Evening star., 1898-10-05


I in the fullness of time, Christ came anC
| founded His great church. the successor
| and heir of the Jewish church. 1t, too
| has lived about 1000 years 1t is not t
| merge itself, as the other two forms have
| done, in a successor and heir in this world
! The gates of hades are not to prevail
| against it. Until the scroll OF this world:
| history is rolled up it is to continue to bt
! the revealer of the truth of God, the pro
claimer of the will of God and the preacher
| of the duty of man.
! And what watchwor6s are to be biazon-
! ed on its banner? Go ye into all the world
| and preach the gospel unto every crea-
| ture. Keep steady the faith that there
| is one only God and preserve obedience to
! the strict enactments of the law. The
/ Christian church can fling wide the tent
J cords and tie them with love fastenings
[ for the merciful sheitering protection of
| all men of the earth. for that Christ was
| born unto them to live among them and
! to die for them. Christ died for all the
| men of the earth. He wants us to re His
| hands and His feet and His purse, to seek
out and help and save, through Him, all
! the men of all the earth. Shall we draw
back from such safe and blessed copart-
nership as that?
Conservatism and Progress.
| Il do not ask to enter into a philosophi-
| cal dissertation upon these, as that they
are forces opposed to each other but COM
Elementary of each other; that they are
| opposing powers, IKE TWO rOWerS IN q boat,
where the power of their oars against the
water opposes, yet co-Works in sending the
craft bounding over the waves to it's aim of
rescue o. lis haven of rest, that in the
, life of the state, the safeguarding of what
Is and the outreaching after what is not
though 1t ought to be, are equally impor-
tant ami that, in everyday experience to
hold what is got is quite as valuable a
quality of weil-baianced human nature as
to get more to hold.
ours, suffer scme thoughts. Humbly, yet
unshakenly, we hold that our historical
lineage is clear and fAwless, from the
church which Christ chartered and which
MS apostles established 1863 years ago
With this Truth settled i'll our convictions
and aicomed in the heart, two corrolaries
seem naturally to deduce themselves
FIRST, no" wide the work and deep the
love o. the church ought to be-
We ought to stand for breadth The
1atherhood of God, the brotherhood OF
Christ, the motherhood of the church :,
NarroWness should have no clutch upon
our thought of these. AS in Adam all die
| Is the sad dirge of the worlds experience
Even SO in Christ may all be made alive
Is the glad rebound of faith to hone So
the missionary spirit is said to be the real
HE OF the church. And SO it is, most en-
phatlcally. Earnestly we are to look out
to help and save. And we are to look wide
and TO look far. Missions must be the ele-
mental lfebeat and missions the crowntne
epic poetry of the living church. Its foun-
der, our dear Lord, preached missions in
sermons upon the prodigal starving in a
far country and the lost sheep bleatfng in
the wilderness. He lived missions in e0fpe,
about unweariedly doing good He en-
doWed missions by dying for all men on the
cross And the promises of the legacy
though spoken into the ears of the heather
and bigots, were the tenJerest this moor
earth ever heard. Father forgive them ;
The Roman soldiers, prosecuting Jews.
Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do In the lowest aspect of
His sacred person He was 2 citizen of
JeWry. 1t was foreign missions then thai
He endowed when He pleaded for the Ro-
man soldiers, and died for them as for us
and all tie world.
NarrOSSness of View.
II down the clear current of historic au-
thority and chartered Christians the good
snip of this church has happily found her
way, shall We who head her decks and
enjoy her protection admit narrowness into
our minds and hearts? We may not con-
denim others for their narrowness Some
leader of religious thought has seen yiyidly
one aspect of religious truth IT has
shone so gloriously to him that his dazed
eyes grew blind to other aspects He
made 1t his queen. He bowed down to it.
Belief in IL he pressed and pushed and
deepened and spread until it became to
him and his followers the all-important
aruculus stantis vel cadentis ecclesiae, and
they nave found thus a separate faith of
Dehevers and select worshipers in school
| OF esoterlc theology. NarroWness has
made them captive, but their narrowness
Is earnestness. Like to the shield of the
old story, fixed upon the one side is mar
roWness; on the other is earnestness But
II Is the one great shield. Let US look on
the earnestness side only. And be glad
and grateful for their earnestness in things
of the soul, sin and salvation.
But We not blaming others for their
/ Y y h.r
earnestness instead. If We are narrow we
! ought to be blamed. We have not con-
| sidered and run away with one aspect of
religious truth. The Blessed Master, him
! self the Truth, left rounded truth to repre-
sent Him in the spiritual field on this
earth. That rounded truth by His vicar
| on earth, the Holy Ghost, through His
/ chosen apostles and chartered church, was
| fixed to the form of sound words in the
| apostles creed, fortified in the sacra-
! mental and liturgical embodiment provided d
and intrusted TO the teaching and guidance
| OF the Christian Sunday and the ever-re-
curing observance of the Christian year.
! We are ourselves in direct line with the
/ eoodly heritage, but it is not ours to claim
| selfshly and hug closely and to keep mar
/ rowly. We hold the precious patrimony
/ In trust for others as well as ourselves.
! Nothing becomes faithful trustees more
/ than an attitude of considerate kindness
| Alas! that theological hate should point
many sneer in the unbelieving world.
! antaehe dhinhS c0eieStiDuS frae? Oh.
| think the Master would have US in love
| lcok wide and far. He would, may we
/ rot feel sure, have the great shield SET
! up with earnestness one side and
| breadth on the other. What a blessed
! fengthening out of the cords of the church
| ii is when our minds grasp and our hearts
! take in part of those who love the Lord
Jesus Christ and are baptized in the name
of the Blessed Trinity. are members in
| Christ's Holy Catholic Church, no matter
| by what of earths shibboleths they call
| themselves, and are partakers in His grace
| and full sharers in His beQueathed estate
| and brotter5 of ourselves. heading along
i side as, with wandering steps and in wan
| dering faith, We all walk on in hope to
His home.
Extension in the Air.
| wide, aye wide, the work of the church
| should be. Extension is in the air for US
Americans now. If we faI into line at its
bugle blast some may claim to our risk
| and harm, for that 1t is an unwonted call
| an out of the way CALL an unfit call to suct
| q, we are. Be that as 1t may, the logic
| OF events Is a force not to be counted out
| and ii may make the sounding of bugls
H.