The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-06-06

Congregational Church-To-day W.
are Apt 10 Forget That There is
Future Life.
At the Howard avenue Congrega
tional church Sunday evening, June 2
the pastor, Rev. Mr.. Mulch, addressed
a large congregation including foul
castles of the knights of the Colder
Eagle, of this city, several of the
grand officers of the order being pres
ent. His topic was christian Chival-
ry" AT the request of the members OF
the order the address Is printed in full
as follows:
Beloved, I beseech you as sojourn-
ers and pilgrims, to abstain from
neshly lusts, which war against the
soul; having your behavior seemly
among the Gentles; that, wherein they
speak against you as evil doors they
may by your good works, which they
behold, glorify God in the day of WISH
tation. Il. Peter, Pill, u.
There is a peculiar temptation upon
soldiers serving in religions far re-
moved from home, because they are
strangers, and their individuality is
reduced to the lowest terms. Each
man expects shortly to be transferred
| elsewhere, or to return home, There
| is little occasion for him to cultivate a
good name for himself in the foreign
community. He either despises the
| people as inferior, or hates them as en-
| emies. He does not care for their re-
spect, and so he has lost an exceeding
ly important check upon the evil ten
| decies of his nature.
The effect of the first emphasis upon
the future life in the early Christian
church was somewhat like the effect
of foreign service upon soldiers. 1t re-
moved the emphasis from the present
life, and left the devotees to feel that
in this world and in this present life
they were only pilgrims and sojourners
longing and seeking for Il better coun-
try; that is the heavenly. At first, and
especially under the preaching of the
Apostle Paul, they were not allowed
to forget the Importance of every day
righteousness; but when the young
churches were left without the apostol-
ic ministra tions. it did not take them
long to deteriorate in those matters
which We're not regarded as most i'm
portant. Into that category would
naturally fall their present conduct,
for the great thing to their mind was
the end of the pilgrimage, and not the
passing scenes and experiences by the
waysida.
As we might expect the passions
and lower impulses of human nature
We're not only restrained when they
began to rage and clamor There was
no motive sufficient to restrain them
Righteousness was not understood by
the masses as being a necessary condi- |
ton for entering into the heavenly life. |
The chief condition was the ordinances
of the church and the profession Of |
loyalty to Christ. But unrighteous- |
ness is not content with itself. That |
is the fatal characteristic of it which |
was not understood then, and is too |
little felt even now Like spreading |
disease. it touches and pollutes every
purity of the ordinances could not !
survive long, where there was small .
regard for righteousness. In fact, the |
very emphasis which they laid upon
tire future life rather than the present
made them Indifferent even to the ne
conditions on which the future
life depends, because they exist in the
present
The careless morals of the Christians
soon began to attract attention from
gentle neighbors, and they were not
slow to speak against the devotees of
as evil doors. Trouble
and strife was aggravated, and gradu-
ally some who We're no longer morally
lbe to hold out against these forces be-
gan to fall away. 1t is to meet these
conditions and check the process of di
among the churches of Asia
Minor that Peter in his old age is sup
posed to have addressed those exhosta
ions to them. AS human nature and
human tendencies are much the same
n all ages, it is not strange that we
ind his words so we'll suited to the life
which surrounds us in our own time,
nd his exhortations so full of practical
wisdom for our own use.
/. In the first place let us note that
here is a transient element in cur pres
MT life. The notion of the early Chris
ians was true Notwithstanding the f
act that they gave it a wrong empha- ,
is, because it was new to them. 1t is
My as pilgrims that we are here, and :
his is not our permanent abiding place :
'eter recognized the truth of this, and ,
ddressed the brethren in the churches
/ the language of their own familiar
bought as "soiourners and pilgrims. :,
s in the first thousand years of our =
ra there were millions who made the E
ing pilgrimage to the holy sepulchre,
nd regarded the long road over which :.
ley Travelled and the people whom =
lev met as Of far less Importance .
nan the sacred spot which was the
oal of their pilgrimage; so it is with =
lie millions who are travelling the jour
~ of life to- day. The sacred spot has = :,
zen idealized and spiritualiZed into the '
ew Jerusalem built above, and the -
lgrimage is from the cradle to the -
ave; but it still remains true that -
ere are the two contrasted elements "
life: the future permanent and the. :.
'esent transient r
The tendency of these present days is -
lite to the opposite extreme from -
at which characterized the Christians ~
the first centuries. To-day the peo- ~
e are ant to forget that there is 8,
ture life.or any goal beyond the hori-
-. 4 I'D foh