
 10,000 
 
 Associate Reformed Synod 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 of the South ... 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 54 
 
 91 
 
 225 
 
 9,532 
 
 American Baptist Mission- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ary Union" 
 
 184 
 
 283 
 
 5.917 
 
 25, 021 
 
 289,532 
 
 568.465 
 
 BaptistSouth'nConvention 
 
 41 
 
 15 
 
 '581 
 
 707 
 
 
 130,867 
 
 Free Baptists ....... 
 
 12 
 
 23 
 
 59 
 
 3,200 
 
 1,917 
 
 30,526 
 
 Seventh Day Baptists . . 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 122 
 
 1,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 German Baptist Brethren 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tunkers) 
 
 7 
 
 
 14 
 
 
 5,204 
 
 6,456 
 
 Methodist Epis. Church- 
 
 240 
 
 369 
 
 15,000 
 
 40,423 
 
 8,216 
 
 1,009,018 
 
 Bishop Taylors African 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Missions 
 
 22 
 
 28 
 
 225 
 
 200 
 
 
 30,000 
 
 Meth. Epis. Church. South 
 
 57 
 
 52 
 
 1,277 
 
 1,116 
 
 '2,689 
 
 227,013 
 
 Meth. Protestant Church . 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 61 
 
 745 
 
 296 
 
 15,806 
 
 Wesleyan Methodist . . . 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 
 17 
 
 3,713 
 
 2,368 
 
 Protestant Epis. Foreign 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Missionary Society . . 
 
 50 
 
 52 
 
 84 
 
 5,101 
 
 12,212 
 
 301,612 
 
 Evangelical Association . 
 
 90 
 
 80 
 
 1,475 
 
 25 
 
 31,200 
 
 17,500 
 
 United Brethren in Christ 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 118 
 
 490 
 
 300 
 
 60,000 
 
 Evangelical LutheranGen- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 eral Synod 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 1,437 
 
 5,419 
 
 11,897 
 
 49,827 
 
 EvangelicalLutheraniGen- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 eral Council 
 
 8 
 
 11 
 
 239 
 
 1,893 
 
 
 * 16,428 
 
 United Synod of Evang. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 LutheranCh. in theSouth 
 
 2 
 
 
 11 
 
 21 
 
 21 
 
 * 3,183 
 
 Foreign Christian Mission- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ary Society (Disciples) 
 
 30 
 
 27 
 
 472 
 
 980 
 
 669 
 
 73,258 
 
 Christian Church (Conven- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tion) 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 5,878 
 
 United Brethren (Mora- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 vians)* 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9,560 
 112,000 
 
 Seventh Day Adventists* . 
 
 *23 
 
 ' 19 
 
 
 190 
 
 '5,'oob 
 
 American Bible Society . 
 
 16 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 184,538 
 11.766 
 
 American Tract Society 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Friend's Church . . . 
 
 ' 30 
 
 77 
 
 758 
 
 
 32,531 
 
 Woman's Union Mission- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ary Society 
 
 
 24 
 
 10 
 
 1,860 
 
 1,611 
 
 73,680 
 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 1,469 
 
 2, 043 
 
 36, 600 
 
 193816 
 
 5590,393 
 
 5,006,809 
 
 * From American Board Almanac of Foreign Missions. 
 
THE MA THEM A TICS OF RELIGION 125 
 
 The testimony of the Viceroy of China to the 
 value and worth of Mission work in his country, 
 as uttered by him in New York recently, to the 
 representatives of different foreign missionary 
 societies, assembling on purpose to greet him, is 
 worthy of serious consideration. The New York 
 Sun declares this address the most important 
 delivered by the great statesman since his 
 arrival in our midst. Here it is : 
 
 "Gentlemen : — It affords me great pleasure 
 to acknowledge the grateful welcome to this 
 country offered to me by you as the representa- 
 tives of various boards and societies who have 
 engaged in China in exchanging our ideas of the 
 greatest of all truths which concern the immortal 
 destinies of men. 
 
 "In the name of my august master, the Em- 
 peror of China, I beg to tender to you his best 
 thanks for your approval and appreciation for the 
 protection afforded to the American missionaries 
 in China. What we have done, and how little 
 we have done on our part, is nothing but the 
 duties of our Government ; while the mission- 
 aries, as you have so ably expressed, have not 
 sought for pecuniary gains at the hands of our 
 people. They have not been secret emissaries 
 of diplomatic schemes. Their labors have no 
 political significance, and the last, not the 
 least, if I might be permitted to add, they have 
 
126 THE MATHEMATICS 
 
 not interfered with or usurped the rights of the 
 territorial authorities. 
 
