The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-08-31

measured extent OF the universe.
The design is an ancient one,
modelled after the church with the
Pentecostal baptism fresh upon her,
with this design to remain un-
changed until the end of time. She
was in after ages beautlfied by the
Grecian and Roman architecture of
the spirit as 1t wrought these and
other nations into the spiritual
structureJ To return to the Pente-
costal design of the church would
bring revival that would sweep
the earth with its power and bring
down to it the mingled JOY of
Heaven.
THE BUILDER AND THE INDWELLERS
The builder is the Holy Ghost
working through spiritually minded
men, women and childred, who
care Iaborers together with God"
Goods building" "Wise master
builders whom lie has fifty
framed together growing into an
holy temple in the Lord sin whom
we also are builded together for an
habitation Of God through the
spirit" Oh the prerogative of being
engaged in the construction of u
building that is to arlsd in its peer
less beauty when this old earth is
totterlng INTO wreck and ruin, to bp
as eternal as the very throne of
God. The indwellers are the
ransomed Of Christ growing into an
habitation of God through the
spirit; and let us emphasize this
word growth and observe the outer
an inner growth of the church, and
notice that the outward mum bers
and inner life do not correspond.
The lie of dema-kation between
the church and the world is indis-
tinct and indeed often wholly oblit-
Grated. Believers have not obeyed
the injunction. "Keep thyself I'M
spotted from the world" The
church of to-day is enfeebled by the
"mixed multitude within her gates.
Communicates have forgotten that
their Lord enjoins that they should
love Him with all their hearts, their
minds and their strength. The
| great mass Of half-hearted profess
sors make the church blush with
shame, and the worldly minded
within her fold too often put her
armies to fight. Men will join
other organizations that demand
conformity to rule but when they
enter the church they too often for
get that the compact they are TO
make with her is involuntary and
unchanging. The great work of
the pastor is to evangelize the indi-
yidual and then john him to the
church whose organic life he is fitted
to receive. The church of the pres
ent has lost its power by partaking
of the form of outward display.
A WORLD FILLED CHURCH.
The marvellous prosperity of the
commercial world has flowed into
THE church and weakened her, and
is 1t not Gods design that these
perilous times of financial strin-
gency are for the purifying Of his
church? Church embers are so
filled with the merely worldly that
the service Of the Lords Day has
only an emotional effect, and is
soon destroyed by being immersed
in the business and cares of this
life. The great desideratum of this
age is business IN religion and re-
Hgj0n in business. Business to vi
talize religion and religion to purify
business. The Judge of the quick
and the dead looks not so much
upon the outward form but the in
ward spirit; IN the realm of spirit
as in the realm of matter the silent
inner forces are the mlghtiest. The
church has in many instances con-
formed to social customs until she
is mere club house, instead of
a mighty Transforming power to
spiritualize the whole eartn When
the wondering angels asked Christ
before the throne "whAt mean these
wounds in thine hands he must
needs answer" These are they that
| received in the house Of my
friends. ooh sorrow of sorrows
that you or | should pierce HIM
with our doubts or mar His beauty
with our spot and stain of wilful
sin.
THE RESOURCES OF THE CHURCH.
All around us in other domains
Of life there has been an almost I'M
limited discovery of resources, until
we are almost ready to proclaim the
day Of which the Psalmlst speaks
when he says Thou madest man
to have dominion over the works
of thy hand, thou hast put all
things under his feet" But has
the church kept pace with the de-