The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-10-07

commerce that nave fOlloWeu lllSSlOnd- ry work could be reckoned. they would many times over meet all the expenses of the missionary board of this mis- sionary century. The business man asks, Do missions pay? Certainly, if we pay for missions. But under the ordinary and visible standards and am- bitions of business men, under the hardness of the business heart is a consciousness that life itself is busi- ness, whose rewards are in duties and sacrifices, and In that devotion that saves men. A business motive is ne- cessary to the business man. The mis- sionary motive Is the business motive, giving Is a necessary expense, and the business man is he who seeks to do the business of God. No one is through and through business man who does not feel the deep consciousness that be- heath all trade and action are the foun- dation principles of justice and charity, and that he Is Is creature of business, not a business man, who does not say to his times and the world "Wist ye not that I must be about my Fathers business?"
 The board makes it's direct and req sonable appeal to the political interests of men. There is great danger in the spirit of limited politics. If the spirit of local politics Is supreme, they be- come inharmonious and corrupting. The ward politician Is an immeasurable distance from the Christian statesman. A political interest must be great or it cannot be wise or pure. The greater it is the wiser and purer. The man who says the political management must serve the locality, all the fountain thoughts, diplomacies, charities, are for the limits of the town or precincts or state, makes pond of his politics, cor rupt because there is no outward flow. True public spirit is universal spirit. The manly is the universal. True po- litical interest is more than interest in forms of administration or influence; 1t is an interest in those truths that create and conserve the state. Those truths are religious. Politics become less and less a science the less religious they become Altruism is a necessary force in political wisdom. Go disciple the nations is the law for the state. In the interests of the state it must be obeyed. The statesman is one who understands the state because he loves man. To all men interested in the purity strength, success of the local life the limited politics, the board says that their interests may be conserved, hear the message of the world-they best serve the part who love the whole. Nothing will make the national politics more effective. elevating or truly na- tional than a missionary interest and missionary service. Great ideas clarify small ones. The masculine quality of society cannot accomplish it's service to the government or governmental inter- ests if it does not hear the cry of peo- ples without truth and liberty. Under all political energy there Is a love for large, constructive thoughts-a public spirit that acknowledges no limits of boundaries or tongues or oceans and is not at peace till it's ideal of politics is that of the Christ-for all nations.
 The scriptural thought, significant In Old and New Testament history, that challenges and inspires modern reli- gious life, is the coming Kingdom of God. It is the union of the one God with one mankind It is both a revela- tion and achievement-it is divinized history. Everything human that lis- tens to the spirit and is subdued to the disposition of the divine makes part of 1t. Every institution, home, or state, or church that works for man as an eternal reality, lives in it. Christ came to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom by coming Himself It is the sun with out whose invisible fingers of gravity there could be no order, and without whose light there could be no life on the earth. It is filled with law and obedience to law, which is liberty. It is an authority for every life, constant, consummate--a law for every state, changeless, beneficent The virile. in- tense, masterly energies of man or so- ciety find room In it. The childlike temper and joy live in it; "of such is the Kingdom of Cod This kingdom comes down from God without obser- vation and is builded up, a temple in solemn noiselessness. It exists every where on the face of the earth where men illustrate duty and sacrifice. We may not define, we cannot ignore it, for it is the great reality of life. Whoever lives under 1t is master of his kind. Whoever contributes to it, makes permanent contribution to human life; whoever lives in it gains corporate immortality. To be within it is saliva tion, it is also to feel passion to preach it to those who are without. No one can remain in the kingdom who does not extend the kingdom. Who ever hears the attractive words of Je- sus, Come unto me-" must hear "Go preach" Whoever receives must give; whoever believes must proclaim. The missionary spirit is the measure of our sincerity and faith.
 The American Board is not an ab- straction: it is not itself an object of interest nor charity. It is the confess sion of the churches that the kingdom of God in every place of the earth is lat hand,' with it's invitations and commandments. It is the voice of the churches to be heard round the world, saying to all men, we are among you as those who serve; it represents the unity of work where unity of opinion is impossible Through 1t our fathers and our fathers fathers served God and their generation, and through it may our children and our children's children give great gifts to men and do through making it Christian.
 The simple imperative necessity for our churches is seeing with spiritual, c1airvoyant vision the greater truth, submission to the authority of a great