Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1904-07-23

| jected of men" After he had lived
and suffered. preached and worked on
and on until the day when he was
crucified. the converts he had won
were only little handful of followers
at the foot of his cross. If l should
take you to country pastor and say,
Rev. Mr.. So-and- so. how large is your
church," he would say: "Oh. very
small. We have only siXscore mem
bers all told. But we are part Of the
great Presbyterian church, with its
hundreds of thousands and millions of
members. Therefore we are proud
TO belong to the great body OF this
church militant" But Jesus when he
died did not have any great church.
He was only the humble Naza-
rene with one hundred and twenty
disciples all told In Jerusalem From
a worldly standpoint Christ's life
seemed to be an abjcct failure. Do
you wonder that Christ said to his
disciples in the words of my text, HE
that believeth on me. the works that I
do shall he do also. and greater works
than these shall he do?" How has the
promise been fulfilled in the great
preachers and organizers Of the Chris
tian church? Inspired by his life and
teaching, men have arisen whose
achievements, as far as they can be
measured by numbers. have surpassed
q thousandfold those of their Divine
| Master.
Growth Of the Y. NJ. C. A.
Compare If you will the rapid adj
vancement of Christianity during the
century just passed with the seeming
ly paltry number of 100 whom Christ
gathered about him in Jerusalem dur
ing his earthly ministry. In 1874
George Williams of London organized
the first Y. NJ. c. A. association Of the
world. Forty six years later. as q di-
rect outgrowth of his work. there were
6.625 different Y. NJ. c. A. association
societies with their enrolment of ESQ.,
900 members. with property worth over
$26.000.OW. In 1865 William Booth,
humble Methodist minister, stepped
out of the church of his birth and in
| Nottingham. England, organized the
Christian Mission. the outgrowth of
which is the modern Salvation Army. In
thirty five years that army. as direct
result OF William Booths work, had
its 1000 officers stationed In all parts
of the world. holding annually over
2OO0.0OO meetings and possessing its
own printing presses. scattering forth
100000 pamphlets and papers of
gospel news and with an income of
nearly $4.000.0OO per year. In 1880
Francis +. Clark. a comparatively I'M
known minister. organized his young
people into n band of Christian work
ers. called the Christian EndeavOr So
ciety He is called Father" Clark
now not, however. because he IS an
old man, but because he was the IA
Their of movement which in twenty
years had society with nearly 4.O0G,-
600 members. Consider the work of
John Wesley. Compare the first band
Of 12O members with the conversions
under the power of the Holy Ghost of
Whitefield. Finney. Nc Ody. These men
led the people by the tens of thousands
to kneel at the foot o. the cross. Tell
me. in reference to the criterion of
number. has not man as preacher
and Christian organizer done great
or things" than did Christ?
But. again. in this worldwide sweep
of mans greater works" we must see
how man is everywhere overturning
the heather doctrine that might
makes right rather than right makes
| might" We must see man as the de-
| fender of the weak man. the hope OF
the helpless man. the friend of the be-
reft man and i'm one sense the rescuer
Of the lost Christ comes as the friend
of the fricndless. But, oh, how friend
less and helpless he himself became!
James Morrison In a wonderful review
Of the works of Christ's life pictures
him as mighty conqueror. Even In
his defeats he saw the oncoming con-
quests Said this mighty pulpiteer:
He strobe on to victory. From his ell
evated standpoint he saw as the conse-
quence Of his triumphal ascent to his
Father the overthrow Of Phariseeism
and Sadduceeism. He looked farther
and saw the overthrow of Roman and
Grecian and Scythian idolatry. He
looked farther and saw the destruction
of slavery. He looked farther and saw
the gradual emancipation of the mass
es from the oppression Of tyrants and
their elevation into political and social
privileges He looked farther and saw
the erection of hospitals and other in
situations of benevolence. He saw the
establishment on the one hand of home
missions extending to the hundreds of
thousands who have lapsed and the es-
tablishment on the other hand Of for
eign missions. sending the gospel of
his grace to the ends of the earth III
hundreds of tongues" But. though
Christ in his exaltation and prophetic
vision may have seen all this. yet. like
Moses. with his eyes overlooking the
verdant fields of the promised land.
Christ was to have no direct physical
contact in the contamination of the
worlds salvation.
Christ Never visited India.
All India was yet to give up its wild
ow burning and the tossing of It's help