The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1869-11-11
JACKSON G. H.. OHIO. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 81 1862

men and few faithful women TO Icy
the foundation of his church on the eve
of Pentecost. '.
To follow Jesus fully requires q
whole-hearted conversion at the start
Halfway converts make halfway
Christians. Some mems boughs hang
over on the church side of The Wall /;
but their roots are on the worlds side.
Such bear nothing but leaves. "Many
lay false and bastard foundations" said
quaint old Rutherford; "and they get
Christ for as good as half nothing, and
never had sick night of sorrow for
sin. This nlaketh loose wOrk" True
enough; and, unless the conversion is
radical and thorough, unless the sub
mission of the soul to Christ is without
compromise and conditions, there will
be haR-beartedness and hating to the
last Caleb, we are told, "had another
spirit within him." -
But there is prodigious power in
siBgleDess of love for Jesus--in the
doing "just one thing" and that is to
live solely for the Master A man of
very moderate talents and endowments
becomes a leading mind as soon as
Christ gets complete hold ofbim. l can
point to more than one plain, modest,
moderately educated Christian who has
attained TO a great propell'Rg power in
the church simply from hemomentuin
Of his godliness. He follows Jesus SO
heartily, so projectively that he carries
others along With him by his sheer mo
mentum. And that is not brain-power,
or horsepower mainly but heart7p0ger.
So it comes about that thorough godli,
ness outstrips genius in the pulpit
ThoroughgoiDg piety is sthe first requi.
site for the elders bench, for the Sun
day school teachers bench, for the
leadership of a class, of meeting, or
of any movement. Thoroughgoing
piety never commutes with the Master
for half fare, never whimpers 4" pray
thee haze me e1cased," F." never interprets
the Bible in the lax and latitudinarian
sense, and when there is a doubt on any
point gives God and not himself the
benefit of it. Such a Christian "loves
duty. even in the wholesome, seventies
of it," If his religion has ever a nee.
essary pain or pinch in il, he bears
them without fiinchipg. He never im-
itates Peter Pindar's pilgrim, who,
having been commanded to make a
long journey with peas in his shoes,
took the SLY precaution to boil his peas
before he tarted. Thousands are quite
willing to go heavenward with us pro-
vided they have choice seat in the
cushioned car; bnt commend me to the
Calebs who, discerning the land afar
off by faith, are ready for lifetime
march to reach it, over rough roads and
with stony pillows for bivouac.
! have come to consider those the
best members in my church who are
quite as good in ordinary times as they
ae amid the fervors Of a revival When
the church is all agow, and its meet
ings are magnetic with enthusiasm, how
easy it is to catch fire, to sing, to shout
hosanna, and TO 60 into raptures on the
mount. Ii is luxury to be Chris
tian then. But when the fervor is gone,
and the crowd is gone, and the flesh is
weak or weary, and the very air of The
room numbs the spirit, then to keep
agl0w, and to kindle others also, re-
quires the living fire of Christ Jesus in
the soul. 1t was easy for Caleb TO
exercise faith while he was picking
Eshcoi's grapes and feasting on the
fresh figsp but to keep up his faith
amid an army Of poltroons. and to hold
cut for nigh forty years in the desert,
demanded and developed the most res
olute pluck and principle. A revival
brings great glory to The Lord, but it
also brings great disgrace upon the
church, for it reveals so painfully the
Incidence and worldliness of those who
never lift a finger for Christ at any
time. Revivals iill the church; sea-
sons of dnllness and declension winnow
the church. We pastors never love
our Calebs so well as we do in those
dry, dreary spells Of comparative
drought; for they work right along,
without any need of external excite
ments. They are the salt that never
lose their SAVIOR. sa.
If seasons of spiritual decleusion siFt
our churches, so do times of swimming
worldly prosperity. Then we find ont
how many Calebs there are who can
keep lowly in heart while their income
Is running up from ten thousand to an
hundred thousand. When silly furores
and fashions rage, the chaff in our
churches always 20 with the gale; but
steadfast, solid Caleb never has but one
fashion, and that is toifollow Christ.
His first rule always is TO ''please God
rather than man, which trieth the
heart" t't uI
We have said enough to indicate who
the Calebs are. They are the sinew Of
the chuch. Blessed is the pastor 'who
hath his quiver full of tbem!" TO those
who inquire "How shall my church be
developedr we answer: ASK God for
more Calebs, and use such Cdlebs as you
hare Remember too, that an hundred
halt Christians do not make a single
whole one. Every addition made to
The weight of onr own personal Chris
tiauitv adds tO'tbe weight aud momen-
tum of the Church OF Christ. ..sa.