The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-04-17

begin the year $3.50, that would be no hin.
arance In one sense God never changes MS
mind, being the same yesterday, today and
forever. But In another sense He does
change his mind and times without number
every day, and that is when his people pray
Didn't He change Hi' mind about Ninevehi
BY Gods command Jonah, at the top OF his
voice, while standing on the steps Of the
merchants exchange and the paaial resi-.
dences Of that city, cried out, "Yet forty
days and Nlneveh shall be overthrown.
Was 1t overthrown in forty daysi No. The
people gave up their sins and cried for
mercy, and though Jonah got mad because
his whole course >of sermons had been
spoiled and went into disgraoeful pouting,
we have the record so sublime / can
not read It without feeling a nervous chill
running through me. "God saw their works
that they turned from their evil way and
God repented OF the evil that He had said
He would do unto them, and he did II nos"
God Is father and some Of US know what
that means, and some time when we have
promised chastlsement and the child de-
served II, the little darling has put her
arms around our neck and expressed such
sorrow and such promises OF doing better
that her tears landed on the lips OF our
Kiss, aud we held her a half hour after
On our knee and would as soon think OF
,lapping an angel in the face as OF even
striking her with the weight Of our little
finger. God IL a father, aud while he has
promised this world scourgings, though
they were TO be for thousand years or
Hye thousand years, He would, II the
world repented, substitute benedicton and
iiyine caress. God changed His MUD about
5odom six times. He had determined on Its
destruction. Abraham asked Him II He
would not spare 1t II fifty righteous people
we're found there, and, narrowing down the
aumber, II forty-6ve people were found
there, II forty people II thirty people If
twenty people, II ten people were found
there. And each Of the six times the Lord
answered yes. o. why didn't Abraham go
IN lust two steps further, and say If live be
found there and il one be fouBd there, for
then for the sake OF Lot, its one good citizen,
[ think Sodom would have been spared.
Eight times does the Bible say that God re-
pented when He had promised punshmonts,
and withheld the stroke. Was 1t a slip Of
Paul's pen whom he spoke Of Gods cutting
short the work in righteousnesSi No, Paurs
pen never slipped. There is nothing In the
way of prophecy to hinder the crusade have
proposed for the last decade OF the nine
teenth century.
The whole trouble is that we put of the
completion Of the worlds redemption to
such long and indefinite distances. The old
proverb that what Is everybody's business
Is nobody's bus ness" might be changed
little and be made truthfully TO say what Is
the gospel business Of all the ages is the gos-
pei business OF no age. We are so consttu
ted we can not get up much enthusiasm
about something fve hundred years from
aow or a thousand years from now. We are
lighting at too long range. That gun called
the "Swamp Augel' was nuisance. IL shot
.ix miles, but 1t hardly ever hit any thing
Il did its chief destructive work when 1t
burst aud killed tuOse who were setting II
81. Sort range Is the effective kind OF
work, whether 1t be for worldly or religious
purpose. Some man with his eyes half shut
irones out to me the Bible quotation; "A
thousand years are as one day;s that Is, ten
centuries are not long for tho Lord. But why
10 YOU not quote the previous sentence,
, which says that one day Is with the Lord as
A thousand yoarsl That is, He could do the
| work OF ten centuries 10 twenty-four hours.
| The mightiest obstacle TO Christian work Is
, the Impression that the worlds evangellza-
, ton Is away of. And we take the telescope
and look on and on through centuries until
, We SEQ two objects near each other and W.
, strain our vision and guess what they are
| and we call great conventiousto to guess whai
they are, and we get down our heaviest theo
logical works aud balance our telescope or
, tho lid and look and look and finally conclude
, that they are two beas that we sec, aud tht
/ one has hair and the other has wool and We
! guess II must be the lion aud the lamb lyinl
/ iown together In that great cradle OF post
ponement and somnc!ence we rock th'
r church as though IL were an impatient CHILD
and say, Hush, my dear don't be impatient
D Don't get excited by revivalsI Don't cry
4 Your Fathers comingl Don't get uneasy
a He will be here in two or three or ten o.
: twenty thousand years" And we act a
p though we thought that when Macaulay'
!. famous New Zealander IN the far distanc
; Is seated on q brokes arch Of London bridg
a ,ketchinp the ruins OF St. Paul's, bis grand
o child might break in and Jolt his pencil b.
' asking him II he thought the MILLENNIUM
syer would appear. Men and women OF Tn
4 sterual Godl Sons and daughters OF tn
4 Lord Almighty We may have It start !
4 thesdecade that Is soon TO commence, and
n win be done II we can persuade the peopl
h between now and then TO get ready for IN
a work.
q What makes me think II can be done
d First because God Is ready. He needs o
" long persuasion TO do His work, for " He
"a not willing that any should perish, He Is NJ
10 willing that any OF the people OF the mel
" decade shall perish !; and the whole Bible
10 a chime OF bells ringing out Come, com
Iy come" and you need not go round u
III earth TO find out how much He wants u
ie world 10 come. but just TO walk around OF
Df stripped and bare and lca0ess tree with tv
Of branches, not arched. but horiZontf
ct But He is waiting. US He said He woul
I'd for the cooperation Of the church. Wh'
I'd we are ready God is ready, And 1
Of certainly has all the weaponry reaf
rd 20 capture this world for the trut
no all the weapons Of kindness or devastatio
Of On the one hand Gospel and sunshine al
he power 10 orchardlzs and gardenize q
earth, and fountains swinging In rainbo
o. and ChatsworthIan verduro and arom
OF poured out Of the vials of heaven, while
re the other hand he has the weaponry OF
'ul yastation, thunderbolt and confagrsti'
,ir and forces planetary, solar, lunar, stela
TO or meteoric that with loose rein thrown
he the neck for sec nd would leave conctell
~ tions and galaxles so many split and shi
lis cred wheels on tho bouevards Of heave
ar And that God Is on our side, all on our sid
oo Blessed DO his glorious namol Blessed W
90 the hour when through Jesus Christ Q
nd sinful soul made peace with Himi
iei II you continue TO ask me why thii