 "In a philosophical point of view, as far as I 
 have been enabled to appreciate, Christianity 
 does not differ much from Confucianism, as the 
 Golden Rule is expressed in a positive form in 
 one, while it is expressed in the negative form in 
 the other. Logically speaking, whether these 
 two forms of expressing the same truth cover 
 exactly the same ground or not, I leave it to the 
 investigations of those who have more philo- 
 sophical tastes. It is, at the present, enough to 
 conclude that there exists not much difference 
 between the wise savings of the two greatest 
 teachers on the foundations of which the whole 
 structure of the two systems of morality is built. 
 As man is composed of soul, intellect and body, 
 I highly appreciate that your eminent boards, 
 in your arduous and much esteemed work 
 in the field of China, have neglected none of the 
 three. I need not say much about the first, 
 being an unknownable mystery of which our great 
 Confucius had only an active knowledge. As 
 for intellect, you have started numerous educa- 
 tional establishments which have served as the 
 best means to enable our countrymen to acquire 
 a fair knowledge of the modern arts and sciences 
 of the West. As for the material part of our 
 constitution, >our societies have started hospitals 
 and dispensaries to save not only the soul, but 
 
OF RELIGION. 127 
 
 also the body of our countrymen. I have also 
 to add that in the time of famine in some of the 
 provinces, you have done your best to the great- 
 est number of the sufferers to keep their bodies 
 and souls together. 
 
 "Before I bring my reply to a conclusion, I 
 have only two things to mention : 
 
 "The first, the opium smoking, being a great 
 curse to the Chinese population, your societies 
 have tried your best, not only as anti-opium 
 societies, but to afford the best means to stop the 
 craving for the opium ; and also you receive 
 none as your converts who are opium smokers. 
 
 "I have to tender, in my own name, my best 
 thanks for your most effective prayers to God to 
 spare my life when it was imperiled by the 
 assassin's bullet, and for your most kind wishes 
 which you have just uow so ably expressed in 
 the interest of my sovereign, my country and 
 people." 
 
 But my purpose is less to show what is done 
 abroad than what is accomplished at home. No 
 other country is like this. To our shores come 
 the down-cast and the down-trodden of the 
 world, in search of better environments, but 
 they come with their traditions and their habits 
 and their filth ; they are hardly worthy standing 
 room in our midst, yet, by the very provision of 
 the Constitution in a few short years they are 
 able to stand on political equality with the 
 
128 THE MATHEMATICS 
 
 rest. And their influence is cast as often against 
 their own interests as for them. Out of these 
 people we must make honorable and respectable 
 fellow citizens. The task is enormous, and yet 
 our success is phenomenal, though not as great 
 as we would have it. The $130,000,000 credited 
 to the American Church is far below the actual 
 amount given to all purposes. Very effective 
 work is done by societies outside the church 
 supported by the money of Christian people. 
 
 One of these is the Sabbath School Union 
 with headquarters at Philadelphia. I clip the 
 following from its last year's report : 
 
 "You will be amazed and incredulous when 
 I state the fact that more than half of the 
 Sunday-schools organized in this country have 
 been created by the agency of this successful 
 Sunday School Union. Take that fact in if you 
 can. More than half the Sunday-schools in this 
 country have been created through the agents of 
 this organization in different parts of the country. 
 If I am not mistaken, more than 86,000 Sabbath- 
 schools in this country have been established by 
 this institution, and they are organizing new 
 schools everywhere ; not only in our own middle 
 and eastern states, but in the great western states. 
 I have been looking over the reports from the 
 different states, where a large number of Sabbath- 
 schools have been organized through the agencies 
 of the missionaries and district superintendents 
 
OF RELIGION. 129 
 
 of this Union during the past year. These 
 schools, in many instances, grow into churches, 
 which increase in usefulness and become instru- 
 ments in the hands of God of bringing many 
 souls to Christ." 
 
 The benevolent work of that faithful society 
 for 1895 represents the magnificent sum of S139,- 
 180.50, but that does not include the work of the 
 publication department. 
 
 Another important factor in the intellectual, 
 moral and religious progress of the people is the 
 American Bible Society, with headquarters at 
 New York. Its mammoth Eightieth x\nnual 
 Report is loaded down with figures and facts, 
 showing a most successful and essential work 
 done. "The issues of the Society during eighty 
 years amount to sixty-one million seven hundred 
 and five thousand eight hundred and forty one 
 copies. (61,705,841.)" 
 
 Total issues for the year at home are 966,845, 
 in foreign lands, 783,438, total number of Bibles 
 or portions of it published during the year is 
 1,750,283. The amount of money expended in 
 what may be called missionary and benevolent 
 w T ork is $294,964.39, while the total cash handled 
 during the year by the Society is $614,621.55, 
 not including a balance on hand of $11,409,91.* 
 I give below the report of Dr. Vigus, of Indiana, 
 to show the personal labors of one of its many 
 superintendents. 
 
1 30 THE MA THEM A TICS 
 
 Auxiliary societies visited 98 
 
 Anniversaries attended 52 
 
 Ecclesiastical bodies visited 9 
 
 Sermons and addresses delivered . 237 
 
 Official letters sent i>297 
 
 " documents distributed 3,88 r 
 
 Miles traveled on official duty ....-'-... 9,517 
 
 Also that of auxiliary work : 
 
 Collecting and distributing agents employed . . 4 
 
 Voluntary and local agents in the field 52 
 
 Auxiliaries in the field 114 
 
 Branch societies in the field 2 
 
 Protestant churches co-operating 622 
 
 Families visited 10,187 
 
 " found without the Scriptures 873 
 
 Destitute families supplied 674 
 
 " individuals supplied in addition . . . 147 
 
 Children supplied with Bibles 312 
 
 And the American Tract Society comes in for 
 a good share of the work done, and the way it is 
 done may be learned from an excerpt of Dr. 
 Wherry's address at the Society's last annual 
 meeting : 
 
 "Take a great city like that in which I live, 
 the city of Chicago; take its population and 
 seperate it and locate it on some of the prairies 
 round about, and then we find that we have a 
 Germany of over three hundred thousand inhab- 
 itants ; a city that may be called Bohemia with 
 sixty-five thousand inhabitants; a city we may 
 call Italia with fifty thousand inhabitants; a 
 
 * See 80th Report. 
 
