The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1909-05-20
company of the redeemed, the body
OF which He is the head, the branch
of which is the vine The

OF which He is the head, the branch
Of which is the vine. = The
church Is. therefore, a unit. There
are different functions but one body.
Spiritual unity, do VIC say? Yes. re-
deemed by the same blood, deriving
It's life from the same vine, guided by
the same head and resting on the same
foundation; and yet engaging in out
ward denominational struggle for
supremacy that pays poor homage to
Him whom it calls Head and Lord.
Is that the way spiritual unity ex-
presses itself? Does not spiritual
unity express itself rather in organic
unity or some kind of organic feder-
alton which gives proof of the exis-
tence of that deeper and more signi-
fcant unity we call spiritualo
"The denominational contentious of
today can but impress the world most
unfavorably. What Il waste of men
and money, and what for? To bring
Christ to the world? Alas, too often
to build up our particular sect, and
yet there still comes ringing down
the centuries that prayer of our Lord
which He offered in the very shadow
of the cross, That they all may be
one.' Can we expect our Lord and the
head of the church to answer our
prayer for more and better lnen for
the ministry so long as we make such
poor use of those He has given us;
and can we expect His stewards,
faithful to great trust, to furnish
us more money SO long as we waste
what they give us in unseemly and un-
holy rivalry for place and numbers
Putting Together.
"It may be that the church, like
truth. has its periods of analysis be-
fore it reaches it's period of synthesis.
Have we not come to the end of the
period of analysis and shall we not
now. with an energy which has the
emphasis of a tremendous conviction,
enter into the period of synthesis
when the church of Jesus Christ shall
be one? Think of the power of unit
ed Professionalism? When will the day
come when united Romanism and
united heathenism shall be met and
matched by united Professionalism
OF course. you understand, that the
church must be spirtualized before
1t can become one, and am not think
u,
am of Paul, and l am of Appollos,
but l am thinking of the spiritual
church that says. BY one spirit are
we all baptized into one body
What then is the function of this
divine organization? In a word, to
mediate Jesus Christ, Gods Son and
the worlds Redeemer, to world lost
in sin, to give whole gospel to all
men and to all of men. This means
hospitals for the bodily needs, schools
for the intellect and the church with
it's activities for the spiritual Just
as its divine head was for rich and
poor learned and unlearned, high and
low alike, so is His church, His body,
to be for all.
"All honor to those good men and
women who were not willing to wait
upon the church in its organized ca
pacity to do the work to which it was
called, but who went out to the poor
and sick with hospitals and asylums
to administer to them in their press
ing needs. But why shall the church
longer hesitate while others do the
work to which it has been called in
the divine providence? l honor the
Young Mems Christian association, as
I do the Young Women's Christian as
sociation and the Salvation Army, but
their existence is, in my judgment,
an awful rebuke to the organized
church of Jesus Christ. If the church
OF London had reached the young
men of that metropolis, God would
not have impressed, in my judgment,
a young man to start that great move
ment known the world round as the
Young Mems Christian association.
The church of England was not reach
ing the submerged tenth and General
Booth heard the call of God and went
out with drums and tambourines,
singing lads and lassies, and praying
men and women, to the corners of the
streets with the gospel of hope, with
unskilled workmen to be sure in many
cases, but he went and the Salvation
Army is today doing q mighty work
which the church in it's organized
capacity too long neglected. This the
church ought to have done and, when
it gets the right view of it's functions,
it will do.
Having examined the functions of
the church and having discovered the
side reach of these functions. what
then are the resources of the church.
that it may do the work to which in
the providence of God it has been
called. These fall naturally into two
divisions. The seen and the unseen.
Among the seen We may mention the
wealth of today. Never was there
such an array of material resources
upon which the church may put its
hand as we have today. All of this
Jesus Christ, as the head, will put
under tribute to His church when He
discovers that it can be trusted with
it. We are poor today not because
our Divine Head is poor, but because
He has not dared to trust us with the
vast resources to which we as the
children of God, have become heirs
with Him.
Second. Then consider the means
of communication today by which this
tribute may be transmitted to the ma
tions of the world The world has
been brought into one great neigh
embellishments, Liverpool. Lon
don end New York are no longer sep
arate entities but are merely parts of
one great metropolis. Shall the