The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-02-28
UlconVerted Men in the Church.

UnconYerted Men in the Church.
A Sermon Delivered by Rev. b. II. Aller
at Gross Roads, Sunday Informing, Febrtl
ary srd. 1855, and Reported by John r
steteni6h,
aWoe unto them for they AaJs g6at
in the soay Of Cain, and ran grssdily atte'
Tie ei Tor FOR Of Balaam tor. reWard, and per.
ished III the gainssaayi;;ny qf CGrs:;"-Juds, II,
This, epistle Is very appropriately
styled the general epistle Of jude. It is
not addressed to any particular person
|sor Church; bit is intended for all Chris.
tiats.
The primary design Of the epistle is to
call the attention of Christians to the
fact that certain ungodly men had crept
into the Church unawares ]; and whether
Intentionally or not, by using this word
unawares he gives q very faithful deacrip.
tion Of the way in which unconverted
menkst Tito the Baptist Church id ouf
own times unawaTes, OF through care.
lessness. .
1t may seem strange to some of you
that an inspired pensman, OF minister
of the Gospel, should ever find it necea.
ssry to inform his people that there are
unconvertsd men. In the Church, but if
the son of Adam was a murderer, ifthere
was an accuraed Hail iI the select
family of Noah, if there vas traitor
among the chosen Apostles Of the incar,
nate God; then we need not be surprised
to find evidences of an unregenerate
heart in member of our Church.
1t seems impracticable for Us to effect.
ually close the doors Of the Church
against every uncon7erted applicant.
The preacher may ba learned, sound and
earnest, the deacons may be wise and
prudent, the Church may be alive and
active in the service Of God, and yet
unconyerted men will get into the
Church Notwithstanding every possible
precaution.
The text describes unconverted men in
the Church, by comparing them to, three
men with whose history llBible readers
are familiar, and this description is SO
bold and booad that If ne follow it
closely ne shall touch the life Of every
unconverted Church member at some
point. - Woe unto them | for they have
gone in the way of Gain, and ran greedily
|'after the error of Balaam for reward, and
perished in the gainsayiDg of Core
These three characters contain all the
elements Of, character that belong to
nngodly men: whether in tha Church or
out oft.
/. They have gone in the way Of Cain.
It would be an insult to Bible readers
to orepeat here the story of Gain. Let US
rather describe him as a self-righteous
fellow, possessed of. that peculiar turn Of
mind and fondness for self which quail.
sfes one @ for certain kind Of very
common self.e1amination. He had an
eye and an imagination that could find q
great many good things in his own
character. and he was, therefore, we'll
pleased with Gain. He brought of the
fruit of the. field "a thank offering unto
God, which was very good in itself if it
had been offered in the proper spiritand
with certain other offerings which was
more necessary than the thank offering.
BY. faith Abel offered more excellent
sacrifice than Gain, because he offered q
lamb for a. sin offering, by which he
expressed his faith in and! his need of the
promised Messiah. The secret of the
whole matter. is this: Cain had never
.felt:his need Of q Saviour, and, therefore,
had no faith in Him. His failure to
bring the lamb for a sin Offering along
with the shank Offering tells the sad
'story. IS -. s;f
Every anconverted member of the
Baptist Church has appeared before the
altar Of God with an Offering. This
offering is not necessarily an offering Of
the fruit of the field, but is more COM
monty in our own day feeling, good feel
ing, good opinion Of ones self, asort OF
general good feeling toward everybody
and everything. God does not require
lambs of us now, but he does require
faith in his son and the fruit of faith in
our lives. Faith in Christ can not dwell
in US until re have felt our need of him.
The mind must be enlightened, its dark.
ness must be driven away by the light Of
Gods word; the disordered faculties
must be restored to their proper places by
the power of Code Spirit; our stony
hearts must be broken in pieces by the
hammer of His word and our dead souls
must be raised from the grave of tress
passers and sins by the same Almighty
Power of God which raised the dead body
of Christ from the grave.
I have thus briefly indicated the differ
ence between Cain and Abel, the FALSE
and true professors of religion in what
might be'termed the very beginning o.
their religious lives; but the question
arises, How do these unconverted nom
bers of the Church, or those Cain-like
Christians, show themselves in their lives
Those Cain.like Christians show them
selves by their lack of interest in rea
Church work. They can sing and shout
and pray and talk and make loud profes
sions and tell the world how good they
feel, but so far as the real work of the
Church is concerned they have never
| borne the heat and burden of the day
o, how it does cool the zeal of some
shouting Christians to ask them for
dollar for missions. The work of tht
! Church and of the individual Christian il