OF RELIGION 131 
 
 Polish city of over fifty thousand inhabitants; 
 we have even a Chinatown of some three or four 
 thousand, and an Arabic-speaking community of 
 not less than fifteen hundred. And so I might 
 go on through the catalogue. Now what is the 
 condition of these cities ? Germany is provided 
 with one minister in about six thousand ; Bo- 
 hemia has but three or four who can speak to her 
 sixty-five thousand : this Italian town has but 
 two men to preach evangelical truth in the 
 language of the people ; Poland has none — no 
 one but our own colporter who might address 
 them intelligently in their own language. So we 
 find all through these cities destitution is great, 
 but none so great as in this Polish community. 
 This illustrates what the condition of this class, 
 no doubt, in other great cities of our country is 
 to-day. What agency, therefore, so important in 
 the interests of the evangelization of this class as 
 that of a Society that publishes a literature in 
 their own language, which in a measure is dis- 
 tributed from house to house by the Sunday- 
 school teacher or Christian worker of any name 
 whatever? He may not speak the language of 
 those who receive, yet he may, with a loving 
 hand and smiling face, put into the hands of these 
 unevangelized people that which will bring to 
 them eternal life. The reports of our colporters, 
 pastors and others show the vast importance of 
 this literature in that direction. One pastor 
 
132 THE MATHEMATICS 
 
 laboring among Italians tells us that he has, dur- 
 ing the past three or four years, received from six 
 to eight Catholic families into the membership of 
 his church, and he attributes this acquisition from 
 the Catholics largely to the literature supplied by 
 our Society." 
 
 That noble Society has published since its or- 
 ganization 471,344,455 copies and 9,719,708,618 
 pages. During last year it published 2,528,553 
 copies and 40,504,816 pages. The money ex- 
 pended in missionary work by this Society from 
 April 1st, 1895, t° April 1st ,1896, is $107,900.81, 
 making a grand total for the three of over 
 $800,000,000. 
 
 There is also an army of Colleges and Uni- 
 versites belonging to the various denominations, 
 not including State Universities or non-sectarian 
 Institutions, holding in their name property worth 
 over $40,000,000, every cent of which came from 
 Christian people. The property of the non-sec- 
 tarian schools is worth as much. There are 
 also various enterprises, such as the work carried 
 on by Mr. Moody, the W. C. T. U., Seamen's 
 Aid Societies, Hospitals and various other insti- 
 tutions for the relief of the poor and the religious 
 culture of the masses in great cities, reports and 
 statistics of which are hard to get, but the bulk 
 of the money used by them is contributed by the 
 Christian people of the land. The Young Men's 
 Christian Association owns property valued at 
 
OF RELIGION. 133 
 
 $15,211,037, and pays yearly $2,138,097 in 
 salaries. It is a crime against the Almighty and 
 an insult to the generous liberality of the 
 American people, to say that the saloon is the 
 most potent factor in their midst. Regardless of 
 the seeming testimony of the figures, the drink- 
 ing habit is losing strength. The organ of the 
 Liquor Dealer, the Wine and Spirit Gazette, 
 admits that "there is everywhere a growing 
 prejudice against the liquor traffic." From the 
 depth of my soul I say Amen to every attempt 
 made to destroy this giant evil. I honestly 
 believe that the prayers and votes of God's 
 people should always be turned against it. The 
 only omnipotent power in the world is the power 
 that comes from God through men upon society. 
 The time is coming when the Church will see as 
 one man and will move against this evil in the 
 power of its might. To hasten that day, we 
 should keep sweet and seek to win and to con- 
 vert rather than to denounce and belittle. 
 
 "There are nearly 150,000 places of worship 
 in our country. For the most part these are 
 open every Sabbath, and throughout the week, 
 for various and varying services. With an 
 average membership of one hundred at each of 
 these, fifteen millions of people will be found 
 who have openly professed faith in Jesus Christ 
 as their Saviour, and who have pledged them- 
 selues to his service. Many more than these are 
 
134 THE MATHEMATICS 
 
 more or less under the influence of the church. 
 Perhaps an average of over three hundred are 
 found to attend, with more or less regularity, at 
 each house of worship. For these three hundred 
 people the church is the center of religious, 
 moral and intellectual life, in varying degrees- 
 These people are the ones who control the com- 
 munity in which they live. The church, in a 
 large measure, directs the life of the community, 
 or modifies it as no other institution can or does. 
 
