The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-10-14

pertinent.
 The appended addresses and reports were submitted at yesterdays session of the American Board of Foreign Mis- sion, in the Hyperion theater. The story of the proceedings in detail may be found in another column
 Rev. 4. N. Hitchcock, Ph. D.
 ''Watchwords for the Hour" was the theme of the Rev. A. N. Hitchcock, Ph. D., of Chicago, district secretary of the board for the interior. He said:
 The century hastens to it's close. What are the watchwords of the hour? Nearly nineteen century-cycles have gone since the Man of Sorrow passed mp the hill of Calvary to die. The mill 1enium has not yet arrived. Sin is still at the bottom of all our troubles. It is the core of all our problems. When sin quits the world heaven will be here. If it were altogether an affection of nerve or muscle or blood, bodily treat ment would suffice. It might even, as some propose, be measured off in terms of punishment. But sin springs out of the moral nature, out of the purpose of the heart, and remedy must be applied to the source. There is only one thing that goes to the root of the difficulty, and that is penitence and pardon. All personal and family and social experi- ence attests this fact. Penitence, with some assurance that it finds valid rec ognition is for all men the first step in the upward road. Here begins the re- construction of the disturbed moral or der. All else follows on.
 And this is the heart of the gospel Men need not dispute about what the gospel is; our Lord has defined it-- '"rhat repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations
 Now, every Christian becomes a prop agandist. He is charged with the re- sponsibility of conveying this great hope and power of life throughout the world And that is what we call mis- sions-smply making Christianity az gressive. To call it 'home' or for eign'' is but a circumstance mere trifle of geography.
 But what if one should say, T be- 1ieve in making Christianity operative in New Haven, but not in New York;" We should think either that he was in- dulging in drol1ery or that he didn't understand what sort of a place New York Is. The case would be precisely the same were he to say, q am in fa- vor of Christiani2ing America, but the rest of the world can take care of it. self" But more is involved. A man said to me in ar Iowa town, of there is anything which makes my blood boil 1t is to hear person get up and ask for money to help the heathen." It seemed to me that his blood had begun to boil little already, although he was total stranger and I had asked him for no gift. But I did ask him the question, My friend, are you a Chris tian?' "No," said he, TT don't sup pose am" There was no need of dis cussion His conclusion was natural enough. Of course man who is not 6 Christian will say, T don't believe in sending the gospel to the heathen' He may even say, ''f believe in home mis- sions but not Tn foreign missions But no Christian ever talks that way-2ot \ if he stops to think. Such a view is [ not only absurd, from the Christian 8standpoint, but essentially contrary to 1.-the Christian spirit and to the ltrqnal- #ifed commandment of the Master It Ninyolves, indeed, a denial of the Chris Milan religion itself. If Christianity is lnot for the world, it is not the divine ksystem which it claims to be. If it is ¬ adequate to meet the needs of the Brace, it cannot compass the reconstruc- 1s ion of an individual soul which is a syorld in itself. Thus it is that every Khan, so soon as he crosses the thresh- Abld of the Christian faith, takes upon Himself ministry for all mankind It Els urgent and incessant, and from it he 4 aannot escape. This obligation assumes |#lew aspects under social relations. !! VI ti1rist has established His church. and IRhe diverse manifestations of the spirit Alaye appeared under denominational Forms We who assemble here find Sr3rseIves in a body of self-governingl hurches whose missionary zeal. akin | 6o that of apostolic days has inaugu- | lated some of the grandest movements | s sf modern times. It has been found. i Spo. that for effective specialization of l
 DOT. for recording and utilizing the Results of experience in all parts of the
 o-ld. for establishing continuity of T1issioaary work in difficult fields, for Protecting missionary property and the 1 Yves of the missionary. and for secur- |
 E an impartial distribution of rlis- & orarv funds--to secure all these i'm &ortant results, missionary societies . lave grown up. So we have our Amer i Ian Board, assembled here in this his l srric city The old American Board! ]
 :iat memories gather around it! We ssn never survey it's history but With Lrills of gratitude and gladness. Icl ba1.s the opening and the closing de- i sGes ot the century with q bridge of