men to conform to
environment.

And what of the church? Is it anything else or other than a means of
aiding man to conform to environment? If it fails of this, can it be
any longer the church of God? The church is a means, not an end. And
it is a means of godlikeness in man.

Some would make it a social club. The bond of union between its
members is their common grade of wealth, social position, or
intellectual attainments. And this idea of the church has deeper
root in the minds of us all than we think. I can imagine a far
better club than one formed and framed on this principle, but it is
difficult for me to imagine a worse counterfeit of a church. Others
make it a source of intellectual delectation, and the means of
hearing one or two striking sermons each week. Such a church will
conduce to the intelligence of its members, and may be rather more,
though probably less, useful than the old New England Lyceum lecture
system. Such a church is of about as much practical value to the
world at large as some consultations of physicians are to their
patients. The doctors have a most interesting discussion, but the
patient dies, and the nature of the disease is discovered at the
autopsy. Others still would make of the church a great railroad
system, over which sleeping-cars run from the City of Destruction,
with a coupon good to admit one to the Golden City at the other end.
The coaches are luxurious and the road-bed smooth. The Slough of
Despond has been filled, the Valley of Humiliation bridged at its
narrowest point, and the Delectable Mountains tunnelled. But
scoffers say that most of the passengers make full use of the
unlimited stop-over privileges allowed at Vanity Fair.

The Bible would seem to give the impression that the church is the
army of the Lord of Hosts, a disciplined army of hardy, heroic
souls, each soldier aiding his fellow in working out the salvation
which God is working in him. And it joins battle fiercely and
fearlessly with every form of sin and misery, counting not the odds
against it. And the Salvation Army seems to me to have conceived and
realized to a great extent just what at least one corps in this
grand army can and should be. And you and I can learn many a lesson
from them.

The church is the body of which Christ is the head, and you and I
are "members in particular." Let us see to it that we are not the
weak spot in the body, crippling and maiming the whole. The church
is the city of