NOT ORGANIZATIONS BUT CONSECRATION.
It is not more human organizations that God needs in his work to-day, but human consecration. There is much work done for the Lord by faithful souls in most if not all of the great Christian organizations in the field; and many honest persons are prone to ascribe the credit of the work to the organization, and to believe that because such work has been done by its members the organization must therefore be of God. But in many cases the Lord has wrought in spite of the organization and not because of it. The W. C. T. U., the Y. P. S. C. E., the Y. M. C. A., the King's Daughters, have in their membership many loyal, self-sacrificing souls who have nobly co-operated with God for the salvation of their fellow-men. But shall we therefore worship these organizations to which these workers belong?—Not at all; to God be all praise. He worked with those who were successful because they were consecrated to him and those for whom they wrought were needy. When some of these organizations were formed, those who did the work were moving in the best light they had, and the Lord accepted the work because of the consecrated heart; but this acceptance was not by any means a seal upon the organization under which the work was wrought. Many a soul has doubtless been brought from the slums to a life of respectability by W. C. T. U. women, by Salvation Army workers, by Christian Endeavorers, by the King's Daughters, by Sisters of Charity, the latter of whom have given many shining examples of devotion to irksome, toilsome, fearsome, perilous duty, on the battle field, in fever hospitals, in plague-stricken cities. But we do not believe that God wrought through these devoted workers because of the organizations, societies, unions, leagues, or guilds to which they belonged. He wrought in disregard of them, often in spite of them, and yet in the eyes of the great majority, the organization, not the Lord, received the praise. There are many other precious souls who are working for others. No one knows the sums of money they give by self-sacrifice, the souls they help, the sinners they bear with the same vicarious spirit of our Lord upon their heart. There is no society organ to blare abroad their name or take glory to the human because of their work. Yet all their work is written in heaven. We do not decry organization, but it does seem to us that the church of the living God, with all its offices and gifts of the mighty Spirit of God,—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, miracles, gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues, wisdom, knowledge, ministry, elders, deacons, deaconesses, etc., etc.,—with Jesus Christ as its Head, Witness, Leader, Commander, is all that is needed to carry forward his work in the earth. Carried forward by his organization, all the glory will redound to him and shed abroad the luster of his name, the power of his Word, and the uplifting influence of his life. Let there be organized work on the broadest and freest lines, but let it be within the control of Jesus Christ through his church. The Babel of human hands and hearts and minds and creeds may promise much; people may say as of old, “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest”—but instead of proving Babel the gate of God, it will end in confusion, which every new attempt will increase. God's call is to come out from all things not of his founding, to come back to his Word and his own divine plans set forth therein. “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the Word of the Lord endureth forever.” And also, “He that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” What the infinite Heart of Heaven longs for is consecrated individual hearts.