Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-04-25

said He would do unto them and He did II
not" God is q father, and some of us
know what that means. and some time
wnen we have promised chastisement and
the child has deserved it, the little darling
mas put her arms around our neck and ex-
pressed such sorrow and such promises of
ooing better that her tears landed on the
lips or our kiss, and we held her q
half hour after on our knee and would as
soon think of slapping an angel in the face
as OF even striking her with the weight of
our little finger. God is a father, and
whhe He has promised this world scourg-
lngs, though they were to be for a thou
sand years or five thousand years, he
would, If the world repented, substitute
benediction and divine caress. God
changed His mind about Sodom six times.
The whole trouble is that we put off the
completion of the worlds redemption to
such long and indefinite distances. The
old proverb that what is everybody's
business is nobody's business" might be
changed little and be made truthfully to
say what is the Gospel business of all the
ages is the Gospel business of no age. We
are so constituted we can not get up much
enthusiasm about something five hundred
years from now or a thousand years from
now. We are fighting at too long range.
That gun called Swamp Angel" was a
nuisance. 1t shot six miles, but it hardly
ever hit any thing. 1t did its chief de-
structive work when it burst and killed
those who were setting it off. Short
range is the effective Kind of work,
whether it be for worldly or religious
purpose. Some man with his eyes half
hnt TO ha "a
"a thousand years as one day." that is
ten centuries are not long for the Lord.
But why do you not quote the previous
sentence, which says that one day is with
the Lord as thousand years? That is,
he could do the work of ten centuries in
twenty-four hours. The mightisst OBJ
stacle to Christian work is the impression
that the worlds evangelization is away
off.
What makes me think it can be done?
First because God is ready. He needs no
long persuasion to do his work, for if He
is not willing that any should perish, He
is not willing that any of the people of
the next decade shall perish; and the
whole Bible is a chime of bells ringing
out ''come, come, come" and you need
not 60 round the earth to find out how
just to walk around one stripped and bare
and leafisss tree with two branches, not
arched, but horizontal. But He is waiting,
as He said He would, for the corporation
of the Church. When we are ready God
is ready. And He certainly has all the
weaponry ready to capture this world for
the truth, all the weapons of kindness or
On the one hand the Gospel
and sunshine and power to orchardize and
gardenize the earth, and fountains swing
ing in rainbow Chatsworthian verdure
and aromas poured out of the walls of
Heaven, while OH the other hand He has
the weaponry of devastation, thunder
bolt and confagration and forces plane
tary, solar, lunar, stellar or meteoric
that with loose rein thrown on the neck
for a second would leave consultations
and galaxies so many split and shivered
wheels on the boulevards of Heaven.
And that God is on our side, all on our
side. Blessed be His glorious name!
Blessed was the hour when through Jesus |
Christ my sinful soul made peace. with |
Him!
If you continue to ask me why think |
that the world can be saved in the final |
decade of the nineteenth century, l reply |
because it is not great undertaking, con- |
sidering the number of workers that will |
20 at it, if once persuaded it can be done. |
We have sifted the five hundred million |
# workers down to four hundred million |
and three hundred million and two nun
1red million and one hundred million and |
to fifty million. / went to work to cipher |
out how many souls that number could |
bring to God in ten years if each one
brought a soul every year, and if each |
soul so brought should bring another each |
succeeding year. found out, aided by a |
professor of mathematics, that we did not |
need any thing like such a number of |
workers enlisted. You see it is simply a |
question of mathematics and in geomet- |
neal progression. Then l gave to the |
earned professor this problem: How many |
persons would it require to start with If |
each one brought soul into the kingdom |
Zach year for ten years and each one |
brought another each succeeding year, in |
order to have l, 400, 000,0 900 people saved or |
he population Of the earth at present: |
His answer was ., 1884, 75 workers. So you |
zee that when Isl! ted the 800, 0O0, 900 nominal |
Christians OF the earth down to 5O,0OO,UOO |
md stopped there, retained for this work
Z 900, 900 people to many. There it is in |
glorious mathemat cs, QHOd erdt demon
trdndum.
Do you tell me that God does not care
or mathematics? Then you have never
cen the Giants Causeway, where God
shows His regard for the hexagonal i'll
whole ranges of rocky columns with six
ides and six angles. Then you have not
studied the geometry of a bees honey
.omb with six sides and six angles. Then
vou have not noticed what regard God
las for the square; the altar of the an
ient tabernacle, four square; the breast
,late four square; the court of the temple
n Ezekie's vision, four square; the New
jerusalem laid out four square. Or you
AVE not noticed His regard for the circle
" making it His throne, "sitting on the
ircle of the EARTH" and fashioning sun
nd moon and stars in a circle and send
ng our planetary system around other
ystems in a circle. And as to
lis regard for mathematical num-
ers, He makes the fourth book
n HIS Bible the Book of Numbers, and
umbers of the hosts Of Israel and num-
ers the troops of Sennacherib, and num-
ers Solomon's hewers in the forest, and
umbers the spearmen, and numbers the
and numbers the converts at
and numbers the chariots of God
olling down the steps of Heaven. So 1
ave right to enlist mathematics for the
of the easy possibility of
ringing the whose world to God in the
oming decade by the simple process of
ZACH one only having to bring
ne year; although l want to take in
D. 900 and know men now alive who, l
link, by pen or voice, or both. directly or
ldirectIy, will take hundreds of thou
ands each. So you see that that will dis
barge some of the 1854, 315 from the
ecessity of taking any.
s nnther reason why L knnv Ii can be |