 ' 'There is no other institution that in the 
 course of the year has so many attendants, or 
 that has so large an attendance, as the church. 
 The theaters of the country will not have nearly 
 so many at all their plays as the churches will 
 have at all their services. The open air resorts 
 will not muster as many patrons as the church 
 will count. We may sometimes grow somewhat 
 discouraged because all the services are not 
 maintained, buoyantly and earnestly, but in the 
 course of a year the services of the church are 
 attended and maintained as is nothing else."* 
 
 That is an encouraging statement, expressed 
 in clear diction and easy style, and made by an 
 editor noted for his conservatism and painstaking 
 accuracy. The able editorial ends with the fol- 
 lowing beautiful, tender and suggestive words: 
 
 "The church is the most august and forcetul 
 body on earth to-day. When it realizes its great 
 
 * Herald and Presbyter., August 12, 1896. 
 
OF RELIGION. 135 
 
 opportunity it will take the land and the world 
 for Christ. Just to the extent that the ministry, 
 standing in these pulpits, realizes the magnifi- 
 cence of its message and the peerlessness of its 
 position, does it rejoice and glory in the work to 
 which it has been called in the providence of 
 God." 
 
 May those words sink deep into the conscience 
 of all professing Christians that they may meas- 
 ure up to the standard of their possibilities in the 
 name of God, and "take the land for Christ." 
 For this, let us labor and pray. 
 
OUR DUTY TO-DAY. 
 
Stand fast, stand fast, dear native land ! 
 
 Stand on the true foundation ! 
 The role that's thine, shall grow more grand, 
 
 As grander grows the nation. 
 Hold for the Lord this empire vast, 
 
 Shut in by either ocean ! 
 Stand fast, dear native land, stand fast, 
 
 Amid the earth's commotion. 
 The last great battle of the world, 
 
 The world will here be fighting ; 
 Let Jesus' banner be unfurled, 
 
 Man's wrong and errors righting. 
 This is the pivot, where will turn 
 
 The fate of man and nation; 
 Stand fast, dear native land, nor spurn 
 
 Thy day of visitation. 
 
 — Rankin. 
 
OUR DUTY TO-DAY. 
 
 The much talk of church union in our day 
 is not to be taken too seriously. Nothing has 
 been said or done so far that my be construed as 
 a willingness on the part of any church organi- 
 zation to give up its own name and identity and 
 unite with some other denomination, henceforth 
 to face the world under the new name and with 
 new methods, to win it to Christ. All the 
 learned arguments pro and con, so far, are 
 nothing more nor less than the coming together 
 of the forces to feel each other's power ; if one is 
 convinced that it would come out of the skirmish 
 a little better than the other, then it calls for the 
 so called "church union." I may be wrong, but 
 that is the way it seems to me. On the other 
 hand, while the followers of Mr. Wesley are 
 divided into seventeen different denominations 
 in this country alone, and cannot come together 
 under one banner, the chances for them to unite 
 with any other body are scarcely possible. As 
 long as there are twenty organizations in our 
 midst, each claiming to represent Mr. Luther a 
 little better than the other, and can not or will 
 not unite, we have no reason for expecting them 
 to compromise with the Presbyterians. But the 
 Presbyterians themselves have twelve distinct 
 
140 OUR DUTY 10-DAY. 
 
 denominations in the United States, each praying 
 and working for itself. As long as the Congre- 
 gational families, the Congregationalists, the 
 Baptists, the Free Will Baptists, the Christians 
 and others governing themselves according to 
 the congregational principle, are so far apart it is 
 out of all reason to expect that they can agree 
 with the Episcopalians on any conditions. The 
 Young Peoples' Society of Christian Endeavor 
 for a time seemed to offer a solution to the prob- 
 lem of Christian union, but Sectarianism got the 
 upper hand, rejected one of the best services of 
 that matchless society, marched the Young 
 People on the narrow road their forefathers had 
 travelled, and kept them within the same old 
 inclosure. Sectarianism is cowardly. It is 
 afraid to let its young people mingle with others 
 of different faith lest they might have something 
 new and inspiring, which would lead them to 
 reject the ultimatum of bigotry and to ' 'stand 
 fast in the liberty with which Christ has made 
 them free."* Sectarianism is cruel. It insists 
 on the acceptance of its dictum without offering 
 an argument for it that will stand investigation 
 in the light of reason and progress. But leaving 
 Sectarianism for the present, let me ask, is 
 organic union necessary? Indeed, would it be 
 advisable? Many thoughtful men think not. 
 The cost of the Presbyterian Assembly is now so 
 
 *Gal. 5:1. 
 
