The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-08-02

we have the vision before our eyes.
! God help us.
But no mere agglomeration of dis
| ciples of Jesus can attain to such an
| ideal Central Union church today is
| big but it is not a unit. 1t is an aggre.
CATION. splendid one [ grant you, but
for all that a conglomerate. The one
great social virtue we need TO cult
vate is acting all together. We need
to be fused by God Fire-spirit into
glowing unity. One of our mightiest
churches nearly $500 strong, which re-
Gently celebrated its fftieth anniversary
| by raising a special missionary fund Of
$4,000, has throughout its history been
characterized by this noble trait It
has known troublous times and has hot
| " debated in crowded meetings ques
tions that would have hopelessly divid-
ed MANY another church, but early in
its history, it cultivated the habit of
| free discussion in general assembly with
honest expression of opinion. voting not
by a single directed ballot but by par
ticipation of every voting member pres
emit. When the result was declared all
hands would bury differences and join
Loyalty in carrying out the decision
reached That church never had what
the man of the street calls knocker.
No wonder that today it is our nigh
test church. We need this spirit here,
all giving, according to ability, all serv-
ing along the line of God given powers,
every move we make, the product of
the thought and energy Of all. We can
if we will.
Machinery win never lead us to our
ideal But spiritual life will. We bear
on the cover of our calendar the motto
a House of Life and the words of
Jesus II came that they may have life,
and may have it abundantly.' If we
miss this life in our church, we miss
ALL For church without it is not a
church Of Christ God life manifest
ing itself in Sunday worship that in
! spires. in activities that make men pur-
er and stronger, in an appeal to the
outsider which leads him to Jesus,
| God s life so evident in all our gather.
ings that parents go from them re-
solved to make better homes, business
men hear in them the call to the square
deal. citizens are moved by them to be
true to their civic duty, and all who
need find here their longing for com
fort, power, peace, courage, selfmas.
terry, Indictment to service satisfied
that is what our church must have.
We have much of it now, we
want more. If we seek it as Ponce
de Leon sought for the fountain of
youth, as Jesus merchant did for the
pearl of great price, we shall find it.
To this search God calls us. One evil
dence of Gods life in the modern
man s soul or in an organization is the
determination to keep step with the
Master The strongest characteristic
of the Christ today is his onward
marching spirit. No true disciple and
no living church need fear new truth.
Let us welcome progress and adjust
our previous notions to symphonic with
it. That is the way to keep virile, to
keep sweet, the special grace of woman.
and to keep young.
Keep Virile! This is certainly the
dominating command of the Great Head
of the Church today If last year IS
story means anything, it tells the de-
termination of Central Union to carry
out this commission. Our Men IS League
now numbers 175 members. That is
, only beginning. 1t must double and
treble this figure and better far
than mere enumeration, it must set all
at work
Keep Sweet! Not hard task eer-
tainly in Honolulu with its multitude
of gracious lovely women. A living
church needs organized sweetness. a
thing Central Union already has Yet
we all know that this sweetness here
can and should be transmitted into
larger effectiveness for Christ. That is
the crux of the coming church year.
Keep Young! The whole nation
waits for adequate work to be done
by its churches in religious education.
1t is America g weak point. The state
eonfesses its utter inability here-a
draught of better experience which
Japan also with it's supreme confidence
in its Emperor is just draining to the
dregs. To train the children for God
and hence for mankind is the most
heroic because the most painstaking
work the Christian Church TODAY is
called upon. to do. It is simply stag
gering task but we must and we will
attempt it, may we are attempting, in
Central Union. Who viii leads
Finally the ideal demands that we
IN Honolulu realize our manifest des-
tiny as the missionary center of the
Pacific world. Here is the culminat
ing privilege of Central Union church.
Without it we may become rich, bulky.
exclusive and fashionable but half
dead like poor Laodicea. Thank God
we are well on the way to our goal.
Already the gifts, sympathy, prayers
of Central Union honeycomb these is
lands. You are doing nobly for Ha-
waij you can do more of course But
there is something grander than this.
For You can lead the present mission
airy advance in the world. / say it ad-
visedly. If our great missionary fami-
lies, those abundantly able to do so,
should each establish memorial
foundation say of the value of $25, 900
to support missionary family in con
| nection with the American Board and
do this during the coming centennial
year of American missions, the blow
| thus struck would reverberate round
| the world, Relate these foundations
| 10 this Church SO as to tie the mission
aries supported by them to our per-
sonal love and prayer, then follow this
up by generous participation of all
! the rest of us in standing bv this orea+