Morning journal and courier., 1894-01-09

An Excellent Sermon by Rev. J. Lee
 Mitchell at the Grand Avenue Con. sregatiOnal Church.
 Rev. J. Lee Mitchell of the Grand ave. nue Congre gational church preached very inte, esting eermon Sunday morning enti- tied "A Little Nsw Years Talk Among Ourselves" In his discourse he said:
 ''Thst man has got out of the habit of going to lodge, that he doesn't care for late suppers any more, that his ambition to be a good singer or he an alderman has left him, that slow horse suits him just as well as fast one, that he has concluded not to build rev house, after all, repre- sents also an accumulation of dust and straws upon some other paths of his life, but is without further significance. The question is, What paths of mans life are invaluable thoroughfares and should be kept open, and what paths may as we'll fill up?
 "The Imminent necessity of bread and butter is to be admitted. Though perhaps somebody elt te would take care of you if you didn't take care of yourself, it Is a great deal better to take care of yourself. The time draws swiftly on when on the ! one hand 8 fieIcs anxiety shall have ceased to make 8 moral hyens of 8 man, and on tue other no man shall be allowed to be idle, but one of mans first duties is to grip we'll and guard we'll tho avenues by which he lives. | If man were at work and had an appoint ! ment to meet man about 1t prayer meet ing night, 1t would be misapplication of
 "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" to go to prayer meeting in- stead of going to see that man. It Is i'm
 portant that you should attend to store and office and split kindling wood and hold the
 baby, if necessary, and rest, too. But 1t
 is more important and equally imminent,
 for the time limit Is just the same, that you should keep open those avenues which
 ness and pleasure none deny, but that any
 man is other than a self destroyer to allow
 business and pleasure to absorb the whole
 waking strength of his life is undeniable
 also. have tried in vain SO often and sc
 hard, publicly and privately, to make you feel
 this that 1t has begun to have it's reflex
 influence on me. When young men be-
 tween thirty and forty, whose good sense
 would gladly admit is stronger than
 mine, have no use for nor obligation
 to the prayer meeting, when young wom- en whose sense of devotion is supposed to
 be the purest on earth futter into their societies organized in the name of Christ
 or futter out just according as the wind blows pleasure or the wind blows work,
 assure you am 90 far from biRot that , fatly question with myself whether they
 may not after all be right and wrong. If ! your obligation to Jesus and the church Is
 anything less than fret and imperial there
 are forty things in this world that would Il kI4-l l.l o{ kha,, f--p
 rather be saving trees in the great woods,
 or following the plough with clear knowl-
 edge that as every tree crashed and fur
 row was turned 1t represented work done. "The church Is not the kingdom. By | what authority can I transfer obligations, l natural necessities which we all admit be-
 long to the kingdom of heaven, to the Grand avenue Congregational
 churchl That my life should te true to
 that got to do with a stupid old prayer
 meeting In the lecture room of g church
 which derives It's existence from certain
 material walls of red bricks Why can't
 be just as true 60 the King over st the fac
 tory and in my own cosy room at homei
 "That woman's whole lifs should belong
 to Jesus, her champion, admit, but what
 has that to do with ladies' aid society
 making aprons, or young ladies' mission ! circle, which isn't as interesting as the
 whist olub4 Jesus didn't institute the whist
 club. but he didn't institute the ladies' aid
 socfsty, either. I do not deny Jesus any ! where.
 "On all sides you see there is denial of
 the identity oi church obligations with
 obligations to Jesus. Sometimes men
 seem perfectly unconscious that in separ-
 sting thus the visible church from the
 spiritual kingdom they are cutting away
 the church's sole reason for existence.
 Obviously if you can fulfill your obligs- | tion to Jesus in your own parlor or as the
 whist club just az we'll as in church &C.,
 tivity you have no right to deny the same , privilege to everyone else, and the church
 has ceased to be and may as well have | ceased to be.
 elf Christ should appear in dream to | you as he came to Samuel, as he came to Paul, and you believed it was He, have
 no doubt with trembling awe you would cay, Speak, Lord. thy servant hesreth, |. or Lord, what wilt thou have me to do2 land would do it. The Lord of Heaven We are so thoroughly imbued with ration.
 alism and materislism we wouldn't believe it If He did. The only way He comes is , l through the material and rational activitiea of material and rational sge.
 ''So marvellous and rapid have been the
 changes of 8 century, the world is started in such 8 career of change that no man can prophecy far ahead. Eighteen hun dred years more may witness the abolition of that institution called the church with [ l in which Christ has been mighty for the past 1900 years, as it may witness the
 abolition of private property. But today Z prayer meeting, public worship, Ladies , Aid societies, missionary societies, youne : peoples societies, Sunday school commit. 5 tees and boards and all the list that make the force of a working church appeal te you in tho name of Christ"