The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-02-28
RIGHT TO THE POINT
Was the Sermon Preached Sun
day Morning at the Chris
tian Church, by the Pastor,
Elder j. 81. Duncan.

Most practical was Elder Duncan's ser
mon Sunday morning. at the Christian
church. 1t was one of the kind that cause
men and women, In and out Of the church,
to consider their relation to those duties
which are imposed upon all, while it
fairly shook the dry bones whose names
adOrn church rolls into terror at their
miserable delinquencies and miserly
stinginess.
The scripture selected as the basis of the
sermon is to be found in James, 4rh chap
ter, and from verse 18th to 18th inclusive:
the latter verse being the chief ground work
OF the discourse. 1t reads as follows:
Therefore To HIM that knOweth to do
good. and dOeth it not, to him it is sim
We all know, said the preacher, better
than we do. There is now boy preacher
in Cincinnati who is greatly stirring the
churches by simply trying to get christians
To do what they know is their duty. He
breaches no new doctrines, is not sensation
al, but only iorcibly presents duty to the
church members.
The text and context are a warming as
to the uncertainty of life. We know not
at what moment the black-winged angel
shall call for us. 1t is also statement of
our dependence on God. Men boast of what
they, In their own strength, can do, but how
foolish and weak they are. There is an
evil in this bOasting and glorying, and in
view of these facts We can better understand
the meaning of the words ito do good"
The man who knows all these things of
which / have spoken and does not live in
view of them, is sinner. This prin-
ciple is general and refers t. all
of Gods commands. Willful ignorance
is no excuse. A knowledge of right obli-
gates us to do what is right. This isGOd's
law. A neglect of known duty is sin.
And this latter is one of the chief sins of
men and women in and out of the church.
Let us apply it to christians There is
the duty of holding local church member
ship. How many there are in Setlalia
who, when they left the old home to settle
here, took letters from their church, and
still hold ON to them! They give the
fimsiest sort of excuses when asked to Join
the church here, and thereby stultify their
character as christians.
And there is the neglect of church at
tendance. We have in this church -,
regular attendants on the Lords day, from
our membership. There are eighty-ive
who attend occasionally, wind and within per-
hitting, and fifty who never attend. Think
of these facts, and then ask if there is not a
neglect of known duty. Our board of
elders has determined to look after these
delinquents and bring them, if possible, to
their duty.
Again, there is the neglect of the duty of
contributing to the church's expenses
From carefully prepared statistics l find
that some OF the poorest girls in this
church give the most regularly. During
last month only 1l6 members gave any,
thing, while 135 of our members did not
give a cent. What a sad record This is
wrong and our board of officers, at the last
meeting, directed the deacons to call on
these nOn-contributors and ask them to do
their share toward bearing the expenses,
and if any refused they were to be reported
to the eldership as subjects for discipline.
In conclusion, the pastor spoke of the
duty of men out of the church, in giving up
sin for Christ; in confessing Him before men,
and in being baptised and joining the
church. These are known duties, and men
who neglect them commit sin. The ser
mon was interesting all through, and pro-
duced a profound impression on those who
heard it. Ii is the kind of preaching
needed