The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-01-01
THIRTY-FIFTA ANNIVERSARY
CELEBRATED BY HOWARD AVENUE
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.


BILE Beginnings of the Church with
Early Christianity and Its Develop.
ment.
The following was the sermon deliv-
cred by Rev. Mr.. Mulch at the thirty
fifth anniversary of the Howard ave-
nue. Congregational church Sunday
morning:
AS Christian people we look to the
New Testament for our models.
The churchmen of all ages have Gag
erly looked there for models of the
church; and the multitude of models
which have been justified by that
search is SO great that no man can
number them, But the best model for
the churchill to-day is not the primitive
church, whatever that may have been
like, but Christ Himself
The church has always been regarded
as the body of Christ and the incarna-
tion of His spirit. 1t is the agency by
which his work was to be carried ON af-
ter he departed The character of that
work was not changed except as the
beginning of any great work is differ
ent from it's continuance 1t ceased to
be local and became worldwide 1t
ceased to be embodied merely in an in
dividual and became the work of a So
ciety.
In carrying forward that work
through the centuries, the church has
met with ups and downs and varied ex-
periences not unlike those of Christ
Himself. The ministry of Jesus has
been divided into the year Of obscurity,
the year Of public favor and the year
of opposition. This of course only re-
fers to the prevailing experiences which
He met with in different years. He
had all kinds of experience in each year.
But in similar way the church has
met with the experience Of obscurity, of
public favor and of opposition.
The obscurity of those little bands of
first century Christians does not give
more promise than the obscurity of the
mustard seed in the field of clods. In
the tenth century an obscurity of an
other sort would seem still more hope
less. The public favor of holy Roman
empire and Of all the western empires
of recsnt centuries is no less delusive
than the public favor which the Master
met when the common people heard
Him so gladly. Public favor and pros
perfty are severe temptations rather
than opportunities. The church as we'll
as the individual is in danger of be-
coming demoralized under the influence
of it, Opposition in beliefs, in moral
and social practice has gone the length
of human ingenuity to devise torture
and persecution, and has called forth
the same thing from the church itself.
Opposition develops the unlovely ele-
ments, but it also develops some ele-
ments of great strength in character
and great results in work.
The same analogy which holds good
between the life of Jesus and His
church through the centuries, also
holds good with our own church in the
thirty-five years of it's history. 1t has
experienced the obscurity of the mis-
sion hall; and the fervency of it's faith
and consecrated purpose glorified the
bare rafters and gloomy walls until
even now there hangs halo over their
I1lCulOly. Line pCliJ1IIilll dHlOIS LIE
tribes, 1t has experienced the obscurity
81 being the little one among the
twelve, and probably for the same rea-
son that Benjamin was small, because
it was good fighter. 1t has met with
it's share of oppositions and antogo-
nisns both within and without; arr
has not played the coward in the pres
ence Of them. If these experiences
have brought to light the seamy side of
human nature in some cases, they have
also dissolved the false glamor which
settles over pfety; they
have shown us human life in its reali- |
ty both of weakness and of strength;
they have made us know the worth of a
genuine faith and genuine brother
hood. The brotherhood has not been
that false and dead-level brotherhood |
which many people seem to crave
which makes a baby brother at first |
sight of every one who comes along
whether he will or not. It's brother
hood has spread in the only way that
vital brotherhood ever can spread, only |
too slowly, by mutual union of per-
sons formed by that which every joint |
supplieth, not by an external and fac
Litious or formal bond. He who would
enter any brotherhood must himself !
supply his part of the union, or else 1t
will be such a union as that of the lion /
and the lamb, when one Is inside the
lther with no real fellowship between
Them.
This church has also enjoyed it's share
If public favor, and does so still.
While this is not so great as to make us
yain or to cause any very serious dam
,er to us, yet 1t is sufficient to keep us
rom utter disheartenment, and to en-
title us to hope for a larger usefulness
n the coming century than in the one
hat is past. If we had in our men,
)ership all at home and abroad who
owe us and wish us well, there would
,e danger from excessive vanity
Before Jesus entered upon what was
eally the great work of His life, as
veil as the great test, we find Him in
he fellowship Of the great souls of His !
wn and the former time on the mount
f TRANSPORTATION. The full import of
hat strange scene is not easy for us to
make out; but there is much that it '
nay have meant. With Peter and {
ames and John the Master withdraws I
or few hours to the solitude of the /
fountain top. That night brings be- Y
ore the wondering eyes of the disciples
miraculous vision of Moses and Eli |
lh, the names which stand for law ]