THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH.
By George S. Knight
"They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." Acts 2:42. THIS verse brings to view four great characteristics of the early church, four great pillars on which the church in its pristine purity and simplicity rested,—love of the truth, love of one another, frequent remembrance of Christ, and constant prayer. Now, when we think how the primitive church lived on these truths with joy and gladness, and died for them in triumph, and when by way of contrast we consider how formal and spiritless a thing modern church life frequently is, we can not but be impressed that there has been a departure from the divine ideal. Evidently it will only be by an intense, earnest struggle that the church will ever get back the power of the truth which inspired those lowly disciples, whose daily life made such an impression upon the community that fear came upon every soul. The power of the truth must be measured by its effects, which show it to be almighty. That was a time when all God's people were God's priests, when there was no proxy service of one for another, when all—men, women, and children—held themselves under personal obligation to sacrifice all for Christ. The spirit of sacrifice was not the privilege of the few, but the common heritage of all. "They loved not their lives unto the death." Rev. 12:11. As this refers to the remnant church, it is evident that there must be a returning to those early principles of sacrifice, if need be even unto death. If the church be loyal to these principles, she will be a light to the world—not a glimmering, unsteady, flickering taper, but the glorious search-light of God, shining through the lives of her members, with all its penetrating intensity, into the darkest recesses of the human heart, not only revealing to itself its own misery and darkness, but revealing the tender, pitiful, loving Saviour, who said, "Ye are the light of the world." Matt. 5:14. "Let your light so shine before men," etc. Verse 16. Then if the church is a lighthouse, her light should be burning every day; if a rescue home, her boats should be manned every day; if a temple, her altars should be accessible every day. Has she healing power, let her go to the sick; if comforting power, let her be as an angel, ministering consolation to the sorrowing. If lifting power is hers, let her find those who have fallen, and reach far down into the lowest depths of misery and degradation with the omnipotent arm of love, and lift the wretched victims, and place their feet on the Rock, and establish their goings. The church must not stand and beckon. She must go. Her ministry should be as penetrating as human misery and wretchedness, and as comprehensive as the pity of God. Her members should be swift to seek and to save that which was lost—lost anywhere and in any sense. The church which would be true to the principles announced by Christ, and exemplified in His life, must ferret out human sin, misery, and ignorance, and bring them to the light of the truth which she possesses. There must be a purpose to apply the whole Gospel to the whole man, to meet the people at every point of need—physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual. Christ's sacrifice for us necessitates a sacrificing church, whose ways of working adjust themselves to every new occasion, but whose spirit is as changeless as the Spirit of Christ. The mission of the church is to save the souls of men. It is her only mission, and should be her only thought. The good of doing is not felt by the recipient alone; it reacts upon the doer. The curse of men has been, and is now, to do for others by proxy. Let the church go and do as Christ did, and she will soon find that loving deeds are as potent as ever, that hard hearts are melted by the Christ-Spirit of love. The true church does not wait for the people to come to her; she goes to the people, following the command of her Master, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in." Only as the church comes into personal touch with the people will she know what is best to do for them, and how best to do it. Should not more time be given to studying ways and means of winning souls? Every member of the church must do something personally to win souls; those who do not will rust out from inaction. The law which obtains in the physical world, that exercise is necessary to growth, is just as potent in the spiritual world. So if the church would grow, she must work. GEO. S. KNIGHT.