Semi-weekly herald., 1910-03-10

divided against Itself is brought to
desolation and house divided can
not stand Jesus upon another oc.
casion asks an odd question which
stands unanswered, when the Son of
Man comeih. viii He find faith ON the
earth ?" In the garden OF Gethsemane
| in the hour of his betrayal Jesus pours
out his heart in that wonderful prayer
OF conservation in which three times
He prays that His followers may be
one, that the world may believe that
God had sent Him.
20 the church is practically one,
behold what beautiful unity say
some. Yes, we do come together oc
casionally and sing with great gusto,
| We are not divided. all one body we"
| But it Is well sometimes TO see our.
selves as others see us. There is still
some thing in Noltaire's sneer, You
| Christians are disputing whether the
Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father
as well MS the Son, whilst multitudes
have moi even heard ii there be Holy
| Ghost; whether any infants have been
elected from eternity; whilst myriads
of Infants are growing up In vice and
sin; whether the heather on the other
eide of the globe viii hereafter be
saved. whilst the heather AT your door
are already lost You are splitting
hairs OF theology. with society falling
TO pieces around you II this be Chris.
| tianity, we want none of it, Settle
your useless disputes and unite vigor.
ousIy in improving the world that now
is, and then we viii listen to your
promises of a better world to come"
Jesus established the. church to evan.
eeli2e the world TO get the will of
| God done on Garth as IN heaven; to
make Christianity The great CONTROL.
| ing factor in the worlds life: the salt
| OF the earth, the light of the world.
Jesus spoke to twelve men of preach.
ing the gospel to every creature, of sav.
ing the world. To-day We talk of the
| remnant thc few being saved. The
church today numbers millions; it has
the most highly educated ministry in
its history; II has splendid equipment
in way OF buildings and organizations;
| il commands enormous wealth: the
world is open 10 lts missionaries Yet
with all these material advantages, ii
Is barely holdns It's own aud in some
quarters seems to he losing ground.
The question Is being asked and
widely dis oussed "Whal is the matter
with the chufohes2" We hear of the
well nigh hopclessness of the problem
of city evangelism and the problem
| of the country church and why men
do not attend church 1t is quite ap.
parent thai the church Is not gripping
the masses as it should: that it is not
the factor It should be in modern life.
On the other hand "evll men and
seducers are growing worse7 Read
Timothy and and YOU have a
picture OF these latter days. But do
not say it was forcordnined that way.
Ii was foreknown bur not forordained
so. Evil has tiriyed because the
church has not done It's duty. THE
children of darkness have been wiser
than the children of light The devils
forces are well organized and firmly
iptrenched and stand together as a
unit to promote their interests; wit.
ness the liquor dealers association
and the well organized forces of greed
and corruption. In every community
| almost, a large number of these de.
nominations are represent, each with
its own building, minister. and strug.
| Cling congregation and Sunday school;
| thousands OF UNCONVENTIONAL colleges
over the land barely able to exist;
hundreds OF missionary boards. All
this machinery and expense to keep
up denominational fences while skep.
tieism and intidelity and wickedness
grows. II is an economic waste to
say the least by consolidation far
more could be accomplished in every
| community at half the expense. If
the churches would unite thousands
of men and millions OF dollars could
be spared from the work at home TO
eyangelize the heather nations abroad
and the greatest stumbling block to
faith would he removed
| This is an age Of combination for
The accomplishment of great enter.
rrises. II is The age Of gigantic un.
deftakings only made possible by the
pooling of interests and the comblna.
ton of capital Men are thinking in
large terms 1t is the large thing,
calling for mighty effort and high ef-
ficiency that appeals
win this not account in some meas.
ure why some men are not attracted
to the church. The church lags be.
hind the spirit OF the age; 1t is doing
| things on too small a scale. 1t shows
too small results for the amount of
effort and money expended and is open
to the charge of lneffciency because
of its divided condition. The dsad.
, yantages OF the present divided con.
dition OF the church are apparent TO
/ n fulr f,,a, ,,rb u