[The Christian Work]

To let in the blazing light of the spiritual upon the material; to let in the blazing light of the ideal upon the expedient; to let in the blazing light of the Holy Lord upon all the works of darkness,—this surely must be the Puritan business of our time. We are to see the Invisible, and then by our life to reveal Him, so that our track in the ways of men shall be as a shining light that will make it impossible for men to forget the high concerns of the soul.

And as we are ministers of spiritual vision we shall also be contributors of moral dynamic. The loftiness of our characters will give them their weight. We need have no concern about the force of our life if only we are concerned about its height. Our moral influence will be constant, and will always be the minister of elevation and of rectitude. In the home life, in private business, in the affairs of the city, and in the larger concerns of the state, we shall recognize only one realm, one kingdom, and we shall accept only one standard, as we shall bow to only one sovereign King. The modern pilgrim will be a spiritual seer and a moral contagion, for "he that dwelleth in me, saith the Lord, out of him shall flow rivers of water;" and on the banks of the river shall grow "the tree of life, bearing all manner of fruits, and the leaves of the tree shall be for the healing of the nations."

[The Methodist Recorder]

Our fathers had to contend, as we have, with the indifference of the world toward spiritual things; but it was for the most part the indifference of ignorance. We have to face the indifference of knowledge,—immeasurably more difficult. The upheaval of these days is compelling men in the face of grave issues to ask great questions. It has compelled multitudes of believers to verify their faith, to rediscover the essential spiritual realities. And this is all to the good. The church will not in the future face the world with old traditions but with living experiences. Truth has not changed, but we have. The old gospel! True, but a new message. Men are ready for it. The world wants God. It has always wanted Him, but today it knows that it wants Him.

[The Jewish Chronicle]

"The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." By "secret things" we are to understand the things which God had not revealed even to Moses with regard to Israel's future—especially the time and manner of the fulfilment of those promises and threatenings which were made contingent on their obedience or disobedience. Moses discourages too eager a prying into the future. Sufficient has been revealed to us to teach us the whole of our duty to God and man. The Bible is primarily a book of practical guidance to conduct and was never intended to solve the many speculative difficulties with which human curiosity concerns itself.

[The Christian]

How many do we meet constantly to whom the ill will of luck is sufficient reason for almost any dereliction of duty, any cowardly flight from difficulty, or any weak refusal of the challenge of circumstances! "I never seem to have any luck," said one the other day, who having pulled his oars in-board is beginning to drift dangerously. He only spoke the language of that large company of men and women who are content to rule God out of their lives. Convinced that life's power is not in their own hands, they must have some sort of blind force to fall back upon, if only for explanation of their own heart's questionings. And "luck" is the god they have erected. To say that its worship satisfies them, would be an entire denial of what their lives attest. To say that it grows upon them, blinding them to all true values, and imprisoning them in a pitifully them to all true values, and imprisoning them in a pitifully small and entirely vicious circle of uncertainty, is but to speak the bare truth. For the fact is that a large part of the dissatisfaction of heart which makes men aimless wanderers in God's world is altogether due to the disappointed worship of luck. What poor exchange do they make who refuse life to the fatherly control of God in Christ.

[The Methodist Times]

The leading Christian types organized in denominations have both value and vitality. Yet they should not merely exist side by side, but permeate one another with the highest influences of a fellowship which, while it respects differences, transcends them in common agreement. Such spiritual relations will undoubtedly help us toward a fuller apprehension of Christ and more successful effort in behalf of his kingdom. Unity of life cannot be maintained without unity of action. And unity of action is impossible without an organization which is in correspondence with its spirit and aims.

[The Universalist Leader]

Salvation, as we define it, means the developing of a Christian social consciousness until no individual soul can be entirely happy until all are happy; no individual soul can be entirely saved until all are saved. This is the Christian goal. No soul can find itself until it forgets itself. Salvation is the awakening of the sense of the unity of the human race, and the interdependence of all men with each other and all with God. This is the salvation we go forth to proclaim.

[Homiletic Review]

Many of the cross-roads churches that were built during the last century were monuments of denominational pigheadedness; their decay is a compliment to the growing common sense of Christian people. But others that at one time ministered to the legitimate needs of country people are in a bad way mainly because they have been left in the rear as the generation now growing up has adopted the new life.

[The Congregationalist and Christian World]

Every dawn is God's "again" written in light, every recurrent duty the call to a finer fidelity. All these "agains" which we welcome or fear are but the mercies of God offering us another chance to make amends for our faults, profit by our failures, correct our mistakes, and make more nobly manifest the fruits of the Spirit in our lives.

[The Christian Intelligencer]

The passion for money makes beasts of men and leads to the abnormal conditions back of present social unrest. The fundamental need of America is the old gospel, and until the spirit of Christ becomes controlling, our fair civilization will never outgrow the reign of the beast.

[Northwestern Christian Advocate]

"What is the matter with Christianity?" Nothing. What is the matter with Christians? Ah, now we are coming close to the point. There is much the matter there. There is a difference between the Christ of the New Testament and his representative today.