OUR DUTY TO-DAY. 141 
 
 great that frequent complaints are heard on 
 occount of it. Of necessity, the sessions would 
 last longer and the cost would increase accord- 
 ingly did all Presbyterians unite as one body. 
 The same is true of the General Conference of 
 the Methodist Episcopal church. And once in a 
 while complaints are made because of the cost of 
 the Congregational National Council, though the 
 cost of the entire denomination, Council, Year- 
 book and all, is only five cents a year to each 
 member. But meetings of the Boards are also 
 large and costly. It is true that some claim the 
 expenses would be reduced by union of interests 
 but it is doubtful, for the meetings would last 
 longer and of necessity would occur oftener. 
 Were we to have one Protestant church in 
 America, we would be obliged to maintain a 
 council of leading men to direct the work, and 
 that council would need a head. Then, the 
 union of Christianity would have been reduced 
 to one point, the union of the Protestant council 
 with its President with the Vatican at Rome 
 with the Pope. Such a thing is inconceivable. 
 But co-operation is practicably possible. There 
 is a growing desire among leading Christian 
 workers for such understanding and affiliation that 
 one will not undo the work of another and con- 
 tend with each other for the sake of sectarianism. 
 The way such conditions are to be brought 
 about is not so much by ignoring denominational 
 
142 OUR DUTY TO-DAY. 
 
 differences, as by intensifying the American re- 
 ligious thought and life. As the United States 
 have distinct characteristics political, commercial, 
 social, among the nations of the world, so have 
 they a religious genius peculiar to themselves. 
 Church life ought to mean much more in this 
 country than in any other. We are a free and 
 independent people. Our common suffrage, 
 our public schools, our mountain ranges, our deep 
 gorges, our vast plains, our far reaching prairies, 
 our great lakes, our railroads touching two 
 oceans, with a continent of 3000 miles laying 
 between them, constitute a something that makes 
 our thought and life very different to those of 
 people differently situated. Possibly our food 
 may have some share in this. Whatever philosoph- 
 ical explanation that may be given for our 
 peculiarities, it is plain to all that institutions 
 doing excellent services in other countries cannot 
 meet the demands of this country. We build 
 according to our need. The man who does not 
 build a house, or print a book, or cultivate the 
 ground according to customs in other coun- 
 tries can not be expected to enjoy a church life 
 that is foreign to his tastes and habits. There is 
 no objections to conducting church services in a 
 foreign tongue so long as there are adherents igno- 
 rant of the English language in our midst, and 
 the trouble with such a church is not so much in 
 the language used as in the spirit or the life of 
 
OUR DUTY TO-DA Y. 143 
 
 the church. If that is foreign to the American 
 taste the young people may be depended upon 
 to leave it, and they ought. Dr. R. E. Thomp- 
 son asks: "Is it wonderful that the Japanese 
 find themselves perplexed and amazed by the 
 importation of our sectarianism into that most 
 promising of mission fields ? Is it strange that 
 they are unable to reconcile it with the teachings 
 of the New Testament, and that there has 
 arisen among them a demand for the unification 
 of Japanese Christians upon basis of the truths 
 common to all the Christian bodies that have 
 been laboring there?" Then he says: "I can 
 not for one, withhold my sympathies from them, 
 and I look with longing for the day when the 
 same spirit shall pervade our American Christen- 
 dom, and we too shall rise up to demand that the 
 divisions imported from Europe into our Chris- 
 tendom shall come to an end in a national church 
 of America." "I say the divisions we have im- 
 ported from Europe. America often is stigma- 
 tized as the land of sects. It is true that we do 
 produce a mushroom growth of small sectarian- 
 ism, which rarely outlives a decade; and that we 
 have produced a great number of variations upon 
 the discords of Europe. But the great and un- 
 happy divisions of our Christendom, with haidly 
 a single exception, are of foreign origin. We 
 have more sects than Europe only because im- 
 migration has brought us every variety ; of some 
 
144 OUR DUTY TO-DAY. 
 
 we now possess every existing specimen. " *'Our 
 divisions are mainly of alien origin. They are 
 European ; and the American grows restive under 
 them and shows this at inter vals."* These di- 
 visions were imported here, not alone to enlighten 
 the masses and to help them to a purer, nobler 
 life, but also to keep alive traditions and 
 customs peculiar to their native heath ; they are 
 detrimental to the genius of Americanism and 
 disastrous to the best interest of the Kingdom 
 of Christ among us. This thing may be over- 
 come by intensifying the American spirit. It 
 is not to be wondered at that home missionary 
 societies are sometimes loath to grant aid to 
 churches conducting their services in a foreign 
 tongue. There is no objection to the language 
 itself, but behind that language there lurks a 
 habit or a custom that is injurious to the growth 
 of the organization. And unless the church 
 meets a need, and does a work that will count 
 upon the rising generation, the Society feels 
 honor bound to put its money where it will 
 produce immediate results. It is for that very 
 purpose that it has been given in its charge. 
 
 Churches of foreign languages are very apt to 
 seek a pastor from the home land. He may be 
 a good man, an able man, a consecrated Christian, 
 but he will do his best work only after years of 
 experience in this country. Young men from 
 
 * Divine Order of Human Society p. 209. 
 
