The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-06-15

To be sure the new population Is quite
largely foreign and there are serious
difficulties which Protestant churches
meet in reaching these classes; but yet
many Of them can be reached and many
are eager for just such sympathy and
help as q church like this can supply,
Yet we cannot lead them to the Mas
ter If we will not take them by the
hand. l believe that the largest diff
culties are found in the fact that we
hold them aloof by holding ourselves
too much aloof from them, 1t would
be an awful pity If the men whom Jesus
Christ would welcome to a seat by His
side DIP yonder should be made mlWel-
come by the church of Jesus Christ
down here, Seats of honor by the side
of the Master? No seats of honor by
the side of the disciple? Yet such
things things have sometimes been. Is
the servant then greater than his Mas
ter and the disciple than his Lord?
But l must hasten to tell you how
many times my heart has been sad
dened by things which l have seen in
this church. Thank God we have not
what is called by that most anomalous
and melancholy of all titles, IAN arts
tocratic church" Free seats to which
all are welcome and the same freedom
to the poor man as to the man of
larger means. But after all more
cordial welcome might be possible; and
something more than welcome to
those who may chance to come to us
is needed. 1t is the duty of the church
to go out into the highway and es-
pecially in the by ways among the
thronging multitudes and by Christ
like compulsion to compel them to come
in. Here perhaps is where to some de-
gree we fail
1t is hardly too much to say that this
church has a larger field to-day than it
has ever had before, because there are
fewer churches about us and more peo-
pie who know not the Christ than in the
earlier days. l am thankful for every
thing that has been done to bring this
church nearer to this class of people.
AS one of our most observing members
has said, we have done more work of
this kind during the past three years
than ever before. The organizations
which have been formed of late, and
the efforts put forth by some of our
number independently of all organiza-
ton, are helping to the realization and
| Improvement OF our opportunities.
If you live farther away than you
lived yesterday you will find it easier to
yield to the temptation of activity. But
if you will resist that temptation, and
| make the larger sacrifice, you will find
the rewards of your new devotion'grow-
ing in most amazing degree. You will
| find yourselves entering into new and
tol o-{O ;koe IL;
| ties for happiness in the Christian life.
| You will begin to realize what Paul
meant in those last words to his
! Christian friends at Corinth.
| OF course you will meet discourage
ments. l suppose nothing can be so
| useful to a church or to a Christian as
encouragement, if it is met in the right
way. l sometimes trembe for
Christian in the midst of discourage
ment but never as / tremble for him in
| the midst of prosperity. Because the
| latter is almost sure to make him for
| get God, and the former almost sure to
| drive him to God. Napoleon said of
| Massena that when the battle began to
go against him, he put on victory like
| a robe Well, now the Christian who
| is facing apparent defeat may put on
victory like a robe. Because he has God
and God is the one eternally victorious
| force in this universe. If you are in
| clined to think that surroundings are
difficult and discouraging remember
that for the eighty years of it's history
God has been pouring one uninterrupt-
| ed stream of blessing upon this church
and through this church upon the COM
|
blessing have never been more manifest
than during the latest years of our his
tory. In promises fulfilled is the guar
| antee of promises to be fulfilled. God
| cares more about this church and the
work in this part of New Haven than
any man in the church or in the city.
In one sense your work may be chang
ing in character as this part of the city
changes. But what of that? 1t is a
most important part of the work which
| God is doing in this city. Do not for
get that God, although unseen is watch
ing.
Have you ever stood on the Brooklyn
| bridge just under the shadow of one of
the mighty towers, and looked up and
| thought and allowed the spell to grow
| on you? A stupendous structure it is,
| spanning the wide river and making of
two great cities one. Millions of people
every year treading this highway in the
air 1t took years to build it, and
| thousands Of men. But through all the
years the Workmen never saw the man
whose majestic plan they were execut-
ing.
With powerful glass from his win
dow on the Heights in Brooklyn the in
valid engineer, Washington Roebling,
watched the progress of the work, and
| from his sick room sent out his daily
| orders. So the workmen knowing moth
| ing of the way by which the great pur-
pose was being worked out simply obey
ed the daily orders issued by the man
who could watch them but whom they
could never see.
Can you read the parable? We have
each our part in the outworking of an
infinitely sublimer plan. We are
watched at our daily work through the
| face of Him who directs us we may not
| see. 1t is the bridging of a vaster gulf;
it is the laying of highway from earth
! to heaven-this gospel work of ours,
God is the builder; God lays the high
way, but we are laborers together with
| God.
| And yet God is not far away, watch
| ing us from the inaccessible heights of
heaven. He is here in the midst of us,