The American Missionary — Volume 41, No. 03, March, 1887Various
Religion
The American Missionary — Volume 41, No. 03, March, 1887
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
“The meeting at New Haven was the best I ever attended;
everything moved so easily, and there seemed to be such a
good spirit. But of all the papers read, there was none that
interested me so much as Rev. Dr. Strieby’s, from the fact that
it carried me back to those dark days when I, as an Abolitionist
and a Presbyterian, united with the Society. He brought all the
historical facts of those days out so clearly that I had to say
amen, and amen, and thank God that I had lived to see the great
change in our beloved America. I have never left a stone unturned
for the A. M. A., for I have always found it true to humanity and
working for the interest of the Master. Therefore I have stood
by it, and at the same time never have forsaken the Board of my
own church. I am sure that meeting brought me a little nearer to
Heaven, and I rejoice that I was spared to enjoy its blessings.
Push on until all men of all nations of the world are brought to
the knowledge of the truth as it is in our blessed Jesus.”
* * * * *
When we offer the prayer, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done
in earth as it is in heaven,” it is simply a petition that the
kingdom of heaven become the kingdom of earth. The kingdom of
heaven, in so far as it is in the earth, is in the hearts of
men. When it shall be in the hearts of all men and call forth
their loyal service, the prayer will be answered. As Christians
we are bound not only to pray but to help answer our prayers.
Into what a field for self-culture membership in Christ’s church
introduces the believer! Large thoughts tend to make large
souls. It is not merely the local church or community in which
one happens to be, for whose interests he prays and plans and
works; it is the kingdom of God in the earth. The local church
may be small and limited in the opportunities that it offers for
soul-growth, but the kingdom of God has no limit. In its reach
it is wide as humanity. “Christ sees in every man, even in the
poorest and most miserable, a human being whose privilege it is
to become a member of the kingdom of God.” The vision of the
disciple should be like that of the Master. High and low, rich
and poor, ignorant and learned, are words that mark degrees and
conditions in human society, but in the Divine sight all are low
and poor and ignorant and lost who have not by the regenerating
power of the Holy Ghost, through faith in Jesus Christ, been born
into the kingdom of God. The Gospel is to be preached to every
creature. If we cannot go in person we can in purse and prayer.
Representatively we can preach in the ends of the earth, heal
the sick, feed the hungry and clothe the naked. Obligations to
the particular home field that the individual church to which we
belong cultivates, absolve us not from the obligations we owe
to the world-field into which the kingdom of God is coming by
the extension of the church universal. This large view of our
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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