OUR DUTY TO-DAY. 145 
 
 abroad seeking work in American churches ought 
 to spend some years in American colleges and 
 seminaries. They should also leave their 
 prejudice on the other side. The more they 
 bring with them the more apt they are to fail in 
 their work. This question is not one of supe- 
 riority but of expediency and of methods. We 
 scarcely do nothing here as is done in Europe. 
 Church work is no exception. And churches in 
 America without an alien within them greatly 
 impair their usefulness by upholding and foster- 
 ing foreign traditions and conceptions regarding 
 church work and life. In some European coun- 
 tries the churches are departments of the state, 
 supported and controlled by the government, 
 much as our public schools here are, and in some 
 cases those state churches are as void of spiritual 
 power as our schools would be could rationalism 
 close their doors against the Bible and prohibit 
 the offering of a public prayer within their walls. 
 As Americans, we have decided and distinct no- 
 tions regarding the institutions best fitted to 
 serve our purposes. Our political life is distinct; 
 our social life is distinct; our school life is dis- 
 tinct; our business methods are peculiar to our- 
 selves, and our church life to do us the most 
 good should embrace all distinctive features be- 
 longing to us as a people, bringing to bear upon 
 them the purity and holiness of the Gospel. By 
 this means we would be strengthened and en- 
 
146 OUR DUTY TO-DAY. 
 
 larged ; our conception of the Gospel would 
 become broader, the mission of the church would 
 become grander; Jesus Christ in his life and death 
 would become sublimer and dearer, and in the 
 presence of these inspiring revelations we would 
 realize the dignity and glory of personal self- 
 denial and sacrifice. Then we would come into a 
 living union with Christ. The signs of the times 
 point to great things to the world by means of 
 the consecrated and sanctified churches of Amer- 
 ica. Possibly, denominations will exist to the 
 end of time ; perphaps, they are the best means 
 of reaching the greatest number of people in the 
 quickest time, but rivalry and unholy conten- 
 tions, as the shades of night at the advent of the 
 morning sun, will pass away before the noble, 
 liberal, elevating spirit of Americanism magni- 
 fied and sanctified of God to the salvation of the 
 people. Let all churches make this the inner 
 purpose of their life, and "as doves to their win- 
 dows,"* men and women will flock to their 
 doors. The nation will be saved and God will 
 be glorified. 7 
 
 * Isa. 60:8. 
 
OUR PRIVILEGE TO-MORROW. 
 
"The church is universal Love, 
 
 And whoso dwells therein 
 Shall need no customed sacrifice 
 
 To wash away his sin ; 
 And music in its aisles shall swell, 
 Of lives upright and true, 
 Sweet as dreamed sounds of angel-harps 
 
 Down quivering through the blue. 
 They shall not ask a litany, 
 
 The souls that worship there, 
 But every look shall be a hymn, 
 
 And every word a prayer ; 
 Their service shall be written bright 
 
 In calm and holy eyes, 
 And every day from fragrant hearts 
 
 Fit incense shall arise." 
 
 -Loweu,. 
 
OUR PRIVILEGE TO-MORROW. 
 
 The new civilization is gathering her force s 
 into the land of the setting sun. The great 
 moral battles of humanity are to be fought to a 
 finish on American soil. Problems involving 
 the destiny of the human race are to be settled 
 here. Our population is heterogeneous ; it is 
 made up of the best and the worst elements in 
 human society. The purest wheat from the 
 threshing floors of all Europe and the scum of 
 of all the world mingle in perfect civic equality. 
 Several times within the last decade have men 
 rushed in fury against each other, destroying 
 property, defying authorit}' and threatening the 
 life of the government. The problems pressing 
 for solution must not be ignored by the church. 
 The Lord planted her in our midst as the 
 guardian of our rights and the inspiration of 
 our progress. How to Americanize the masses 
 thrown upon our shores in such numbers every 
 year is a problem that baffles the wisdom of 
 statesmen and philosophers alike, but experience 
 reminds us that that is not the province of 
 statesmen or philosophers, but of the church. 
 She must rise up in her sovereign power to com- 
 mand the troubled waves to be still. The first 
 essential to this is that the church must divest 
 
150 OUR PRIVILEGE TO-MORROW. 
 
 herself of all foreign regalia, and then stand in 
 the midst of the masses in the beauty of 
 American simplicity and the glory of her God. 
 Eloquent preaching and artistic singing alone 
 are helpless in this matter. The Roman Catholic 
 church has as eloquent preaching and artistic 
 singing as any, but the charge is made that that 
 church is a foreign institution, and Dr. Thompson 
 tells us that the Protestant churches are also 
 foreign, but possibly, less intensely so than the 
 Catholic. To do their best work in this country 
 churches of all denominations must represent 
 the highest thought and life of the Western 
 world. The stiffness, formality, dogmatism of 
 the East, the distinction of one class from the 
 other, favored pews to the wealthy and barren 
 gallery seats to the poor, are repugnant to that 
 spirit which is fundamental in the moral consti- 
 tution of this people. That the gain in church 
 membership in this country is not greater is due 
 fully as much to the want of true Americanism 
 in the church as to the want of greater spirit- 
 uality. My argument is not that the people of 
 the United States are superior to some people of 
 Europe, but that they are different and that that 
 difference must be recognized in our religious 
 life as well as in our civil and social life. Men 
 can not be Europeans at the altar and Americans 
 at the polls. They can not be expected to 
 support American institutions during the week 
 
OUR PRIVILEGE TO-MORROW. 151 
 
 and a religion, or at least a face of it, European 
 on the Sabbath. 
 
 Our churches need to be Americanized as well 
 as spiritualized; Americanized in the highest 
 meaning of that conception, so as to touch, 
 arouse, energize and lift up the spirit of the 
 masses to a realization of their glorious possibil- 
 ities by means of American institutions and 
 through the man Christ Jesus. 
 
