[Bishop McCormick in Churchman.]

It is said that the church is always on the side of capital; that she is monarchial and aristocratic in her organization; that she is chiefly interested in maintaining the status quo; that she interferes with discontent and progress by teaching patience and submission; that she is other-worldly and remote, aloof from modern affairs, out of step with science and civilization, and but lukewarmly concerned with the betterment of social and industrial conditions. Laboring men do not hesitate to declare that the church cares more for the one sheep safe in her fold than for the ninety and nine in the wilderness; that she emphasizes individual salvation and the individual conscience, and cares little for social salvation and the social conscience; that she lives only to preserve herself; to narcotize her members and to maintain her paid ministers in positions of ease and influence; that she stands not for the golden rule, but for the rule of gold; that though she calls herself the church of Christ, she has lost the simplicity of Christ, the democracy of Christ, the loving-kindness of Christ, and, above all, the justice and the righteous indignation of Christ.

If any of the counts in this terrible indictment are true, and just in so far as any of them are true, every Christian must bow his head in shame. It is a frightful calamity not only to labor, but to the world, if the sad face of the Saviour of mankind upon the cross sees only this after the passion of two thousand years. And, certainly, if these charges are even partly true, self-respecting labor may be pardoned if it considers its interests to be dissimilar and divergent from those of the church.

[Standard.]

Whatever other reasons there may be, however, for the decrease in church attendance, it seems clear that the removal of emphasis from the church as an essential factor in the work of the kingdom of God, has had not a little to do with the change that has taken place. For some years, now, most of us have been busy in making it clear that salvation does not hinge upon ecclesiastical relationship, and that it is possible to serve the cause of Christ without using the church as a medium of expression. We have laid stress upon the immediacy of relationship between the believer and his Lord, something which always needs emphasis, and have measurably neglected to set forth the necessity for cooperative effort for the extension of the kingdom of God. In our desire to promote the essential unity of all the followers of Jesus Christ, we have, perhaps unconsciously to ourselves, conveyed the impression that the world would get along very well without Christian organization of any kind. Those of us who believe and teach that Jesus did not organize a church may have been understood as holding that the organized church is unnecessary. It is high time to open a campaign on behalf of the church; to undertake the task of making it clear that life must organize some form of expression. The first thing to be done is not so much to convince people of the importance of any particular form of church organization, as to put beyond question the necessity for organization.

[Christian World.]

Today, while the individual conscience revolts at murder, and while in every church in Christendom the command is constantly read, "Thou shalt not kill," the business of killing is regarded as one of the most honorable professions, and a large part of our science is devoted to producing the most wholesale and devilish means of slaughter. The world will, doubtless, in the end, outgrow this custom. The time will come when, in the words of M. Levi Bruhl, "Our civilization, in some aspects, will doubtless seem as repulsive to our descendants of the fiftieth century as that of Dahomey seems to us." At present we tolerate it because we are used to it. Truly we are a slow-going race. One might despair of its future were it not for the thought of God's infinite patience, and for the other thought that custom, so imperious as it seems, is itself under a law by which it too moves, and moves upward.

[Advance.]

The Holy Spirit gives power to believe truth above and beyond human reason, the faith that surmounts all difficulties, the ability to stand and do Christian work in one's place in spite of all attacks, and a triumphant outlook upon life. Here is the power that made the early preachers of Christ so marvelously successful. It may seem old-fashioned, but no new fashion can displace it without displacing the way to religious success. If the churches cannot be spiritually-minded, they cannot succeed. If the ministry cannot put itself in a receptive attitude toward the power from on high, there can be no real progress or upbuilding of God's kingdom. The work done will be superficial, the result unsatisfactory, if not bitterly disappointing. We may talk much, plan much, organize much, but the real question is, Can we be spiritually-minded enough to be a religious power?

[Continent.]

The thing done by our best endeavors must seem insignificant compared with the vast deal to be done. But if it is as much as God has asked of us, it is enough. The rest may be left with Him. It may be the tiniest of flames that we have kindled, but God can make it burn to a mighty fire. It is His part to care for and achieve the whole result—not ours. Only to see a little bit of the great consummation already begun—that suffices, if only one has the Master's faith. So to live and labor, unresting and yet unhasting, is to learn the poise made in the Master's soul by his vision of the Father's purpose in him and the Father's power in the sure and ordered universe.

[Christian Work and Evangelist.]

If we are sons of God, let us live the eternal life now, in the midst of time. We are brothers of the risen Lord; therefore we may rise now into the resurrection life, and order all our doings on the heavenly plane. The practise of immortality on earth is the issue of the doctrine since Christ came. The writings of Paul are all aglow with this call to present resurrection because the promise is upon us in Christ Jesus. One searches in vain for this compelling truth in all the literature of the endless life before that Easter morn in the garden.

[Christian Register.]

Only now and then are we permitted to stand on the heights, where we may look before and after and estimate influences and results. Enough for us if we have light sufficient for each day's needs, and an invincible faith that the final victory shall be worth all the failures that led to it. Failure at the worst is only relative. To the man who has once learned to control his own inner kingdom, there need come no sense of defeat in outward circumstance. To the true, brave soul there can come no real defeat. The stars in their courses fight for him, and the laws of the universe are on his side.

[Christian Intelligencer.]

Every community needs men filled with the spirit of Christ, fired with his love, imbued with his sacrifice, and impelled by his passion for souls. More important than being busy here and there, is the matter of personally realizing "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." The apostle Paul won converts everywhere, and so may we if to us, as to him, to live is Christ. The change we need is not one of place, but of heart.