The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-05-18

here as fast as in Central Africa. Sell | fishness is organized and belligerent. It opposes the church at every step. It uses consummate ability in the degen- | eration of the state, in the exaltation of unworthy ideals of patriotism, and | in It's appeals to passion to emhroil na- | tions. Underneath these evils are oth- CTS more illusive, but not less perilous. | The multiplication of divorces tells @ | sad story. The home is being under | mined. The young are being polluted l by influences alert and obstinate be- cause impelled by the prospect of finan- | cial gain. Opposed to those forces of selfshness are spiritual forces working for the redemption of society; but clos CT study shows that those through whom the spirit must act are not or ganized, often do not cooperate, and not infrequently antagonize one anoth- CT. In small towns there may be a dozen different churches with seldom q union meeting; where union commit nion service is Impossible; and where there is not the slightest consultation as to how the kingdom of God may be | best promoted
 "The missionary treasuries are empty and disgracefully in debt. With proper economy in the administration of for | eign and home work without regard to denomination, there would be money enough. It is not the hard times alone which have emptied the treasuries; it Is | the selfish way in which great trusts are administered. The disaster is not less because the selfishness is not in tentional The trouble is that beneath what we call principle in many in- stances is more of competition than Of the spirit of Christ.
 "One missionary may do little; a thousand in perfect harmony will not easily be resisted. 'Ah! but you say, do you plead for mass like the Salva- ton Army in which individualities are subject to order and law? Would you | have the churches of the world under l the direction of one man who should represent Christ on the earth? We had better all become Roman Catho- lies at once It will make little differ ence who is the pope. Shall we have one great Salvation Army? No! The more compact the organization and the more infexible the rules the surer will be the tendency for individuals to fly | off on tangents of their own.
 "The foreign field is full of discour- agements, inconsistencies, losses, scan l dals, not because denominations exist but because they exist so largely for | the sake of themselves. When there is spiritual unity only such denomina- | tions will enter foreign fields as are | needed, and conference and co-opera- | ton will displace division. I admire soe -@,,I rynJ1t 1 teers,' but about half of their energy 1 will be lost because the effect of blow is in proportion as the force behind it is massed. Send those men out to work | together and the effect will be sub lime; send them out to be sacrificed to sectarianism and the spectacle will be a shame.
 T am not so foolish as to think that | denominations serve no good purpose. | When find one class of people so nar- 1 row that they have no place for men whose minds are open to receive the l fullest light on all the problems of re- l ligion I rejoice that they can be in a l little coterie by themselves and hope they enjoy their company; when hear others say that they are not willing to work with this evangelist or that because even though the Lord approves him they cannot I do not waste tears over the fact that we are not compelled to keep step to their music; when I find people who do not believe in social set dement's, in institutional churches in saving men except according to pre- scribed methods: who, apparently, | would rather the masses were lost than reached in unofficial ways I am thank full that they can have a nice and I proper fold all to themselves, and I do I not care much how high they build their fences. Such societies are good 1 places in which to keep and discipline those small souls who do not appreciate our Saviors intercessory prayer. The Lord has had to endure many things because ofthe hardness of mems hearts, and evidently He will yet have to en- dure much more. Denominations in the past have served a good purpose, no doubt and cannot be dispensed with yet, but they can and ought to be made the agents of the spirit of God rather than obstacles in the way of the king dom.
 "The unity of the spirit is a world l wide necessity. Those who eXalt divi- sions belittle Christ. He is sublime spiritual unity; the world needs Him, not some poor and puny faction of His glorious body discovered by those who do not understand Him. There is | money enough, and there are men enough to send the gospel into every land, every home, every heart and there it will be sent when the spirit of Christ is the inspiration of every movement which bears His name. 1 What our time most needs is not stronger organization, nor even simpler creeds, but Christian men who dare to be true to their inmost convictions; who are not afraid to fellowship with Jesus Christ wherever and in whomsoever they find Him: who will have nothing to do with traditions or rules which in- terfere with the direct and constant leadership of His spirit; and who, ap- preciating all that it means, have said: "I will follow Thee withersoever Thou goest' Such men will be misunder- | stood, and probably ostracized, but in them the kingdom of God, and as their number increases that unity of the spirit which is a worldwide necessity | will become a reality as silently and beautifully as the springtime succeeds i the winter.
 That those who graduate this year and every year from the venerable in