Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-06-08

the door of the Bethlehem caraYansarai
andIt He had not with the crushed hand
Of the cruciiixion Knocked AT the iron
gate Of the sepulchre of our spiritual
death, crying: Lazarus, come forth y
Q my Christian friends. this is no time
for inertia when al the forces OF darkness
seem TO be in full blast; when
steam printing presses are publishing
inbdeI tracts; when express railroad
trains are carrying messengers of sin -;
when fast clippers are laden with opium
and rum; when the night air of our cities
Is polluted with the laughter that breaks
up from the 10000 saloons of dissipation
and abandonment; when the fires of the
second death already are kindled IN the
cheeks Of some who only little while
ago were incOrrupt; oh, never since the
curse fell upon the earth has there been
time when il was such an unWise, such
cruel, such an awful thing for the church
to sleep. The great audiences are not
gathered in the Christian churches; the
great audiences are gathered in temples
OF sin-tears Of unutterable woe their bap-
tism, the blood Of crushed hearts the
awful wine of their sacrament, bias
phemies their litany, and the grOans Of the
lost world the organ dirge of their wor-
ship!
Again, if you want to be qualified to
meet the duties which this age demands
Of you, you must on the one hand avoid
reckless icOnOclasm, and on the other
hand not stick too much to things because
they are old. The air is full of new plans,
new projects, new theories of government,
new theOlOgies, and am amazed To see
how so many Christians want only
novelty in order to recommend thing to
their confidence, and so they yacillate and
swing to and fro, and they are useless and
they are unhappy. New plans-secular,
ethical, philosophical, religious, cIsat-
lantic, transatlantic-long enough to
make line reaching from the German
universities to great Salt Lake City. All,
my brother. do not take hold of thing
merely because it is new. Try it by the
realities of a judgment day. But, on the
other hand, do not adhere to anything
merely because it is old. There is not a
single enterprise of the church or the
world but has sometimes been scOtfed at.
There was time when men derided
even Bible societies; and when a few
young men met near a haystack in Mas
sachusetts and organized the first mis-
si0nary society ever organized in this
country, there went laughter and ridicule
all around the Christian church. They
said the undertaking was prepOsterOus.
And so also the work of Jesus Christ was
assailed. People cried out: "Who ever
heard Of such theories Of ethics and gov
ernmentY Who ever noticed such "A style
of preaching as Jesus bas'' Ezekiel had
talked of mysterious wings and wheels.
Here came a man from Capernaum and
Genessaret and he drew his illustrations
from the lakes, from the sand. from the
rayine, from the lilies, from the corn
stalks. How the Pharsees scOhed! How
HerOd deTiGed! How Judas Missed And
this Jesus they plucked by the beard and
they spat in his face and they called him
"thls fellow All the great enter
prises IN and out of the church have
at times been scoffed at, and there
have been great multitude who
have thought that the chariot of Gods
truth would fall to pieces If it once got cut
Of the old rut. And so there are those who
have no patience with anything like i'm
prOvement in church architecture, or with
anything like good, hearty, earnest church
singing, and they deride any form of reli-
giOus discussion which goes down walk
ing among everyday men, rather than that
which makes an excursion on rhetorical
stills. Oh, that the church of God would
wake up 10 an adaptlbility of work We
must admit the simple fact that the
churches of Jesus Christ in this day do not
reach the great masses. There are fifty
thousand people in Edinburgh who never
hear the gospel. There are one million
people in London who never hear the gOs-
pei. There are, at least, three hundred
thousand souls in the city of BrOOklYa
who come not under the immediate minis
trations of Christ's truth; and the church
OF God, in this day instead of being a
place full Ofllying epistles, read and known
of all men, is more like a ''dead letter.
post office.
But" say people, "the world is going
TO be converted; YOU must be patient: the
kingdoms of thus world are to become the
kingdoms of Christ" Never, unless the
church of Jesus Christ puts on more
speed and energy. Instead Of the church
the world, the world is con-
vertlng the church. Here is great
fortress. How shall it be taken? An
army comes and sits around about it, cuts
of the supplies, and says: "Now we will
Just wait until from exhaustion and star
Walton they will have to give up" Weeks
and months and perhaps a year pass
along, and finally the fortress surrenders
through that starvation and exhaustion.
But, my friends, the fortresses of sin are
never to be taken in that way. If they
are taken for God, it will be by storm.
y lou will have to bring up the great siege
guns of the gospel to the very wall and
wheel the flying artillery into line, and
when the armed infantry of heaven shall
confront the battlements, you will have
to give the quick command; Forward
Chargew
All, my friends, there is work for you
TO DO and for me to do in order to this
grand accomplishment. Here is my pulpit
and preach in it. Your pulpit is the
bank. Your pulpit is the store. Your
pulpit is the editorial chair. Your pulpit
is the anvil. Your pulpit is the house
scatfOlding. Your pulpit is the mechanics
shop. | may stand in this place and
through cOwardice or through self-seek-
ing may keep back the word I ought to
utter; while you, with sleeve rolled up
and brow besweated with toll, may utter
the word that will jar the foundations OF
heaven with the shout OF great victory.
Oh, that this morning this whole audience
might feel that the Lord Almighty was
putting upon them the hands OF Ordina-
ton. j tell you every one, 20 forth and
preach this gospel. You have as much
right TO preach as | have, or as any man
has. Only lind out the pulpit where God
Will have you preach and there preach.
Headley Wears WAS wicked man in
the English army. The grace Of God came
20 him. He became an earnest and emf
nent Christian. They scOfred at him and
said: "Hou are hypocrite; you are as
bad rs ever you Were.' still he kept his
faith in Christ, and after awhile, finding
that they could not turn him aside by cali
ing him hypOcrite, they said to him :
ION, you are nothing but Methodist"
That did not disturb him. He went on
performing his Christian duty until he