Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

temper, thought that the foundations of religion were giving way, and Lyman Beecher, then a pastor in the State, records his own experience in these words, "It was as dark a day as ever I saw. For several days I suffered what no tongue can tell, for the best thing that ever happened to the Churches."

It is possible thus that some of the things which we fear, things not sinful in themselves, may turn in ways which we do not now know to the furtherance of the Gospel. I speak of urban growths, of immigration, of Romanism in America, and of some forms of socialistic tendency.

Nor must we forget some striking signs of Christian progress with which the nineteenth century is closing; as, for instance, the better apprehension in the Church of personal Christianity as summed up in love and loyalty to Christ; the greater unity of Christian people as against the divisive tendency of dogma, organization and rite; the proven power of voluntaryism, by which Church provision, the edifice, the preacher and the school, have kept even pace with the westward march of our population; the probable decline of skepticism from that prevalence at the opening of the century of which Chancellor Kent, Dr. Dwight and Bishop Moore speak so emphatically; that gracious growth of the Evangelical Church in the United States, by which it includes in its membership one in five of the people as against one in fourteen in the year 1800; and finally that new aggressiveness of modern Christianity by which, from us as from Christian Europe, the Gospel sounds out into all heathen and Mohammedan lands.

Above all, we must encourage ourselves by the declared purpose of our Lord. This land, as all lands, belongs to Him. And it seems no presumption to believe, that, having so singularly reserved this land through the centuries for a new experiment which should be free from many of the hindrances, though rich with the experiences, of European history, He who times all changes in the interests of his Christ will not fail to conduct that experiment to a successful issue. Of the experiment may we not say, even as of the outcome of His whole Mediatorial reign;

"To doubt would be disloyalty,

To falter would be sin "?

II. If our perils are great, so also are our opportunities.

A field for unfettered movement lies before the American Church. No human laws control or obstruct it. It can make unrestricted

trial of all the spiritual forces with which it is endowed-of the truth which makes free, of the provisions for human need of which it is the purveyor, of the might of the Holy Spirit. What hinders but its own lack of faith, courage, self devotion?

And already vast resources are in its hands. It has the accumulating prestige of the Christian centuries. It has vast properties in churches, schools, publishing houses, hospitals. It has in the brain and heart and brawn of its members unlimited productive capacity. All that it needs in men and treasure, in knowledge and love, in human accessories and divine aid, are at its command. Its waste would feed the famishing multitudes.

And, moreover, as the heritage of struggling centuries, the American Church is in the midst of a people and of institutions mobile, expectant, ready to be shaped by that form of doctrine into which it shall be delivered. An enlarging church, a purer religion, an invigorated national conscience, would promptly embody themselves in better institutions, better laws, better customs, which in turn would aid to yet larger successes, the system which, in the eyes of all observers, was thus uplifting society.

And such is the position of America among the nations, that the opportunity for the American Church is an opportunity for the world. Is it self-conceit that leads to the belief, common among us, that though America makes no boast of diplomacy, and uses no menace of war, her influence on the thoughts and institutions of the world is far-reaching and irresistible; that society everywhere is stirred profoundly by the fair vision of our liberty ensphered in order, as the depths of ocean answer back to the moon; that with the rising of our national life upon the sight of other lands, a new era of hope dawned upon them? And now, if the American Church can effect a thorough Christianization of American society, can stamp our public and private life with the characters of righteousness and love, can any doubt that the whole world shall note the fact, and by the thousand ties that bind it to us, and by the thousand channels of communication that are opened between us, shall receive a mighty impulse toward the higher life, and so the Kingdom of God be hastened on the earth?

III. Both peril and opportunity summon to co-operation. This hour, beyond other hours formative and prophetic of national destiny, calls to fraternal counsels and concerted action.

That is a striking picture which Merivale, in his "Conversion of

16

the Roman Empire," gives of the council of Nice, that gathering of the chiefs of the Church, of its masters of theology and of its confessors, to define and declare the Christian doctrine. An important work was then done for all time. But it marks an advance in the Kingdom of God among men, that the great evangelical bodies, having at length reached a consensus of essential doctrine (a consensus set forth with rare wisdom by the First Evangelical Alliance held in London in 1846), are now disposed to busy themselves less with controversy concerning creeds and governments and ceremonies, and more with the practical application of Christianity to the salvation of individuals and of society. They tend to concord and co-operation.

nor

But limitations suggest themselves.

