EDITORIAL                     271

preaching or ministration, they set their seal upon his min-
istry and are a kind of credential of his call.
    Childless wives and ministers without "souls for their
hire" there will doubtless continue to be, each filling a use-
ful place in the home and in the church, but if the world
were left to these, the human race would disappear on the
one hand and the church become extinct on the other.
    There are many blessed "comes" in the Bible; there are
also many imperative "goes." The word of the Master is
"go," "preach."  St. Paul felt the burden of it, weight of it,
the "woe" of it.
    The Master did not say, "go sing," or "go pat your
feet and slap your hands together," but "go preach!" After
preaching, there is no record that the Apostles asked those
who would be converted to "hold up their hands" or to
"stand up." At the close of his pentecostal sermon Peter's
word to the hearers was: "Repent and be baptized every one
of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." (Acts
2:38.) Paul's word to the jailer at Philippi was: "Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:
31.) This gives us a glimpse of the spirit and method of
these men who were masters of the art of winning souls
    True, these are not Apostolic times; neither are they
the times before and just after emancipation. While recall-
ing the former, it is well not to overlook this latter fact.
    The contents of the Gospels-or broadly speaking, of
the New Testament--will remain the same forever; but the
method of their application must change with the times in
which we live and be suited to the condition of the people
we would reach.
    Note, for example, how differently Paul, in his Epistles,
approached the Christians in Rome from those at Corinth or
Galatia.
    A few months ago Prof. J. R. Hawkins raised the cry:
"A million souls and a million dollars this quadrenium." It
is a splendid war-cry, a quickening call. But if we get the




			

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 29, Num. 3

Editorials

Volume:  29
Issue Number:  03
Page Number:  260
Date:  01/1913