THE KING’S BUSINESS
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versities are on every hand, and the men in the pulpit and the people in the pew will average ahead o f anything that has ever been. On the organisation side, the church o f the present lias far o'utstripped the church o f the past, and yet with all this extraordinary equipment arid preparedness the church has very little o f the kind of power that arrests attention, makes evil institutions tremble, convicts o f sin, and causes men and women to say: “What must we do to be saved?” There is little to indicate that a real and aggressive war fare is being carried on. The .very worst institutions plant themselves under the very shadow o f the church, and suffer naharm ; sinners attend their services in large num bers, yet real conversions are comparatively few. The early church, on the other hand, had practically no equipment, but it had power, which suggests the query whether we are not substituting equipment for power, and depending on the wrong things for results. Says John R. Mott: “An alarming weakness among Christians is that we are producing Christian activities faster than we are producing Christian experience and Christian faith; that the discipline o f our souls and the deepening o f our acquaintance with God are not prov ing sufficiently thorough to enable us to meet the unprecedented expansion o f oppor tunity and responsibility o f our genera tion.” THE NEED The fundamental need o f the churches is not money or members, or organization, or music, or eloquence, or scholarship. The fundamental need o f the churches is the Holy Spirit. “It is not.by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord o f Hosts.” There is no aggressive and conquering power for the churches apart from the Holy Spirit. And the particular church could do no better thing, no more business-like thing,. than to assemble, pas tor and officers and people, and look truth full in the face, and then prayerfully and irrevocably adjust itself to it. This would mean the transformation of.many lives, and in consequence a revolutionized church.
City o f Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Words, these that were spoken by the Master just before He opened the door into the invisible, and they are rich with spir itual significance. The disciples had fel- lowshipped with Him for three years and a little more; had heard His words and seen His miracles; had gone with Him into the Garden o f Gethsemane, up the Hill of Death, and on to the ascension mount, and breathed, almost without a break the won derful atmosphere o f His wonderful life—. and yet, in His opinion, they were not ready to enter upon their work. With all their equipment- and preparedness they lacked the great essential, power, and were bidden to tarry in expectant and importu nate prayer until the power should come. CLOTHED W ITH POWER Their leader had clearly promised this power before His departure, and it was their duty and privilege to wait until this promise was fulfilled, and when it was ful filled, after ten days o f waiting and sup plication, what a difference it made in the lives and ministry o f the disciples ! No longer hesitant and timid, no longer chilled by indifference and doubt, no longer in* bondage to' old habits and besetting sins, no longer weak and vascillating, blit clothed with power; the power o f the Holy Spirit, they cut their way like a wedge o f flame through all opposition, and caused multitudes to repent and drink o f the waters o f salvation. There is no truth that the church o f the present day needs more to face than this, the truth concerning power and how it may be obtained. There never was a time when the church was better equipped with certain things than now. On the matérial side, churches and temples and cathedrals are conspicuous for their size and beauty and number, while money is one o f the com monplaces o f the day. On the mathematical side, the membership o f the church was never so large as it is now. On the intel lectual side the church is fari ahead o f any former age. Schools and colleges and uni
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