The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-04-06
DON Q. SHELTON'S ADDRESS
(Continued from First Page.)

"The measure of obedience that we yield to Christ is something very tan- gible. His commands are so plain. His l teaching so clear, that it is always possible for us to test the thorough
 ness of our loyalty and devotion. Let us take two statements of our
 Lord, and by them seek to determine 1 the degree of reality that there is In
 our Christian life. On one occasion
 Jesus said: As my father hath sent
 me into the world, even so send I you into the world Later He said: The I Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost Herein we
 see that it is His purpose that His
 disciples work in His spirit for the ac- compishment of His ends, the redemp- | tion of mankind. To what degree are
 we doing this? How. much of our l thought, energy, means, are we using l to exalt Him in the sight of all men, and to bring all men into vital union
 with Him?
 Christ alone can meet the worlds need. Only as men evehywhere are brought into a right relation to Him,
 can they fulfill their ends. Our Saw 1 jour rightly demands a place at the ] heart of every mans life. All things
 as Paul so distinctly points out in the 1 epistle to the Ephesians, are to be sum-
 med up in Him as head. His truth. His will, recognized and obeyed by
 men, will bring the greatest boon earth can have.
 ! "A deep, thorough conviction of the
 essentialness of Christ to every man,
 will impel us to take or send the Cos | pei message to all As without the sunlight the earth would have neither 1 bloom nor beauty, so human character,
 unllumined and untransformed byIifm who is the light of the world, comes far short of full growth and develop
 ment. A keen sense of the absolute need of every individual of Christ will
 lead to such use of time, talent and i possessions, as will insure worldwide diffusion of the light of the divine mes- sage.
 1 What have the Congregational
 churches done, and what are they do- l ing through the Congregational Home
 Missionary society, to make effective in
 this twentieth century the gospel of 1 Christ? Last year over 1,S00 home mis-
 sionaries were employed. They worked l in forty-six states and territories. They
 regularly supplied 2,741 churches and outstations, One thousand nine hun dred and eighty-three Sunday schools
 were conducted, with membership of
 1000.
 l 'In seventy-five years, through the
 work of this society, 4S3,000 members 1 have been added to the churches. Four ] fifths of all the Congregational church.
 es in America have had it's aid at some l time in their history. Throughout this eventful and fruitful period the aim at every point has been to establish a | church in charge of an ordained
 preacher. Thus there has come per-
 manency and efficiency. In gathering
 up the results of home mission endeav- ! or in the past century, Dr. J. B. Clark 1 in his new, Illuminating book on
 'Leavening the Nation says: TO the
 credit of home missions should stand
 the undoubted truth that an over- whelming majority of evangelical
 churches own their being to it's nurture and care. And what does such fact
 mean in the religious development of | the country? Figures here are elo- quent; they palpitate with life. Be- tween 1900 and 1890 the population of
 the United States increased 11.S fold. In the same period evangelical com | municants increased 3S fold. From 1850 to 1890, the population increased ITO per cent. Evangelical communicants
 increased 291 per cent And then, too, | we must keep in mind the incidental l fruitage: the promotion of Christian education, the founding of colleges, the stimulate of jealous and intelligent patriotism. The record of home mis- sion effort during the past century l is. so full of encouragement and cheer that even a brief consideration of it strengthens ones faithein the efficiency of the Gospel and quickens ones desire