The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-06-02
TO God. Iwish they would invent something

to God. WISH Cnoy would lnVenG SOHleIulnH
and take it very soon, for I am very certain
the way we ure going is not the right way,
or it would have been done long before this" "
Our religion is not casuistry, it is not
syllogism, it is not polemics which Is the
science of squabble 1t is blood red fact, 1t
Is warm hearted ministration. it is running,
leaping, flying good news. Let every man
go into the forest OF Gods truth and take
branch and wear it, let him take a branch
and kindle it. do not care how the temple
of sin is brought down. If the temple OF
Berth is going to be demolished, it does not
make any difference to me which way it is
demolished.
NV subject also impresses me with the
power. Of example If Abimelech had sat
down on the grass and told the people to go
out and throw tree branches all around about
the temple Of Berth, not one Of them would
have gone; but Abimelech took his ak and
he hewed down a tree branch, and with
Abimelech's arm it was put on Abimelech's
shoulder, and he marched out to the temple
of Berth, and the people followed all armed
in the same strange way and all going to the
same place. How natural that isl Do you
know why Garibaldi and Stonewall jackson
were the most majestic leaders Of the century,
Because they went ahead and said: "Men,
follown A father goes on the right road, his
children 20 on the right road. A father goes
on the wrong road, his children 60 on the
wrong road In the galleries Of Europe you
often find before the work Of one OF the old
masters two or three artists making copies,
and these copies of the great picture they are
going to take to distant lands. And have
to tell you, my. hearers, that your life ..and
character are masterpiece, and it Is being
copied, and it will bloom or blast in all the
homes over which you have any influence
long after you are gone, and be Gorgon or
Madonna. Look at what you do, my
brother, look at what you say, eternity
will hear the echo. The best sermon ever
preached is holy life. The best music ever
chanted is consistent walk. Let all the way
between Zalmon and Shechem be filled with
the tossing branches. Where Abimelech go
Isaac begat Jacob. The father good, it was
easy enough for the son and the grandson
to be good. Azariah begat Jacob, and Jacob
begat Jeraboam. The father bad. it was easy
enough for the son ana the grandson TO De
bad. Start for heaven yourself, and take
your family with you; take your business as
sociates with you; take your social friends
with you. With one branch Of the tree OF
life as baton, marshal all you can reach.
Oh, the infinite, the semi-omnfpotent power
Of good or bad example saw on the beach
a wrecker's machine, great cylinder, holes
through it where poles were thrust, and then
the wreckers would shoot out the rope among
those who were in the offing suffering while
the ship was going to pieces, and then with
very strcng leverage these wreckers would
lay hold of these poles thrust through the
cylinder, and the rope would wind around
the cylinder, and those who. were suffering in
tho otting were brought safe to land. And
at your foot there is an influence
of tremendous leverage reaching far
out into the billowy future, and
your children, your grandchildren,
and all the generations that are to follow
will take hold of it with stout grip and will
feel the far reaching pull after you have been
gone so long that the visitors to your tomb
stone cannot decipher whether it was in 1855
or 1885 or 1856 that you died.
My subject also impresses me with the ad-
vantage OF concerted action. II Abimelech
bad Just Gu down q tree branch and shoul-
dered it, and gone out all alone he would not
have accomplished anything; or if ten or IF.
teen men had cut down tree branches and
shouldered them and marched out, they
would not have accomplished anything; but
1t was all the host doing the same thing. Oh,
the power of concerted action. That is what
we want in the church of God to-day. Why,
IL all the churches should stand shoulder to
shoulder in this great battle for God and
against iniquity, in twenty-five years tne
whole earth would be ransomed. But 1t
seems that there are thousand men in the
church Of God doing nothing where there Is
one enthusiastic Christian. Twenty drones
in the hive to one busy bee. Twenty sailors
sound asleep in the ships hammocks to four
men on the stormy deck Fifty thousand
soldiers in the reserve corps to one thousand
active combatants. Oh, we want to get our
boat over on the golden sands OF heaven,
but we sit with our arms folded at
tho PROV or at the stern while others
are blistered in the heat and pulling until the
oar-locks groan and the blades bend until
they snap. Oh, you sleepy headed Christians
Are you the servants OF the Lord Jesus Christi
My idea OF O Christian is man on fire with
zeal for God, and if your pulses beat sixty
times minute when you are talking on or
dinary themes and thinking on ordinary
themes, if when you speak and think on re-
ligious things your pulses do not rise to sew
enty and seventy-five and eighty times
minute while thinking OF Christ and heaven
it is because you do not know the one and
have not much chance Of getting to the other.
Suppose in an army, in the morning roll-call,
out Of thousand men in regiment only
hundred answered, what an excitement that
would make in camp. What would the COL
onel soy? What would the majors, the cap.
tains, the adjutants saya And suppose word
came by way Of excuse that these men had
oversight themselves, or it was damp morn
ing and they were afraid Of getting their feet
wet, or they We're cooking their rationsi Oh,
my friends, this is the morning Of the day OF
Go1 Almighty's battle Do you not hear
the troopsl Do you not hear all the trum.
pets of heaven, and all the drums OF hell!
Which side are you on! II on
the right side do you belong to the cavalry
troop, or the artillery service, or to garrison
do YOU teach2 In what prayer meeting do
you exhort? In what penitentiary do you
this day declare the eternal liberty OF the
Gospel? In what almshouse do you announce
the riches OF heaven? What broken bones OF
sorrow are you trying to heall Doing moth
ing, then keep it to yourself, do not let the
world find it out lest they call your religion
false face Do not lot the story get into the
book Of Gods Judgment. Do not let the an
nouncement Of your cowardice and treason De
heard among the martyrs before the throne,
lest, forgetting the sanctity of the place they
curse your betrayal Of the cause for which
they agonized and died. Forward, the whole
line May God Almighty arouse us all to
Christian work. I really believe that oOO
earnest Christians could take all Brooklyn Tor
God in two wears. Oh, I would like to-day
that you should lift hand toward heaven
swearing new allegiance to the LORD VINO
made us and the Lord who redeemed us:
would be ashamed to die now and go into
heaven ] without having brought more into the
kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. How rap
idly the years get away. DID you ever see
summer that had such nimbe feet? The years
seem to gain new style of locomotion. They
have a speed electric. II this afternoon, in
your homes, you take sleep and you are
entitled to it, for the Sabbath was made for
the body as we'll as for the soul after you
sleep. when you are rising, lay out your plans
for this year, the year which begins in
September, the church year. Husbands and
wives, talk this subject over. Brothers and
There is such thing as claustral piety, and