 A spiritual American church is the church de- 
 manded by the logic of western development 
 and power ; the pulse beat of such a church will 
 be felt among all nations of the world. The In- 
 ternational Council of Congregational churches 
 held in London a few years ago demonstrated the 
 fact that in the conception of divine truth Amer- 
 ica is, in the language of to-day, more conserva- 
 tive than England. England is more conservative 
 than Germany. A state church, free beer and no 
 Sunday seem to be congenial to the growth of 
 rationalism. But we owe a debt to Germany for 
 the grandest and mightiest reformation the world 
 has ever seen. Some recent utterances from that 
 land of mighty thinkers and great musicians in- 
 dicate the decline of materialistic philosophy 
 among them, and a desire on the part of many to 
 return to the fountain of Luther's inspiration 
 and strength. England already has felt the effects 
 of these prophetic utterances, and the "progress- 
 ive" ardor of many of the younger clergy has fallen 
 
152 OUR PRIVILEGE TO-MORROW. 
 
 in temperature several degrees. Dr. Joseph 
 Parker, of the Loudon City Temple, the prince 
 of preachers, has stood Elijah-like and is stand- 
 ing to day for an evangelical Christianity — for a 
 Christianity centering in and around the incarna- 
 tion and suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ, the 
 Savior of the world. Scotland has remained loyal 
 to the faith of the fathers, while "gallant little 
 Wales" has stood like steel for the theology of 
 the Geneva man. There is not another spot in 
 all the world so Calvinistic. That system of doc- 
 trine seems to be conducive to the development of 
 great preachers; there is no other country on the 
 globe that enjoys greater pulpit eloquence. The 
 action of the General Assembly ot the Presby- 
 terian church in the United States toward those 
 erring in doctrine has had a healthy effect on all 
 the evangelical churches. Not that they are all 
 agreed that the church herself did not err in her 
 method of procedure; some seem to think that 
 some milder means might have been more judi- 
 cious, but the fact that that great church had the 
 courage of her convictions to put a stop to the 
 disturbing of her peace and the interrupting of 
 her work was in itself an innovation. All evangel- 
 ical churches benefitted by it. Churches every- 
 where are demanding pastors to lead them to the 
 green pastures where countless millions found 
 Christ precious to their souls, and ever after re- 
 joice in so great a salvation; they do not want to 
 
OUR PRIVILEGE TO-MORROW. 153 
 
 risk the salvation of their children or their nigh- 
 bor's children to a possible "philosophical con- 
 cept" in the world to come. They want them 
 saved now, and saved in the same safe glorious 
 manner in which their fathers were saved. Quacks 
 and nostrums have become nauseating. The 
 great Methodist church does not now say very 
 much about "free agency;" but she does about 
 the need of repentance and the baptism of the 
 spirit, and after receiving glorious outpourings, 
 she again seeks "a second blessing." Men once 
 close to the Baptist heart are now looked upon 
 with a degree of suspicion because of arbitrary 
 and forced interpretations of portions of the 
 Bible. The secret is out; the American people 
 demand the men in their pulpits to preach the 
 Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and not plausi- 
 ble theories — to preach a savior to save the man- 
 hood of men in this life as well as to save their 
 souls in the life to come, a religion to fill men with 
 heaven here as well as to fill heaven with men in 
 the hereafter. This much is practically settled. 
 But new methods in church work must be 
 adopted in this country if we are to meet 
 the demands made upon us. The institu- 
 tional is becoming more and more into favor. 
 A church that puts herself in touch with the 
 needs of those in her community; a church seek- 
 ing to make her existence absolutely indespensi- 
 ble to the social classes around her ; a church with 
 
154 OUR PRIVILEGE TOMORROW. 
 
 a heart as well as a head, hands as well as eyes, 
 feet as well as shoulders, all conscrated and 
 sanctified to the services of men in the name of 
 God. Nearly a quarter of a century ago Pro- 
 fessor J. W. Chickering, Jr., of Washington, D. 
 C, said: "The church of the future will be a 
 Young Men's Christian Association, a religious 
 lyceum, a missionary society, a temperance 
 league, an infirmary, a hospital, a literary, musi- 
 cal, social organization, a gymnasium ; in short, if 
 there is any good association on earth, the church 
 ought to have all the good features of it, all the 
 real uses to humanity, with all the bad left out, 
 so far as possible."* Another prophet of God 
 nearly a third of a century ago, said: "And so 
 let us form a society to ascertain to what extent 
 the work of grace has advanced in us. Let us 
 see whether the rich can, in any intelligible 
 sense, love the poor and not feel them a burden. 
 Let us see whether the so-called refined have any 
 common bond of humanity. Let us see whether 
 people with different sorts of clothes can come to- 
 gether and be happy. Let us see whether smart 
 and foolish people can associate; whether tem- 
 perance men and men of total abstinence can 
 respect each other. Let us see whether we can 
 love other people's children beside our own. Let 
 us see whether we can enjoy paying for other 
 people's happiness, as God in Christ has paid for 
 
