The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-01-18

ought to have. Oh, ii is a tremendous thir
TO stand before an audenc on Sabbath days
realizing the fact that the majority of then
will believe what you say about God and The
soul and the great future. Suppose mar
asked of you the road TO a certain place, and
you carelessly and falsely told him, and af
terward you heard that through lack of righi
direction that man was lost on the noun
tains, fell over the rocks and lost his life
You could not forgive yourself Yon would
say II wish l had taken more time with
that msp. / wish | had given him such
specific directions tn at he would not have
been lost. how sorry [ feel about it, But
oh, to misdirect the eternal interest:
of large congregation! How cold and
pits, actually sometimes pridiDe
ourselves On our elaboration, when we have
no right to be cold and ought to be almost
frantic with the perils that threaten oul
hearers. So much so that some oil us give nc
warning at all, aud we stand Sabbath after
Sabbsth, talking about human develop
ment," and We pat men on the back and We
please them, and we sing them all down
through the rapids to the last plunge. Or,
as the poet has it
smooth down the stubborn text 10 ear polite
And snugly keep damnstion out of sight!
Omy brethren in the ministry-for / see
them always in the audience-my brethren
in the MINISTRY, We can not afford TO do that
way. If you prophesy good things, smooth
things to your people, without regard to
their character. what chance will there be
for you in the day when you meet them at
the bar OF God? You had better stand clear
of them then. They will tear you to pieces
They will say: Il heard you preach 500
times, and l admired your philosophic dis
QUESTION and your graceful gestures aud
your nicely-molded sentences, curv Ilin ear
and stelliform, and | thought you were the
prince of proprieties;, but you didn't help
me prepare for this day. Cursed be your
rhetoric; cursed be yonr art. / am going
down, and I'll take you with me. 1t is your
fault; witness all
THE HOSTS OF HEAVEN
and all the hosts of darkness. 1T is your
fault. sir" And the chorus will come no
from all the world: "HiSfaulti His fault!'
ALI of us who preach this gospel need to
speak as though the pulpit quaked With the
tramp OF eternal realities; as though beneath
as were the bursting graves of the resurrec
ton morn; as though, rising above US, tier
above tier, were the myriads of Heaven look
ing down, ready to applaud our fidelity or
hiss at our stolidity, while coming through
the Sabbath air were the long, deep, harrow
ing groans of the dying nations that are
never dead. May God with a torch from
Heaven set all ahe pulpits OF England, Sc0t-
lsnd, Ireland and the United States on fire
As for myself, standing here in His presen &c
this morning | feel as If bad never begun
to preach. II God will forgive me for the
past. will do better for the future.
It's not q cause of small import
The pastors care demands:
But what might Ill an angel heart
lt filed SAVERS hands,
They watch for souls for which the Lord
Did heavenly bliss forego:
For souls that must forever live
In rapture or In woe
Still further | see a need fol- great
awakening in the fact that the kingdom of
God is making such slow progress. sim ply
state fact when / say that in many places
the church is surrendering and the world is
Iconquering. Where there is one man brought
into the kingdom OF God through Christian
there are ten men dragged
down by designations. Fifty grog shops built
to one church established. Literary journals
in different parts of the country filled with
scum and dandruff and slang controlled by
the very solutions of society, depraving
everything they put their hands on. Three
hundred and ten newspapers and journals
and magazines ia New York, and more than
two hundred of them depraviDg to the pub
lie taste, IL not inimical to our holy Chris
tianity. Look abroad and see the surrender,
even on the part of those who pretend to be
Christian churches to spiritualism and hu-
manitarianism and all the forms of devilism.
II man stand in his pulpit and say that
unless you be born again you will be lost, do
not the tight kid gloves of the Christian dia-
monds bursting through, 60 up to their fore
heads In humiliating shame? Ii Is not ele-
CANT. A mighty host in theChristian church,
positively protesting Christianity, do not be-
lieve in the Bible, cut and out, in and in,
from the first word of the first verse of the
first chapter Of Genesis down to the last word
OF the last verse of the last chapter of the
Book of Revelation. Oh, we have
MAGNIFICENT CHURCH MACHINERY
in this country. We have sixty thousand
American ministers; we have costly music
we have gteat Sunday schools: and yet l
give the fact that while the great cause OF
God Is marching on there are many regi
ments falling back, and if the army does not
come 70 complete route-aye, to CHASTITY Bull
Run defeat-it will be because some indi
vidusl churches hurl themselves to the 'front.'
and ministers Of Christ trampling Cd the ia
vor of this werld and sacrificing ever, thing
shall snatch up the torn and shattered ban
ner of Emanuel and rush ahead, crying
"On onl This is no time to run; this is the
time to advance"
| see still further the need of great wax
en- ing in the multitudinous going down OF
unforgiven souls. Since many of you came
on the stage of action a whole generation
has gone into the gates OF eternity. Your
opportunity 10 dCt upon tDcu Is SOue lncy
have disappeared from the churches, from
the stores, the shops the streets, from the
homes. You, o Christian man, had an op
portunity of meeting them; you did meet
them. You talked with them on other sub
iects. You had an opportunity of ssyinf
the saving word, and you did not say tha
saving word. Just think of that Oh, where
is the fountain where, with sleeves ROLLED
up, We may wash eur hands from th'
blood of souls? The only question is whether
Is Christian men and women, we can nov
interrupt the other professor that is march
ing down and will after awhile, If unar
rested by Gods grace fall off. There are go
ing out from our stores hundreds of thou
sands of clerks; going out nom our fsctorie
hundreds of thousands of operatives; Their
are going out OF our colleges hundreds
thousands of students; there are going on
of our fields hundreds of thousands of bus
bsndmen, TO Join the ranks of death. The.
are fighting their way down. They storm
and take every impeachment in their way
and who will throw himself in the way o
this stampede of dying men and women
who? crying. halt, halt"
Is is not time for something desperate
Inanimste solicitation will not do. The.
, will not stop for that. You need a momsn
tum gathered by whole souled wrestle Wit
the omnipotent God. Oh, these dy ing souls
these dying souls What shall we say q
them? What shall We do for them? Catcl
. them before they make the last spring. Pu
: down everything else and run for the re!
cue. To morrow may be too late. Thre
= o clock this afternoon may be too late. Mo-