The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-09-28

What do you know, my brother, about living
gospel made to storm the worldl Now. my idea
of a Christian IS fire with zeal for God;
and II your pulse ordinarily beats sixty times a
minute when you think of other themes and
talk about other themes, if your pulse does not
go up to seventy-fve or eighty when you come
TO talk about Christ and heaven, it is because
you do not know the one, and have poor chance
OF getting to the other.
Suppose. in military circles, on the morning of
battle, the roll is called, and out of thousand
men only hundred men in the regiment an
swered. What excitement there would be in the
camp! What would the colonel say! What
high talking there would be among the captains.
and majors, and the adjutants! Suppose word
came to Headquarters rnn. these denquents ex-
cused themselves on the ground that tn-s had
oversight themselves, or that the morning was
damp, and they were afraid of getting their feet
wet, or they were busy cooking rations. My
friends, this is the morning of the day of God
Almighty's battle! Do you not see the troopsl
Hear you not all the trumpets of heaven and all
the drums of helll Which side are you ona If
you are on the right side, to what cavalry troop
to what artillery service. to what garrison duty
do you belongl In other words in what Sab
bath school do you search9 In what prayer
meeting do you exhort3 To what peniten-
tiary do you declare eternal libertya To what
a!mshCuse do you announce the riches Of heaven2
What broken bone of sorrow have you ever set?
Are you doing nothing2 Is it possible that
man or woman sworn to be follower of the
Lord Jesus Christ is doing nothingl Then hide
the horrible secret from the angels Keep it
away from the book of judgment If You
doing nothing, do not let the world find it out,
lest they charge your religion with being false
face. Do not let your cowardice and treason be
heard among the martyrs about the throne, lest
they forget the sanctity of the place and curse
your betrayal of that cause for which they
agonlzed and died.
THE URGENT NEED OF ACTION.
Nav The atarnal God rouco re oil IN al; I
AS for myself, feel 1 would be ashamed to die
now and enter heaven until have accomplished
something more decisive for the Lord that
bought me. would like to join with you in
an oath, with hand high uplifted to heaven,
swearing new allegiance TO Jesus Christ, and to
work more for His cause and kingdom OH,
brethren, how swiftly the time does 60 by. 1t
seems to me never saw such swift summer
never summer that had such nmble feet. It
seems to mo as if the years had gained some
new power of locomotion-a kind of speed
electric.
If, this afternoon, you take short Sleep and
you are entitled to it, for God intended the Sab
bath not only for rest for the soul, but rest for
the body, you will at least have one or two
hours in which to lay out plan for Christian
work in this ecclesiastical year Husband and
wife, talk with each other. Brothers and sisters
resolve upon some work for Christ On
your knees cry unto God: Lord, what will
Thou have me TO dof' and stay your knees
until you get the answer. Are you ready to join
with ne in some new work for Christi feel
that there is such a thing as claustral pety;
that there is such thing as insular work. but it
seems to that what want now is con-
certed action. The temple of Berth is very
broad any it is very high. 1t has been going
up by the hands of men and devils, and no
human engnery can demolish it, but if the fifty
thousand ministers Of Christ in this country
should each take branch of the tree of life, and
al their congregations should do the same and
we should march and throw these branches
around the great temples of sin, and wordiness.
and folly. 1T would need match or coal, or
torch of ours to touch off the pile. for in the
days of Elijah, fire would fall from heaven and
knde the bonfire of Christian victory de-
mOshed sin. 1t is kindling now! HuZZa! The
day is ours
Still further, I learn from this subject the
danger of false refugees. AS soon as these
Shechemites got into the temple they thought
they safe They said: BERTH will take
care of Us. Abimelech may batter down every
thing else; he cannot batter down this temple,
where are now hid" But worry soon they
heard the timbers cracking. and they were
smothered with smoke. and they niserably died.
And you and | are just as much tempted to
false refugees. The mirror this morning may
have persuaded you that you have a comedy
cheek your best friends may have persuaded
you that you have elegant manners; Satan may
have told you that you are all right but bear
with me if l tell you chat If unpardoned you
all wrang. / have no clinometer by which to
measure how steep is the inclined plane you
descending, but know it is very steep Well
you say, ''f the Bible is true, l am sinner.
Show some refuge; will step right into it."
l suppose that every person in this audience
this moment is stepping into some kind of refuge
Here you step in the tower of good works. You
say: Il shall be safe here, in this refuge" The
battlements are adorned; the steps are var
nished; on the wall are pictures of all the suf-
fering you have aleviated, and all the
schools you have established, and all the fine
things you have ever done. Up in that tower
you feel you safe. But hear you not the
tramp of your objectionable sins all around the
tower9 They each have a match. They
kndling the combustlble material. You feel the
heat and the sufocation Oh! may you leap in
time the gospel declaring: by the deeds of
the law shall flesh living be justified"
We'll" you say. Il have been driven out of that
tower; where shall gol' Step into this tower
of Indifference. You say: ''If this tower is at
tackled. it will be great while before it is
taken" You feel at ease. But there is an
Abimelech, with ruthless assault, coming on.
Death and his forces are gathering around and
they demand that you surrender everything and
they clamor for your immortal overthrow, and
they throw their skeleton rms in the windows
and with their iron fists they beat against the
door, and while you are trying to keep them out
you see the torches of judgment kindling, AID
every forest is torch. and every mountain a
torch, and every sea torch, and while the Alps
and Pyrenees, and Himaayas turn into live
coal, blown redder and redder by the whirlwind
breath Of God omnipotent, what will become of
your refuge of lies7
But" says some one, "you are engaged in a
very mean business, driving us from tower to
tower" Oh, no! | want to tell you of Gibral
tar that never has been and never will be ken;
of wall that no Satanic assault can scale; of a
bulwark that the judgment earthquakes cannot
bulge. The Bible refers to it when it says: I'm
God is thy refuge, and underneath thee are the
everlasting arms" Oh! fling yourself into it.
Tread down unceremoniously everything that
intercepts you. Wedge your way there. There
are enough hounds of death and peril after you
to make you hurry. Many man has persisted
with his hand on the latch Oh! get inside. Not
one surplus second have you tos spare. Quick,
quick, quick!
Great God. is life such an uncertain thing2 If
bear a little too hard with my right foot
the earth. does it break through into the grave?