The Penn's Grove record., 1908-09-25
ice and convinced Of the need for re.
sultful and helpful labor than she is

SuItlul anu ueipIul LABOR Lnan Sno IS
to-day.
The Protestant church is in danger
OF becoming priest-ridden-the worst
that can befal the organization of the
church; ridden with a priesthood
shorn OF compulsory authority and
in whom the authority of the Christ
Is too precariously admitted to re-
side.. The laity Of Professionalism are
too largely guilty of hiring men to
do their work for them-at salaries
on the average that are an insult to
the Lord whose work they send their
employees to do-rather than of call:
ing. leaders whose business it shall
be to direct the energies, rebuke the
sins, vitalize the virtues, clarity the
thought, inspire the minds, intensity
the spiritual conceptions and percep-
lions of the sons of God who are
members of the church of Christ.
The church of Christ is full of men
and women who have their names
upon its rolls for no better reason
than that it is polite or proper or
polite or profitable socially and com-
mercially SO to be enlisted. And the
consequence is that enthusiasm has
gone out of the most of the meetings
Of the church, the gatherings for
prayer are generally so dry and cold
and undressing that they are a
distress to earnest pastors and a re.
Election not only upon the intelligence
and spiritual experience, but also
upon the gratitude Of the church.
The reason for this is not far to
seek. The laity, and not infrequent.
ly the clergy, have been 50 busy seek
ing material success that they have
had nc time to serve the Lord after
the manner of the Master. The dol
lar has supplied so many wants that
men have ceased to feel the pressing
need for spiritual supplies. 1t has
been declared impossible for a nation
to believe Christ, disarm and be pre-.
served against the %rapacious agrees
sions of the armed. Business men
have declared it impossible to follow
Christ and succeed. The best we
have done, till very lately, in the
management of criminals has been
to Jail or execute them. The spirit
of the lex talionis-the lowest law of
Judaism-is rampant in the settle
ment of disputes between nations and
nations, society and its members, in
dividuals and their fellows. We have
forgotten the God of life in the ex-
cellency of u livings. We have
prayed for reforms that we have
neither advanced, expected or de-
sired. We have thanked God for the
might of His power while fearful to
trust His s%ufficiency against the On
slaught of Satan. We have talked
brotherhood and practiced an indi-
vidualism that has brought sorrow
where there is no need for aught but
JOY, and strife where cooperation
would more thoroughly fulfil the
plans of God, by and with the con-
sent-tacit or active-of the church.
The situation cannot endure. The
church must reform or relinquish her
claim to primacy and to the privil-
eyes of leadership. Saying Lord,
Lord will make her acceptable
neither to coming generations nor to
her bridegroom. Vain repetitions
are ~valueless to produce results. Ac-
ton only is qualified to transmute
ideas into achievements. To do His
work we must do His will.
Jesus gives us a picture Of the end
of the institution or ffe m4n gritty
of lip-service or of lukewarm adher-
ShNO " IAS " tAO " uChs
mot every one that saith unto Me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the king
dom of heaven, but he that doeth the
will of My Father" He forecasts
the fate of those insincere and paltry
Christians who stand before Jehovah
at the great assize.
1t is to be hoped that Jesus pic
ture will not prove a photograph of
us. 1t is not necessary that it should.
We shall be recreant and without ex-
cuse if it shall so prove to be. No
man and no church need call upon the
Lord in vain. He who hath called us
and upon whom we call is both will
ing and able to perform through us
effective service for the welfare and
the salvation of individuals and the
race. God summons us in Christ to
supreme labor. He provides eontem-
po%raneously the power necessary to
succeed. He energies and v~erifies
and inspires and enthuses every soul
and every society that with high de-
sire and dedicated purpose calls upon
His name.
Not Lord, Lord" but Lord, here
am I, send me-" what wilt Thou
have me to do?"
Brooklyn, N. Y.