The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-25

| conduct, nor impure words or cOndnct, out tnat
they. may see your good WORKS. VINO are 10 40
Those who profess to be followers Of Christ.
| The followers of Christ, for make distinction
| between the proiessed follower and me fol
| lower of Christ. The follower of Christ does
| this But then there are so many who profess
| 10 follow Christ that do the very opposite.
| They are Just like other people, and their inhu-
! ence is crippled and destructive, and can be
| nothing else. If we ever realize the amount of
| res possibility that rests upon us the ungodly
will fall out, and the progress of the Gospel will
! be great. The fact s, brethren, the men of the
| world are mpotent to hinder the progress of
| the Gospel, only as they are aided by professors
| OF religion. That may probably sound harsh to
| you; but, nevertheless, it is true. Peter pre-
| sents this IN very strong light. he speaks
very decidedly upon this subject in his first
letter. He says:-"Dearly beloved, beseech
| uou as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from
| heshly lusts, which war against the soul,n
Having your conversation, etc. Do you eX-
peot the ungodly man, the man of the world,
to do this No. 1t Is the real follower of
| Christ who is expected, and who does do it.
There is a grand distinction between she man
of the world and the godly man. On the one
hand the men OF the world are dong just what
you expect them to do; they are worldly
minded; they are full of vanity, fashion, and
amusement; they are in the midst of every sin
and folly; riotihg by day and by night; turning
day INTO night and night into day; running after
all the vanities OF the earth.
Where are the followers of CHRISTI What are
they dong? You cannot go into place of
amusement, perhaps, in thisFor any Christian
country, that you do not find large numbers of
professors OF religion. You meet worldly man
in the street; he tells you this. They have
played game of cards or billiards. or drank
brandy with him, and laughed over the seri
ousncss of men, and ridculed the idea of men
| attempting to stop the cars running on Sunday.
This is done. The preachers in your CITY have
preached in iaver of violating Gods fourth COM
mand, What is the effect of il? Is it not
throwing obstacles in the way of the progress
of the Gospel? Do younot know-does not
| every man in the community know-that as
| you lessen the popular respect for the COM
| mands of God, you lessen the popular respect
for all other law There is not an intelligent
| man or woman here, or in this city to-day, that
does not know that this IS the fact
If all Christians, therefore, stood up fully and
! PERFECTLY to the duties devolving upon them,
how different it would be! You will find,
| among other things that some men will say
! that for this reason it is that they have not
| made profession OF their faith. What reason
| see public men drink intoxicating beverages;
see a worldly man sit at the card liable; see a
worldly man drive out on Sabbath afternoon,
having his family with lhtm, for the air. Why
should the Sabbath air be more inVgoratng
and healthy than any other day?
have not heard from even one of those Sab
bath-breaking ministers the single suggestion
that Saturday afternoon should be set apart that
every man who employs a hard working man
should give HIM the half day, and not 'dock"
him, but give it to him. Let him have every
Saturday tor pleasure, and see whether the air
would not be as good on n Saturday as on Sunday.
are very inconsistent, and for this reason the
men of the world say they do not profess Christ.
think that reason is abused. The question
for you solve is whether you will obey God and
live, or reject Gods offer and die. 1t is not
| with my conduct that you have to do. You are
| not to become followers of men, but of Christ.
l am fully aware that men are disposed to
look at the followers OF Christ, and notice if we
| are weak or circumspect If they see member
of the Church breaking the Sabbath, what have
| you to expect. Can Christianity progress pro-
perly If the whole Church in her glory stands
| up as light, and shines before them, that they
| may see your good works, then Christianity
| must necessarily flourish. Is it not absurd and
| Cowardly for man to select bad man and
| uphold him as pattern? /? Look at the good
men. You know men and women OF God, who,
| as the Apostle says, Come out, and are spread
| abroad, and Eoe according to the precepts of
| the Gospel When you can bring the whole
Church of God up to that standard of living, all
will be well.
The power of deliVerance from the dominion
of sin is wanted in the Church, and not in the
world. BY the Church, suppose you all un-
deIstand my meaning. | mean all the believers
everywhere who profess to take the Bible and
live by it, That is what | understand as the
Church, the Church about which people talk.
1t is a great pity that they have allowed them
selves to run into anything of that sort-the
Bible does not justify it. The Church is to give
to live, ard by which the Christian must live,
and until the Christian Church does
live according to this rule, the condition
of Christianity will not prosper, and progress
will be made only as she does live by it, We
are then to give it diligence, to add faith to
courage, and courage to knowledge, and know
ledge to temperance, and temperance to
patience, and patience to godliness, and godli-
ness to kindness, and kindness to charity. These
are the things embraced in this rule. 1t is the
rule of addition. Multitudes in the Church,
instead of living according to this rule, live
| according to the rule of subtraction.
| 1t is a notorious fact that Christians are
little while engaged in this, and little while in
| that. They fail to hand in their contributions,
hear no more of, or know anything about them.
| They take no interest in your Sabbath School,
| and hence you see them in the world OF fashion
| and amusement, just as you see worldly men.
| Go into the churches of the city in which you
| live, and see how much they are interested in
| the cause of Christ Go among the reading
| members OF the Church. and see if they cannot
| give you a better account of the topics of the
! day than they can of the cause of Jesus Christ.
See II they are not more familiar with all the
| fashions, follies, and vanities of the world than
| with the sublime and grand doctrine of Gods
! truth and holiness.
Look at 1t yourselves, and then think it no
wonder that half the time of men and women
| is spent in reading that which is no manner or
form of importance to them, and the other half
| taken up with the vanities OF the world. Is it
| any marvel, then, that Christianity does not
| make progress? One of the most Formidable
obstacles to the rapid spread of the Gospel is
the worldliness of the protesting Chris tians. l
have partially alluded TO this already; but there
is most extraordinary Worldliness and 1T is
increasing-it is cursing the Church.
The members of the Church are becoming
as proud as Lucifer lintlmated to you this
7nornino th al i'm manV Of our churches the news