 * From a sermon preached at First Congregational Church, 
 Baltimore, October 2, 1872, 
 
OUR PRIVILEGE TO-MORROW. 155 
 
 our salvation. Let us see whether we can help 
 one another to escape the snare that comes 
 through poverty. Let us see whether we can 
 chasten one another in things that need chasten- 
 ing, and encourage with praise what we find is 
 good. Let us see whether we can assemble our 
 children in fellowship and sports that are without 
 taint of envy, rivalry, or sin. In a word let us 
 see whether we have passed from death unto life 
 by finding out whether ^we do love the breth- 
 ren in jany intelligible sense. "* Institutional 
 churches were not known in those days, but the 
 heart- felt expressions of those seivants of the 
 Lord are to-day incorporated in churches aiming 
 honestly to help men to solve existing pressing 
 problems according to the master principles an- 
 nunciated by the Savior himself in his great Ser- 
 mon on the Mount. "If the second table of the 
 law was as truly a part of the Decalogue as was 
 the first, as Christ himself taught, then sociology 
 is truly a part of religion as is theology. The 
 fact is that these are essential, one to the other, 
 and when taken together constitute true Chris- 
 tianity."f 
 
 The church that is true to the Gospel meets 
 man fairly and honestly in his circumstances and 
 trrials, teaches and helps him to make the most 
 of time, gives him victory over death, and opens 
 
 * Thomas K. Beecher, D. D. 
 tJ. R. Mitchell, D. D., in New York Observer, Aug-tist 27, 1896. 
 
15G OUR PRIVILEGE TO-MORROW. 
 
 before him the portals of the eternal city. Infi- 
 delity tries to amuse itself by crying, "all is a 
 mistake, there is no God, no hereafter, no 
 hell, no heaven ; today we live, tomorrow we 
 die, and that is the end." A man rushed up 
 to Dr. Talmage as he was leaving a boat 
 and said: 4 'Doctor, I believe in nothing; when 
 I die, that will be the end of me," to which 
 the Doctor replied with the blandest of smiles, 
 "Thank God for that." There is some con- 
 solation to know that infidelity ends in the 
 grave. Dr. Cynddylan Jones describes an 
 astronomer who examined the heavens by means 
 of a magnificent new telescope. At first he saw 
 the clear blue sky, then he saw worlds half 
 formed, then what seemed to be ruined planets, 
 black and ugly, tumbling helter-skelter through 
 space, but before publishing the news he 
 examined his telescope and made another dis- 
 covery ; flies inside of the telescope had im- 
 peached the integrity of the heavens."* Should 
 infidelity examine its mental disc, it is certain 
 that it would talk less about things beyond its 
 reach. The Gospel presents to us the eternal 
 Son of God, to whom all truth, past and future, 
 all phenomena here and in the hereafter, were 
 familiar. And he came to us in the form of man, 
 submitting himself to human conditions, yet 
 living a life of absolute purity; turning to 
 
 * Studies in Matthew, p. 142. 
 
OUR PRIVILEGE TO-MORROW. 157 
 
 humanity he asked, "Who convinceth me of 
 sin?" And infidelity for once spoke truly, but 
 acted meanly, "I find no fault in this man." 
 That life so true, so grand, so sublime, and that 
 death so cruel, so heartless, yet so calm, are 
 unexplainable, except by Revelation. "For it 
 became him for whom are all things, and by 
 whom are all things, in bringing many sons to 
 glory, to make the Captain of their salvation 
 perfect through suffering." The Gospel alone 
 grasps the moral philosophy of suffering, and 
 brings out of it joy to the redeemed. The 
 Literati tell us, "the seed of goodness is hid in 
 our nature and all is needed is to awaken and to 
 develop the seed into fruit." Were that true 
 the "something" to awaken and to develop is 
 still wanting. But the Infallible Teacher says, 
 "the enemy while men slept sowed tares," and 
 a learned author says, "tares are degenerated 
 wheat." So there are faculties, powers, desires 
 within us corrupted, and corruption means the 
 breaking down of our nature. To meet that 
 condition there is but one remedy, and of all 
 systems of thought, the Gospel alone can furnish 
 it, and that is "holiness," or as Dr. Cynddylan 
 Jones says, "wholesomeness" — the resetting of 
 the broken powers. Jesus Christ came to save 
 men here as well as for the hereafter. The time 
 is approaching when all sin and corruption and 
 filthiness shall be banished from the world, and 
 
158 OUR PRIVILEGE TO-MORROW. 
 
 Jesus shall reign supreme in every heart, and the 
 earth shall be like heaven, for the kingdom of 
 heaven shall have gained the ascendency over 
 every other kingdom, and its king over every 
 other king. We may not see that day, but we 
 may see the day when he is king over our own 
 individual hearts, the divine life flowing in us 
 and through us, making our presence and power 
 benedictions to the world, aiding us in the 
 building up of the glorious kingdom of Christ 
 among men, and in the enriching of the worship 
 of today and in the enlarging of the work of 
 tomorrow. Then the crown : we shall enjoy the 
 fruits of the grand and final purposes of the 
 Gospel, and with the Redeemed of Christ stand 
 pure and white in the presence of the King in 
 glory. Amen. 
 
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