First. The Alliance under whose auspices this Convention meets at its organization declared, properly and in good faith, its desire and intention neither "to effect an amalgamation of the churches," "to interfere in any way whatever with the internal affairs of the various denominations." Whatever larger external unity may be hoped for the Church of the future; whatever wiser economy of men and means, and whatever increase of spiritual power may seem possible in that better relation of the churches, for which all devout souls long-at present neither the Alliance nor this Convention contemplate any criticism or revision or abandonment of denominational organization or methods. No question is raised here touching the necessary constitution of a true church, or the raison d'etre of any particular church. Nor do any here believe that the work of Christianizing the American people can be taken out of the hands. of the churches as such. Not by disregard of church order, nor by a transfer of individual religious activity from the church sphere to some kindred sphere, is progress possible. With great care, therefore, does the call for this Convention recognize as a somewhat permanent fact the diverse Church life of which we are severally parts. But in this diversity it finds a higher unity. E pluribus unum is the motto of the Republic, one and indivisible; Unum corpus sumus in Christo, is the inspired legend on the seal of the Evangelical Alliance, The hitherto imperfect recognition of this unity in Christ is one of the sad facts of church history. But it will give way, not by impracticable efforts at uniformity, not by direct efforts to belittle the significance of our characteristic differences, but by a new vision in each church, of the supreme import

ance of the end for which all churches stand, namely, righteousness, and in single-hearted, earnest effort to secure it for ourselves and our fellows. That vision and that effort will insensibly wear away our bigotries and our self-will. And, thus, in so far as this Convention shall stimulate each church here represented to aggressive activity within its own lines, even if it go no farther, it will have forwarded a genuine co-operation in the service of our common Lord.

Secondly. Salvation is an individual thing. It is personal repentance, personal faith in Christ, personal regeneration by the Holy Ghost. The salvation of a nation is by the salvation of its personal units. The marvelous conquest of the Roman Empire by Christianity was attained by the successive conversion of Lydia, and the jailer, and Dyonisius the Areopagite, and a "woman named Damaris," and then of countless more in every rank of life. Thus also must America be Christianized. Men cannot be evangelized en masse. That was the method of Charlemagne, not of Christ. And here, also, is a necessary limitation of Christian co-operation. The result we desire must, to a great degree, be reached by separate work for individual men. No large organization of Christians, however wise and good, and no shrewdly concerted activity of churches, as if massed in military corps, can supplant the divinely appointed agencies of Christianity, to wit, the faithful preaching of the word, and the luminous holiness and personal effort of each believer. Even new and better legislation on social and moral questions, from which many hope so much, is possible only as the result of such simple and separate evangelistic work.

Within the limitations thus named there is large room and demand for Christian co-operation. Much is to be done in cultivating a charity that shall avoid distrust, criticism and interference. Much is to be learned by the study of our diverse methods. Both peril and opportunity will be better apprehended through free consultations. A large habit may be formed of working together for common ends in society and the State; and here the field lies wide before us. Our public-school system is to be maintained, and is to be improved by elementary religious instruction. The Sabbath is to be rescued from public desecration. The drinking usages of society are to be reformed. The periodical press is to be purified. Marriage is to be made inviolable. Political corruption is to be overcome. Justice

for weak and wronged races is to be secured. The slums of great cities are to be redeemed. Nascent States are to be fashioned by the Gospel. Mormonism is to be overthrown. Immigration is to be met at the threshold with Christian and American influences. The Government itself is to be made, as far as practicable, an image of the Divine Sovereingty.

In what form, by what means, these and like ends can be reached are questions to which much of your deliberation will be given. There are none who have a mind to comprehend and a heart to feel the greatness of the issues before the American people, who will not fervently hope that your wisdom and your spirit may contribute largely to the guidance of American Christians in the conflict to which they are called, and all such souls would reverently join in invoking upon you light from Him who is the Light of the world.

MR. JAY: I know that I anticipate the unanimous wish of this Conference, when I extend to Bishop Andrews our sincere thanks for his cordial, hopeful and most valuable address of welcome. (Applause.) We will now listen to the first paper of the Confer

ence.

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »