We are gathered here to-day, the sons and daughters of a noble heritage, to call to remembrance the things our fathers began both to do and to teach, until the day in which they were taken up, after that they, through the Holy Spirit, had restored the church of Christ in name and doctrine and order, and had planned the kingdom into the eternal years and died in the faith, not having seen the fruit of their labors, leaving their unfinished work in the hands of their sons and successors, without whom they can not be made perfect. And above all the songs and prayers and the mingled voices of this happy multitude, I seem to hear, like the tones of a golden bell, these words of Christ: "One man soweth and another reapeth. Others have labored and ye have entered into their harvest." Others have told, and will continue to tell us, of the glory and greatness of the fathers and founders, their heroism and fidelity, the nobility of their character, the weight of their mentality, the immortality of their work. I glory in it. I am proud to be in such a succession of heroes and saints, yet I tremble under the burden which their mighty worth and works, their plans and purposes, have laid upon us. Had they been small men with narrow views and meager achievements, we might be forgiven mediocre work, we might be pardoned miserly giving and sacrifice. But being what they were, and doing what they did, we, their sons and successors, must be noble in our lives, great in our plans, princely in our giving, heroic in our missionary work, or else we can not escape indictment before the court of the world. The proposition to which I speak is this: that fidelity to the fathers binds us to preach the plea they loved; to make disciples according to the great commission; to build churches after the ancient order; to administer the ordinances as Christ commanded them; to plead for the unity of God's people in the terms of the New Testament; and, with this gospel and plea, to evangelize America. Obedience to Christ and fidelity to our noble dead lays this upon us. This Centennial harvest of the sowing of the fathers, and the law that the heirs of yesterday must be the benefactors of to-morrow, lays this upon us. To be worthy of the succession in which we stand, our twofold mission must be accomplished.

      The fathers were sowers. They might have chosen the easier lot, and been reapers of other men's harvests. They might have stifled their convictions and preached in churches others had builded. They might have lived in peace and quiet in the settled order of their times. But, for the sake of a pure gospel and a great faith, they chose the lot and life of the pioneer, traversing lonely mountains and plains; in perils of wilderness and waters; preaching in woods and schoolhouses; believing that the day would come when their faith would stand vindicated in the fidelity and achievements of their children; that their sons would believe as they [198] believed, would preach as they preached and would labor and love after the example and passion of their fathers. Heroes of faith, they endured because they saw this good day, and, seeing it, were glad. Aye, and they looked beyond this day, to the days yet to dawn, and saw in every city, village and countryside a beautiful church, known by the name which is above every name, standing for the great simplicities of the gospel of Christ, and they dreamed of the great multitudes going in to remember the dying Lord, and to worship the glorious Redeemer. And this was the ground of their confidence, the basis of their vision: they believed that their sons would never let the torch of truth go out, but would take it from their dying hands, and make it a conflagration to lighten the world; believed that their sons would grow rich in this world's goods and would give and serve like princes; believed that the plea which was dear unto them would become dear unto their children also, and that our supreme passion would be to press it home upon every human soul. Oh, what a missionary obligation the faith and the heroism of the fathers has laid upon us!

      And the call of this Centennial is this: that fidelity to the fathers binds us to vindicate their faith; to prune and keep and bring unto fruitage the vines they planted, and to fulfill their labors and hopes. You remember that great hour for Athens when Pericles commanded the youth of Greece to stand in audience. The plague had overwhelmed the city. They piled the corpses in the streets and burned them like cordwood. Every home was in mourning. It seemed that all must die and the city be no more. The old men counseled that they set Athens on fire and flee. Then it was that Pericles climbed the heights and cried unto the people to hear. He pointed them to distant Marathon, where their heroic dead were sleeping. He looked toward the Parthenon, now in the zenith of its magnificence and beauty. He told them the splendid history of the fathers and founders, and how they had builded Athens to stand forever. He told them the story of their great philosopher whose feet had stood upon this spot; of the orators who had thrilled the multitudes from the steps of the temple; of the poets and dramatists and patriots

L. O. BRICKER.

who had lent luster to Athens. And he cried: "Are all these treasures to perish? Are all these torches to die out for want of hands to feed the flame? Is all this glorious history to end here, because the sons are faithless and untrue?" Then Pericles swore them to everlasting fidelity to Athens and the faith of the fathers.

      And under such vows would I put myself and you. On this high day of the soul, let us call the roll of the convictions which were dear unto the fathers, and swear fidelity to them; let us recall their work of faith and labor of love and dedicate our lives unto high resolves; let us look again into their plans and purposes, and consider that we have received a retainer from God to finish their unfinished work. The evangelization of America is our inherited burden, a burden which this Centennial lays upon us with renewed emphasis and weight. The Christianization of the world depends ultimately upon America. America is to furnish not only the means for the world's conversion, but the type of the world's churches. The churches of the yet to be redeemed will be fashioned after the pattern revealed from this land. If they are to be Christian and apostolic after the New Testament order, it will be because we have fulfilled the plan and purposes of the American Christian Missionary Society, and have evangelized America. Here let us plan to do great things. We have a commission to do the work once done by the apostles. Let us labor with their vision, work with their energy, teach with their wisdom, love with their intensity, preach with their passion. We have gold enough and men enough with which to do the work. Here let the passion and enthusiasm be born. Let us be done with this unscriptural division running [199] through our office-bearers, of "preaching brethren" and elders. Every elder and deacon should preach. Every Christian must be a living gospel and witness-bearer. Let us make every established church among us a great heart of vital, life-giving, sin-cleansing blood, in the center of an organism of living beings; and regularly send our elders and deacons, our bankers and merchants, our lawyers and teachers, out into the towns and villages and countrysides to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. And in the places where we can not go ourselves, let us support this servant of the gospel, this channel through which gold breaks into voice, and money becomes the power of God unto salvation--the American Christian Missionary Society; whose business it is to send men to build up other centers of vital life like our own.

      The latest edition of Morley's "Life of Gladstone" has this very illuminating incident. When Gladstone went as a student to Oxford he found that a young man by the name of Ashley Cooper, who afterwards became the Earl of Shaftesbury, was assigned to him as room-mate. The two young men became instant friends. They were both pronounced skeptics then. But, strangely enough, they found, upon further acquaintance, that each was skeptical over a certain set of supposed facts that caused the other no difficulty whatever. And so Gladstone argued away young Cooper's unbelief, and Cooper proved the facts which Gladstone doubted. Then together they went through all the arguments against Christianity, and then they took up the evidences of Christianity and sifted them to the bottom. Then, seated on either side of the little table, they looked into each others' eyes one night, and each said to the other: "This thing is true." And there in their little room that night they entered into a covenant and vow, that since they could say nothing against it, and were convinced that it was true, that they would always say something for it; that no matter what the future held for them, they would let no day pass without telling the story and pressing the claims of Jesus upon some soul. Oh, what a magnificent resolution! Well, the years passed and they lived up to their vow. After awhile Gladstone became Premier of England; and no matter what the cares of state, or how many the burdens that pressed down upon his heart and mind, the best hours of every day were devoted to telling the story of Jesus, and doing the work of Jesus, down in the slums of London's outcast and distressed. By and by young Cooper became the Earl of Shaftesbury and entered the House of Lords. But the habit of telling the story of Jesus to one soul every day had grown to be such a passion with him as to override all other ambitions and desires. He gave his life to it. He brought all his millions--and all his splendid personality and influence and lent them to God's poor. He took upon his own great heart all the sorrows of London's newsboys, orphans, workingmen and distressed women. He said that he had received a retainer from God against every form of wrong and oppression. The reforms which have made England a new country are due to Shaftesbury alone. He became England's best loved man. One day in Parliament an enemy was speaking against Shaftesbury and plotting his overthrow, when an aged lord arose in his seat and said: "It is useless for any man to try to injure or seek to overthrow Lord Shaftesbury; for every night in England twenty millions of men and women and little children, on their knees, call down the blessings of God upon his head."

      How unspeakably better the world is to-day, and how much it has meant to God and mankind, that those two young men that night made their vow that, being convinced of the truth, the best of their lives should be given to telling the story. Let us make a vow like that for ourselves and our children. Let us, with the passion of apostles, persuade our men and women to dedicate their best, and give their time and talents unto Christ's work; to let their position and honors break into voice, and their success become eloquent; to consecrate their culture and become teachers and leaders of the people; to forswear ease and earthly ambition; to die with Christ, and build their renewed lives into the great things of his kingdom. [200]

[CCR 198-200]