King's Business - 1919-06

500 THE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S ment of those who persistently reject Jesus Christ in the life that now is. On the other hand, if a man is a Presbyterian and yet rejects any of the truths just mentioned, I cannot co-operate heartily with him even though he he a Presbyterian. Denominational distinctions have never meant any­ thing to me. The Protestant church ought to be realigned along these vital lines. I am sorry to say I have grave doubts whether it can be, but you have asked, “ What should the churches of Protestant America do to meet the situation?” not what will the churches of Protestant America do. 3. The Churches of Protestant America, in order to meet the present situation, the grave crisis that is upon us, should be real Christians in the daily conduct of the membership of these' churches. They should give up the love of money, the love of display, the love of pleasure, and many other things that characterize a large share of the professing church today, and which are absolutely hostile to the manner of life demanded by the Lord Jesus Christ. 4. The churches of Protestant America should give up the attempt which has been so characteristic of church activity the past ten or twenty years of reorganizing society without the regeneration of the individual. The program set forth in the New Testament is not the reorganizing of society from without by mere ethical teaching and social reform; The program of Christianity is to reach society by leading the individual to a definite, personal acceptance of Jesus Christ and to a transformation of his own character, and thus to make society what it ought to be. The Protestant ministers and churches should give themselves up to intelligent, definite soul-winning as they never have before since the days of the apostles. They should work for real revival, not for great mass movements along thoroughly worldly lines and by thoroughly worldly methods, methods that oftentimes jar upon the spiritual instincts of intelligent Christians, and that aim at drawing vast crowds, making a great outward stir and bringing inordinate financial returns to the leaders in the movement, but a revival sent down from above in answer to prayer and manifestly carried on in the power of the Holy Ghost, and that results in the radical, thorough and permanent transformation of the lives of those who come under its power into the likeness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Protestant churches should pray as they never have before, absolutely surrender them­ selves to the lordship of Jesus Christ as they never have before, sacrifice as they have never sacrificed before, give as they have never given before, and wear themselves out in untiring work for the salvation of the lost as they never have before. While the present hour is one of crisis and peril, it is the greatest hour of opportunity that the Church of Jesus Christ has ever known. If the churches are faithful to the opportunity we shall see such gladdening results as we have never seen before in all the history of the Church on earth. God has been speaking to us in tones of thunder through the great cataclysm of the present war. He is calling us to devotion, sacrifice and effort. Will the churches hear the call? I do not know, but I know that many of us will. I would rather live and work in the present hour than in any hour of this old world’s history. Do Y ou Have Dailj) Family Demotions in Tour Home? See the Devotional Readings in this Magazine

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