Jonas Smucker Hartzler

“ Nothing has a more wholesome effect than to have a work for every member and every member doing that work. If the Church wants a deeper work of grace in the home congregation, if she wants less of selfishness in short, if she wants Christ fully established she must have a greater interest in the salvation of the lost world. If your son or daughter wants to go to other lands to carry the Gospel to the lost, are you ready to lend encouragement from the first? ”

“ Indoctrination The Church needs to be ably, carefully, prayerfully taught. Theories as well as subjects that are not Biblical, should be banished from the pulpit. The place is too sacred and the time too short to present anything which is not deeply rooted in God's Word. Truth needs to be thoroughly expounded so that the hearer may grasp it. The preacher should have no hobbies. The people want to hear all that is necessary to salvation. If the Church is properly taught there is not nearly so much danger of her getting away from the truth. ”

“ Let humanity try the Gospel plan of looking toward the welfare of others as well as to its own and see how quickly these things change.
The problem of unrest is not so much a problem for the Church as a body as for the individuals composing that body. This spirit of unrest is destruc tive to the best interests of the home, the community, and the nation. It requires the spirit of Jesus Christ to help us to be patient, to show that we live above these things and for a better purpose. The darkness of the world is great, but the darker the night the more effective the light. ”

“ We absolutely ought not to rest until all "from the least unto the greatest" shall have the opportunity to personally know our Savior, first, be cause He has commanded it and, second, that we be not swallowed up by the world. ”

“ God has favored her as He has very few others in the last five years. We can show our apprecia tion in no better way than to carry the Gospel to His creation in other parts of the world. We have the young people to send and we have the money to send them. The fact that we hold our membership in that religious organization says to the world that we believe that she has the right doctrine, that salvation through Christ comes to those who accept that teaching, and that those who do not have Jesus Christ are lost. ”

“ The young men of this country need to be saved from such a situation if that is possible, and if not possible then our young brethren need to know exactly what the position of the Church is on the question of military training, that as a body she is ready to suffer with them if that is necessary. Military training and nonresistance are diametrically opposed to each other. Only one of these can live and thrive in the minds of the young people. As to which it shall be depends on the training and prac tice of the present time in the home, in the school, and in the Church. ”

“ At once unrest and even riots are started. Strikes become the order of the day, and there is a general unrest. Creation of public sentiment, legislation, and what not are tried but without the desired results. Everything is tried except the right thing. ”

“ On the other hand, if the ministry does not teach a consistent separation from the world, two things are also very evident : first, that the young men are not likely to be separate; second, that it would be much harder for their brethren to get such freedom even if they were separate them selves. ”

“ We should freely give our sons and daughters. We should encourage the young people of the Church to willingly give themselves. Instead of this many of the churches refuse to ordain young men so long as they are not needed for the work at home. How very different this is from the mind of Christ. The Mennonites have a very large percentage of their young people gathered into the Church, and many of them are active but could and would do much more if they were urged more. ”

“ The number of food producers and factory workers will be materially decreased because these producers have gone to war and will be consumers and not producers. Money will be inflated and large investments will be made in wild schemes to get rich quick. All these things tend to increase prices of food-stuffs and manufac tured articles. It costs more to live and the price of labor rises rapidly, which only tends to raise the prices of the necessities of life still more, and labor asks for another raise ”

“ Here is a responsibility for every member of the Church.
Abnormal Conditions War itself is abnormal and tends to make every thing else so. Much more food will be needed than in times of peace because it must be expected that much will be destroyed by the enemy, some go to the bottom of the sea or otherwise be lost in transit or by improper storage. All due allowance must be made for waste in the process of preparation be cause of inexperienced cooks. ”

“ Our Place in the Mission Field If the Mennonite Church does not bring some thing essential to the world which other churches are leaving out, especially in the next two decades; if she will not reach out and fill some place with the Gospel which other churches will not fill; if she will not supply workers where other churches fail to sup ply, she will be missing the opportunities of a century. ”

“ Other denominations have sprung up, have lived a while and were then swallowed up by newer ones, or have themselves grown until they number their adherents by the hundred thousands. The Mennonite Church has lived for four centuries, but in spite of her age she is still one of the smaller bodies. Why has she thus existed? She ranks fairly high in the amount of wealth per capita, and has that wealth quite evenly distributed. She has for the last two or three decades been gathering her young people into the Church remarkably well, and many are prepar ing themselves for special service. ”

“ But the ministry is not alone responsible for this teaching. The Sunday school teacher is as responsi ble as the minister, and possibly more so because he comes into such close touch with the pupil, and in his "follow-up work" does not have so many to look after. Possibly a still greater responsibility comes to the home. If the child is trained for the world from infancy, it will be very hard to train it for Je sus Christ when it is grown up. Then, too, separa tion is not only a Bible doctrine in theory. ”

“ If we will not work system atically and persistently to this end for any other reason, we should be awakened to the need from that standpoint; but above all we should remember that the Great Commission, in the words of Jesus Christ, commands it. ”

“ The Money Side "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." "The cattle on a thousand hills are mine." "Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine." "All the earth is mine." This shows very clearly that all our possessions whether moneys, bonds, or lands all are the Lord s. Man's position is simply that of a steward. ”

“ Desperate efforts are be ing made at confederation, union, and the building up of a religion minus self-denial except as it is found in serving others, taking away sin without the blood of Christ, leaving the cross out of life, and leaving the unpopular out of Christianity. ”

“ When the war closes there must be a period of re-adjustment and here is where the trial comes. Labor has had higher wages and shorter hours. There is a general demand for a reduction of prices on food-stuffs to pre-war levels. ”

“ When he uses it for himself, or puts it into the bank, or invests it in land when the Lord needs it and man will not give it, it is as much a sin as if he has another man's possessions and will not re turn them. It is a problem how to get this before the people in a way that they will receive it and do their duty. ”

“ In other words, if any one of these bills became a law, with out exception aside from physical and mental unfit- ness, every young man in the land must take at least six months of training (the least time required by any of the bills now pending) , and once trained, he "automatically" becomes a soldier subject to Call at any time ”