Norwich bulletin., 1920-02-24

stewardship, the benevolent and phil lanthrcpic impulse. The individual is but a cog or pinion of a big iFrespon- sible machine, lowered with might and the capacity for acquisition and ad- nlinistration and consequent sense of responsibility. This individual relative preprietorship must be accorded if we are to produce the legitimate product- character. In these things steward ship finds it's origin, ofice and sphere.
 Stewardship should be cultivated in the interest of the higher uses of property. It is necessary to give wealth it's nohIest offices, We can make friends Of the earthly posses sions and have them reminted Snd changed into the enduring riches. They can be transmitted into bills Of exchange which are duly honored hereafter. Wealth is veal; we call it means" which means, means to an end. It is not the end of life, but the instrument and means unto life. Make it take it's office of blessing and upiift Merely hoarding 1t is self defeating. IL is such here. The world forgets all but it's benefaeters. Then this relative proprie torship is transient. Our amassings stay behind unless changed into character. The cold white fingers unelutch their grip on all material holdings. We pity the poor among us. Do we ever pity the poor million aires who go bankrupt? Lszarus--poor from life into the coming life. who had made wealth the end of life instead of the means of service. But stewardship asserts its demands on other things, gifts. endowment. culture. knowledge. skill, refinement, life. We may not have a fortune to hold in stewardship but we all have a life to put in the crueibIe. Let it's giver find the pro- gram and the setting. Livingston had only life and God made it the key to unlock the dark continent. 4 friend of mine had only a life and he said to. tlse American Board: "Send me any where" and God found place and sphere and vast results for that life in one of the great pagan empires.
 Then we have as our supreme pos- session the gospel Of Jesus Christ. We are put in trust with this sacred de- posit and must iTnpart it, share it with the whole world. Go ye unto all the world is our marching order. We claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, then We must not lose. His stride He has gone into every dark continent. Are we following Him or only staying within 8 narrow environment? Halt ing our synnpathies, interests eo-ep- eratioH with the little community in which we live We may resent mer dieval thinking and yet practice ne- dievsl living. Hiding our light. shei- tering 1t behind cioistered retreats, keeping 1t for home consumption, for our fiYeside and our church pew. No. no. We aSe stewards Of the manifold grace and must give it to those who have not our chance, We must rot break our pace until we have sirdied the world.
 May I say in closing that we have been getting a new vision of stew ardship. We can scarcely define it in terms of the old thinking. The sub- ject has been forced up onto higher levels. We have had some fresh eri- entations. We have been shedding the provincial mind and getting the international and world outlook. Our sympathies have been deepened in these unex4mpled rniseries of the world. The selfish spirit of accumu- lation and heaFding locks pigmy- sized nov. It once buiked and hulged large and ave- inspiring. Re. cent history has blown these big irrj- descent bubbles away. Men must be about bigger business uew. They must get something done and done in the sacrifical spirit. What is God doing we ask and we must help hIna get things done, The churches rnuet catch this spirit. They cannot ap- peal to statistics and claim the