The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-01-01

are not grounded In righteousness and
sound reason will come to grief sooner
or later. And by reason and righteous
ness one can mean nothing else than
Gods eternal law.
The troubles which come to the null
titude arise from the neglect of these
eternal laws. Some of the neglect was
in generations past, but most of it is in
the generation which suffers its results.
1t man wastes his substance in rio
tous living he must eat the husks of
the prodigal. That is an eternal law of
God. But the youth in that multitude
who has scarcely heard the story of the
Prodigal Son, or has been accustomed
to hear all these Scripture stories made
light of as ancient myths which the
world has long outgroWn, will never
dream of the eternal truth which 1t con-
tainS, until he reaps it's awful VEN
geance Is it fair to that youth not to
drill those laws into him even against
his childish will?
OF such are the multitude which we
shall meet in the coming day, and
what can we do for them? Shall we
simply seek our comfort, and let them
writhe In their folly? Not so did
! Christ; and we are not ignorant of His
truth and the eternal laws of God.
They are the pound which the Master
has entrusted to our use for a test.
Presently he will return and say of
| those who have not used it, take away
| that which he hath and give it to him
that hath more.
To speak more specifically, this
church, if it is to live and not cumber
the ground, must make itself felt in
this community as a positive force for
righteousness. Even that is speaking
in general terms. What does it mean
for a church to be felt as a force for
righteousness? 1t does not necessarily
mean that it must always have on its
hands a case of church discipline; for
those things generally light on the less
Offenders while the greater ones throw
the stones. 1t does not mean that the
pulpit should become famous for black
guardism and puny reform. 1t means
rather that a regiment of God-fearing
men and women are here whose clean
lives and high sense of right Is well
known, so that evil will stink away
lynn II DIS bNll always uOCS IlOlIl TIC
light. But If half our number will wink
and blink at vice and intemperance and
political demigoguery, what can we do?
If our homes which are the nurseries of
character have nothing to say about
the eternal moral laws of God, have no
regular habits of religion, no nurture
for the religious life, what can we do?
For the church must speak through the
home and the parents more, five times
over, than it does through the pulpit.
The multitudes of this day are never
taught that the moral law of God Is a
law and not guess or a pious wish.
They are never shown the ancient cru
cibles in which the religious truth of the
present day has had It's dorss melted
away. They have never seen the an
cient battlef1elds of faith and righ-
teousness and do not know at what
price our present heritage was bought,
hence they do not prize it, and are not
inspired by it to strive for anything
simply because 1t is true or right.
The strenuous element In domestic
discipline supported by plain living
and high thinking on the part of our
membership, may seem long in bearing
the fruit, but it Is the only thing that
will establish the kingdom of God sure
ly among us, and meet the call of the
multitude. The multitude looked to
Christ in their despair, and they look to
the church in the same way. they
have an interest in the things which are
eternal and true and right but they do
not know what those things are. They
also have an interest In things which
are fantastic and senSuous. They cam
not discriminate between them. The
church stands for the one and against
the other, unless 1t loses its balance
and dabbles with the fantastic and SEN
suous Let us clear our minds on this,
in order that we may give clear note
to the multitude.
we shall always have to raise money |
and burn coal and pay bills but let us |
do it as the Lords business in bust
ness-like way, and not try to do that |
when we are pretending to give some
thing purely for the public good. Let |
lis, try not to mix and confuse things |
like the raising of money and the fell |
lowship in spiritual things Let us |
make the church chiefly religious in |
stitution, in which the highest stand |
ards of righteousness are maintained |
within and without.
Three things therefore let us propose |
as the distinctly advanced steps which |
shall be taken and maintained In the
name of Christ and His church as we
enter the new century, and the era of
service to the multitude in this commu-
nifty. 1) Personal righteousness of a
more uniform and Christ-lil1e type as
an actual demonstration to the multi
Eude of what the kingdom of God on
,arth means. (2) Religious education
or the multitude, not only in teaching |
he facts, truths and history of reli-
zion. but in discipline of will and
character for true action. (3) A posi-
i've dealing with the troubles and diff
,ulties OF the multitude, according to
he best wisdom which we have, and
which they have not. There are trou-
lies social and political and economic
nd domestic which we know the causes
# and they do not. We must come to
hem as Christ came to the afflicted
hid, and help them in some positive
vay to remove the cause. Only so can
We maintain our right to exist in the
oming century.
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