The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-05-13
NEW HAVEN BRANCH.
Continued from Tenth Page.)

ITO some of us our Master mas given
the ten talents, to others five, to others
only one; but If we recognize our liberty
as stewards, our privilege as co-Workers
we shall each seek to do our best with
all that has been entrusted to our care
When we do this our treasury Will be
full and go forward will be our motto
which will help us to forget that we ever
heard the word retrenchment.
The last general subject was amplified
by Mrs Choate, of Greenwich.
OUR SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT.
1--WE are engaged to-day in considering
the interests of the greatest work ever
undertaken since the world began. The
work which. has called forth the grand
est revelation of God, and which sum-
mons to its accomplishment the noblest
and most heroic powers of man. This
work Is the conversion of the whole
world, the bringing back to God of those
afar off, the telling of the gospel story
to those who never have heard, the find
Ing and bringing home of the sheep that
have been lost. Centuries ago the ini-
tial steps in this work were taken, but
the last this closing century, has wit
messed the first great advance Of the
church in this direction, and has consti-
tuted what we call the modern era of
missions. For this work God has fur
nished us special power, and divine
means have been put at our disposal
To make Christly characters requires
abilities more than human; therefore the
storehouse of God is open for our use.
We have seen thousands whose lives
have been changed from darkness to
Iight schools, orphanages, hospitals
opened, whole communities and natives
changed; and we say, What hath God
wrought But when we turn this mat
ter and look at the other side, we all
have an uncomfortable and dissatisfied
feeling. We cannot rid ourselves of the
thought that with the power, spiritual
and financial at our disposal and in our
hands, had it been literally and consci-
entiousy used the whole world would
to-day have been converted to God.
And we ask ourselves, Is anything
wrong? What delays His gracious and
immediate coming?
In recent magazine article on Liquid
Air these two statements were made:
The discovery Of certain lines of the So
lar spectrum depended upon using mar
row slit before the prism. Newton used
a circular aperture instead of a slit, and
this delayed astronomical progress in
this direction for a century. Faraday
tried to liquify oxygen, but his pump,
which would compress nitrogen to fifty
atmospheres, would compress oxygen to
only twenty-seven atmospheres. The
difficulty was there was a leak in the
pump, but this trivial imperfection de-
1oxr oS f1A fnt,f ty
years. These illustrations from the nat
ural world suggest to us that some one
thing may be seriously retarding the
coming of Gods kingdom which we all
so earnestly desire.
Can we discover what this obstacle is?
When we speak Of obstacles, we imme
diately think of low treasures, small
meetings, uninterested women and kim
dred difficulties. These all are him
ORANGES, but have we not thought of
them so much and tried so long to over
come them, that they have become our
primary difficulties, when in reality they |
are wholly secondary. God seeks first |
for character then life, fruit and ser
vice; and so our primary difficulties are |
those that relate to character, not those
that relate to service. Are we making a |
mistake in looking through round |
aperture, and seeing only one secondary
obstacle, those that concern our service. |
instead of looking through a slit and |
seeing those that concern our character?
And is the progress Of Gods kingdom
delayed thereby?
The time Is too brief to dwell upon
this thought, but it offers the suggestion
A. Il G.
est need to-day. The kingdom of God is
not first matter Of treasures, Life and
Light and meetings. 1t is first righ-
teousness, joy, peace in the Holy Ghost.
Paul had this thought in emphasizing
his desire that his converts might know
the power of Christ and His resurrec
tion.' He some times spoke of offerings,
and the assembling of themselves to-
gether; but much more of the personal
religious life. For he was far-sighted
enough to see that the offerings and
meetings would not be very enthusiastic,
abundant and far-reaching, unless
prompted by a spirit fed upon the deep
things of God. Would it be ill-advised
in view of such thoughts for us to lay
asied our being careful and troubled
about much serving and doing, and for
q time to open our souls before God, for
the incoming of the refreshing of His
grace. In Jewish history we are told the
land lay fallow every seventh year, open
to the sun and showers, for reviving and
inauguration. Would Sabbatic year for
our Branch be an >ill-advised step?
Would our work really suffer thereby?
Devotion to God always ant-dates ser
vice of man. Simon, son of Jonas,
lowest thou me?' always precedes the di
vine commission, Feed My sheep
Therefore personal devotion to God
should be our first concern. Our power
to do comes in proportion to our recep-
lion Of the Holy Spirit, Gods great gift /
to-day. If we are not first absorbing
this power, and then applying it, we are
The mariner may keep
his eye on the stars, his hand on the q
helm, but without the driving power of
wind or steam he only drifts and never I
makes his port. We may have lofty :,
purpose, desire to guide and direct, but l.
Oh! the power of the spirit, the driving
'orce. How we lack this to-day! A mil
er, while he watched the operations of
his mill, observed the machinery NOV /
ng slower and slower. On searching
or the cause he discovered some small 2