The Progress., 1893-01-21


You are, and your work is just rs re
sponsible and essential to the world rs
the work that God himself does. lou
are the shaft. and Gods power is the
steam that drives the machinery. 1t ls
absolutely necessary that the power shall
he there, but 1t is equally essential that
there shall be medium through which
power shall he communicated 10 the
world without When the Umbria broke
her shaft her great boilers were filled
with steam. her engineers were all at
their place, the steam pressure at Its
highest, but the medium Of comlnunica-
ton had been cut. The power WAS all
there, but the means of applying the
power was wanting. God is power, but
he has chosen man as the shaft by which
that power shall be communicated to the
world
LARGEST PROTESTANT CONGREGATION.
Then there il another thing you viii
learn from that revelation. and that is
that Success in the end is lust as sure as
God Almighty is sure, because You are
in partnership with God, and the firm
caunot fail unless God fails Every ago
aud year and season that comes and goes
brings this old world nearer to its hour
of triumph 1t VIII be 4 better world IN
1894 than In 1893 So. with "thc process
Of the suns" God is working IN Tins
great conflict Of good with ovil-Wuk-
mg ouj the salvation of 4 world J uu
are chosen YOU are called. not because
God needs you TO do the work, bat be
cause you need God He has called yuG
because IN the development of u worlds
salvation and in the sacrifice needed to
save the world you as an individual
reach your highest and divincst things.
The history Of the present Indicate
that God is moving toward this era of
triumph for the church. believe that
the signs Of the day indicate that there is
a vast forward movement along every
line of Christian endcavor throughout
the whole of Christendom. You may 90
to foreign lands, to China or Africa, OF
to the limits of civilization, and you
will feel the pulse of every nation boat
ing faster than ever before i'm the history
of the world Go to London today, and
there never has been an hour in the his
tory of that great city when the life OF
Jesus was being so rapidly incarnatcd in
every branch and ramifcation of society
or when the church felt so nightly its
responsibility as today
SO in your great city. In New York
every denomination feels today the throb
Of new life and is looking forward to
the development of higher and broader
and better things for the kingdom Of
Jesus Christ. Our own church in it,.
development here has given us cause for
thankfulness to God for what he has
done in the past. Three years ago we
began our work in this city. 1t was an
experiment. We began with the auda
cious idea that it was possible to make
church in New York too small for the
people that came to it. When told the
plan to men they said: You are wild.
Why, man, look at the vacant pews i'll
our city churchesl 1t is not possible to
make church useless because people
cannot get into it."
We said we would experiment. and
we did. That little church soon became
too small and we experimental with
this hall. and in the past year there have
been days when we have turned more
people away from the doors than could
get into the hall. Today we have the
largest congregation on Manhattan is
land in a Protestant church, simply by
believing that Gods promise is true and
by putting our hands to the work. believ-
ing that we are coworkers with God
The only limitations to the possibilities
of future work are our limitations. not
Gods. and the highest and broadest and
grandest success needed in this city can
be accomplished the moment we really
and truly place ourselves in a position
for God to do his great things
WHAT THREE YEARS HAVE DONE.
In these three years we have had over
a thousand confessions of faith in Jesus
Christ. have received new members orr
selves and sent members to other
churches But this is nothing. We hay
brought together from every quarter of
this city band of young men perhaps
O.up iuct-WtO dlttHu lillS ldil
today who three years ago never crossed
the threshold of a church But this il
nothing There are a hundred thousand
young men within the radius of this
church today who do not cross the
threshold of any church. And God has
called you to this responsibility.
believe the church of Christ in the
future in this city must do great things
and If SO it must do them dggresstueiy
and with big plans and in large ways
if the kingdom of Christ is to come thJs
speedily. If it does not. God will take
away from you the opportunity Of the
centuries, for God has brought to the
Christian church in the opening days of
the Twentieth century the opportunity
of the ages. and if the church of Christ
refuses to go into that open door it must
wait perhaps Gods working for centu-
ries to come.
The trouble with the churches in New
York city today is that they have moth
ing TO do. and that is the secret of a loss
of power X ono has nothing to do one