The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-11-03

Father" and that Jesus must reign till
all enemies are put under his feet, "that
God may be all in ALL"
The inward motive prompting to ac-
tion is this,-"freely ye have received,
freely give" "If God so loved us, we
ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren" The missionary motives are
imperative in their demands and no
Christian can evade hearty response
to the duties and sacrifices they impose
Said the Apostle, II am debtor both to
the Greeks and to the barbarians; both
to the wise and to the unwise." st. Paul
had received nothing from them, save
that the grace of God, received into his
own heart, led to a consecration on be-
half of humanity. The good received
into his own life placed him under bonds
to the world. Again: "For the love Of
Christ constraiueth u.s." Whether this
means the undying love of Christ for
us, or the responsive love of our hearts
for him. it puts constraint upon us to
make it known and bring others into the
same divine experience. The dear Lord
commanded us to Ego" into all the world
A loyal soldier of the cross finds it both
a duty and pleasure to obey this com
mand of the captain of his salvation. He
can do no other way than hold himself
under marching orders.
The interests of the divine kingdom
are largely committed to our keeping.
We are to receive and bear the truth to
the world. The church must take the
historical facts and teachings of the
dear Lord and unfold and apply to the
spiritual edification Of the world. The
body of believers are the combined lights
of the world, the salt to preserve its NOR
al and spiritual health. Upon the
church, led by the ever increasing light
and power of the Holy Spirit, rests the
responsibility of convincing and convert
ing the world of humanity.
This is our mission and the external
church with it's institutional life must
move on through the world, plastic to
the,moulding influence of the re creating
spirit and adapting itself to the demands
of the times and ages through which it
moves. How to convert the world is
always hard problem to solve. To most
wisely and efficiently bring the truth to
bear upon humanity, to secure their at
tention and enlist their activities in
things spiritual. demands the utmost
tact and wisdom of the Christian be-
lever. Our word must be 80 charged
with the spirit Of power and sweet rea-
sonableness as to touch the mind and
heart of humanity. The light emanating
from the church may become so bright
as to penetrate and disperse the intellect
ual and moral darkness which envelops
the world. The life of the church must
be SO charged with the pure and humane
spirit of the Gospel as to touch the
heart of humanity and lead men to en-
gage in it's sacred ministries.
If these shall fail we must in the spirit
of Christian missionaries go out after
humanity and compel them to come in.
Let us not forget our Master bids us "go'
into the world and the missionary activi-
ties of the church will be found the most
efficient means of converting humanity
to saving knowledge of the truth. The
masses are blind to their own interests
and do not realize their spiritual needs
as they should. They must first be
awakened before the truth can be made
efficient to the betterment of their earthly
conditions or to the unfoldment of their
spiritual natures. If they will not come
to the church the church must go out
after them and gather them into it's
sacred fold. We can at least care for the
moral and spiritual welfare of the child
rem entrusted to our care and training.
Here is fruitful field for our church
we have right to retain our own. Our
children should be so carefully trained
as to become Christian workers and
abide with us in the fellowship of the
Church-we gain nothing toward reach
ing the unchurched by secularizing our
Gospel or by rendering our message un
spiritual and worldly. 1t is a spiritual
kingdom and life to which we are called
1t proceeds from divine source, uses
spiritual methods and appeals to the
spirit of man that we may realize our
true sonship in God.
We should sustain the missionary work
because we are Universalists. The pro-
posed mission work has been undertaken
by the Universalist State Convention of
which we are part. 1t is therefore our
own work we propose doing.
Every member of our Church should
be loyal to the denomination, and all its
varied lines of activity. The policy of
the Convention may not always meet
our approval and its method of admins
tration be called in question, but the
majority having decided upon the policy
and elected the administrators, private
opinion must yield to the majority and
all do their best to give efficiency to the
work and plant our Church wherever an
opportunity is found The future of our
Church depends upon our loyalty and
fidelity. Home work is rendered more
efficient by liberal support of missions.